WASHINGTON: Republicans working to execute their first major legislative achievement of Donald Trump’s presidency appear to have secured the votes to pass a massive tax overhaul that Trump hoped to present to the American people for Christmas.

“This is happening. Tax reform under Republican control of Washington is happening,” House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin told rank-and-file members in a conference call on Friday. “Most critics out there didn’t think it could happen. ... And now we’re on the doorstep of something truly historic.”

It’s the widest-ranging reshaping of the tax code in three decades and is expected to add to the nation’s $20 trillion debt. The tax cuts are projected to add $1.46 trillion over a decade. The GOP plans to muscle it through Congress next week before its year-end break.

Under the bill, present 35 per cent rate on corporations would fall to 21 per cent, the crown jewel of the measure for many Republicans. Trump and GOP leaders had set 20 per cent as their goal but added a point to free money for other tax cuts that won over wavering lawmakers in final talks.

The legislation would lower taxes on the richest Americans. Benefits for most other taxpayers would be smaller.

The bill would repeal an important part of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act — the requirement that all Americans have health insurance or face a penalty — as the GOP looks to unravel a law it failed to repeal and replace this past summer.

Only on Friday did Republicans cement the needed support for the overhaul, securing endorsements from wavering senators.

Marco Rubio of Florida relented in his high-profile opposition after negotiators expanded the tax credit that parents can claim for their children. He said he would vote for the measure next week.

Rubio had been holding out for a bigger child credit for low-income families. After he got it, he tweeted that the change was “a solid step towards broader reforms which are both Pro-Growth and Pro-Worker.”

Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, the only Republican to vote against the Senate version earlier this month, made the surprise announcement that he would back the legislation. Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has repeatedly warned that the nation’s growing debt is the most serious threat to national security.

“I realise this is a bet on our country’s enterprising spirit, and that is a bet I am willing to make,” Corker said.

The White House said Trump “looks forward to fulfilling the promise he made to the American people to give them a tax cut by the end of the year.”

The bill embodies a long-standing Republican philosophy that a substantial tax break for businesses will trigger economic growth and job creation for Americans in a trickle-down economy.

Sceptical Democrats are likely to oppose the legislation unanimously.

“Under this bill, the working class, middle class and upper middle class get skewered while the rich and wealthy corporations make out like bandits,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. “It is just the opposite of what America needs, and Republicans will rue the day they pass this.”

The bill would drop 39.6 per cent top rate on individuals to 37 per cent. The standard deduction — used by around two-thirds of households — would be nearly doubled, to $24,000 for married couples.

Associated Press