Republican Sen. Susan Collins: 'I want to see changes' in Senate tax bill
The Maine senator is a key moderate Republican.
— -- A key moderate Senate Republican said the Senate’s tax bill needs revisions before it is put to a vote.
"I want to see changes in that bill, and I think there will be changes," Sen. Susan Collins of Maine told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos on "This Week" Sunday.
She said one problem with the bill is the inclusion of a provision that would repeal the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that most people must have health insurance or face a penalty.
Collins called that repeal provision "the biggest mistake" in the Senate's tax bill. "I hope it will be dropped," she said.
The Senate Finance Committee last week approved the Senate GOP leadership's tax-cut bill after the GOP-led House passed its version of a $1.5 trillion overhaul of business and personal taxes.
Republican congressional leaders want to get tax-cut legislation to the president to sign before Christmas.
Collins said she prefers the House version of the bill for some of its provisions, such as keeping the tax rate on individuals who make $1 million or more per year at 39.6 percent.
“That’s a change I’d like to see be made in the Senate bill so that we can skew more of the relief to middle-income taxes,” the senator said.
Other changes that Collins said she would like to see in the Senate version include making individual tax breaks, not just corporate tax breaks, permanent, she said.
"The House made both of them permanent," Collins said. "I think that is a far better way to go. I also think the reduction in the business tax rate is too steep, and that we could go to 22 percent, and then use that money, which is about $200 billion, to restore the tax deduction for state and local property taxes. That would really help middle-income taxpayers."
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