US lawmakers' vote paves way for tax cuts

Washington

THE US House of Representatives voted to make it easier to reduce taxes, passing a rule on the first day of the new session to let lawmakers assume that lower levies boost the economy and cover some of their own budgetary costs.

The adoption of so-called dynamic scoring gives Republicans greater leeway to adopt tax policies that, before Tuesday, would have been scored as increasing the US budget deficit. The policy was adopted as part of a package of House rules changes, on a 234-172 vote.

Republicans, who didn't implement the scoring change when they controlled the House from 1995 to 2007, say the new rule reflects the reality that fiscal policy can expand the US economy.

"How about the big picture?" said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, a Washington group that supports tax cuts. "How about noticing that it doesn't have zero impact on people's behaviour?" Democrats criticise the scoring rule, saying it requires uncertain and almost impossible assumptions about future econo…