Trump signs tax reform bill, says fulfilled Christmas promise

President Donald Trump on Friday signed the most sweeping US tax overhaul in over 30 years into law and asserted that he has fulfilled his Christmas promise to the countrymen.

The USD 1.5 trillion tax reform bill was passed by the House of Representatives on Wednesday for the second time by 224 to 201 votes to clear the technical snag in the passage of the package, which was passed by the Senate and House earlier.

Trump signed the sweeping tax overhaul which represents the most drastic changes to the US tax code since 1986 into law in his Oval Office of the White House before leaving for Florida on his Christmas vacation.

Trump told reporters that he was rushing through the signing of the bill to fulfil his promise to his fellow countrymen that he would do it before Christmas.

"I didn't want you folks to say I wasn't keeping my promise. ... we did a rush job today and it wasn't fancy... we expected a formal ceremony in two weeks," Trump said.

The passage of the bill by the Senate and House of Representatives is considered to be the first major legislative victory for President Donald Trump, after coming to power.

Early this week, the Republican-majority Congress passed the tax reform bill, which was Trump's key election promise.

The bill among other things reduces income tax of individuals, drops down the business tax to 21 per cent.

Trump called the tax package the "biggest tax cuts and reform in our country".

The president said New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft said that because of the tax bill he was building "a tremendous paper mill."

He called it "a bill for the middle class and a bill for jobs".

"Corporations are literally going wild," he said.

The Democrats were highly critical of the tax reform bill.

"The American people have been robbed of the substantive and exhaustive debate in Congress they deserve on a USD 1.5 trillion bill that will shake up our entire economy and cripple our nation's spending power for decades to come," Senator Tom Carper had said.

Indian-American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi said the Republican tax bill would add nearly USD 1.5 trillion to the national debt while raising taxes on working families, and destabilise health care system by leaving 13 million more Americans without insurance.

"This legislation is a ticking tax bomb: millions of middle-class families could see their taxes increase over the next decade as state and local tax deductions and other middle-class provisions get dramatically scaled back," he had said.

"This tax 'plan' is little more than a gift to corporations and the top one per cent and an attack on our values," alleged Senator Kamala Harris.

PTI