Republicans are considering a gradual lowering of the corporate tax rate in the House's reform plan, according to a Bloomberg News report.
The report sent the Dow Jones industrial average down more than 80 points, according to traders.
"House tax writers are discussing a gradual phase-in for the corporate tax-rate cut that President Donald Trump and Republican leaders want — a schedule that would have the rate reach 20 percent in 2022," the report said, citing a member of the chamber's tax-writing committee and a person familiar with the discussions.
This shouldn't come as totally unexpected. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, hinted at this phase-in as a possibility during an interview with CNBC last week at an event in Washington.
"There's been a lot of discussion about how we get to these rates and do it in a good, fiscally responsible way. That has been floated," he said at the SIFMA annual meeting when asked about a phase-in. "I want to see as much of the growth accelerated in this tax reform plan as possible. Mainly because I think our taxpayers deserve a stronger economy [than] what we have today. The sooner we become competitive the better. The rate plays a key role in it."
Reuters reported earlier in October that the corporate tax rate could be lowered in stages, reaching 20 percent in "three to five years."
Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said President Trump's position on the corporate tax rate remained the same during the Tuesday White House press briefing.
"The president laid out his principles and it doesn't include phasing in. So we're still committed to that moving forward ... I don't have reason to believe we have any changes on that front," Sanders said. "I'm not drawing a red line … I'm just saying those are the principles that we laid out and we haven't adjusted or changed our principles since this process started."
See here for the full Bloomberg News report.
— With reporting by Ylan Mui