A victory for the American People democrats say only the wealthy will benefit well get analysis from washington also coming up the European Commission that follows through on its threats of punish poland over judicial reforms that it says are undemocratic the move could see more saul stripped of its Voting Rights in the e. U. These spanish region of catalonia prepares for a crucial election tomorrow will it several a bitter dispute over independence well go live to barcelona. Also coming up are the wheels coming off for europe deals the on demand private driver locating company a big blow europes top court says it is a taxi service not just an hour and that difference is huge well tell you why. Im brink off its good to have you with us in the United States the house of representatives has given its final approval to a sweeping overhaul of the u. S. Tax code it had already been approved by both chambers of congress but an embarrassing procedural error focused the senate or force the senate to send it back to the house for a revote the bill which includes permanent tax breaks for corporations and temporary tax cuts for individuals is the biggest shake up to the taxation system in the country in more than thirty years and it is the first major legislative victory for the trumpet ministration lets take you now to washington a correspondent carson phenomena is standing by good evening to you carson so it has happened what can we now expect moving forward. A republican lawmaker from the senate and the house of representatives are expected to be bussed over to the white house later today for a little victory celebration we can also expect a kind of statement or a speech from the president originally in a tweet last night donna trump had announced that he would also hold a press conference but that seems to have been canceled. It seems to me that his advisors ones who make sure that there are no too many spontaneous on says from the president to questions from reporters which might overshadow this achievement for him but you never know with on a trump he might still decide to take a few questions from reporters and then later this week before christmas he has announced he will sign this bill into law yeah and carsten some of those questions would probably have to do with these polls that indicate that americans are not so sure about this tax bill how do americans feel about this tax reform. Well according to most polls that we have seen the vast majority of americans do not approve of that bill i think it doesnt benefit them they have seen the coverage saying that most of the benefits go to corporations and to wealthy americans and but of course if you look at specific groups the picture is a bit different in a poll that came out yesterday it showed that ninety five of democratic voters believe that this is a handout to the rich dont benefit the middle class but at the same time seventy percent of Republican Voters think this does help the middle class they believe the president and republicans in congress that this will mean more jobs and higher wages so its a benefit in the long run so it really shows once again how divided this country is and help people see the words depends on whom they talk to whom they believe like the president you. Are in a corresponding washington constant phenomenon the story forward as we wait for the u. S. President to sign that tax reform bill into law crushing thank you. Well here in europe the European Union has launched an unprecedented process that could strip poland Voting Rights in the e. U. The move follows months of tensions between warsaw and brussels over judicial reforms but the polish president is he remains defiant its today he said that he will sign to call somebody to put the countrys courts under political control he says that the walls make the judiciary more accountable to regular citizens brussels says the reforms are a threat to the rule of law. A landmark decision was on the table as the European Commission gathered in brussels at stake one of the values enshrined at the core of the european identity the rule of law which the Commission Says is under threat in poland at the center of the rallies and series of reforms effectively giving parliament the power to appoint judges. Within a period of two years a significant numbers of laws have been adopted thirteen in total which puts at serious risk the independence of the judiciary and the separation of powers in poland. The commission has taken the unprecedented step of invoking article seven of the e. U. Treaty theoretically that could lead to sanctions like the suspension of polands Voting Rights but its unlikely to come to that hungary as already promised a veto such steps nevertheless its a highly symbolic move one which will probably only increase tensions between brussels and. The polish government says its being singled out for unfair treatment. In fact the point is to punish poland for having an independent policy and for the fact that it stopped being the meek obedient country it was when the previous government was in power. The ruling Justice Party has made judicial reform one of its key priorities and says the Current System has too many vestiges of the communist era inefficiency and corruption but critics say the legislation is a bit by the leader of the rightwing Justice Party kaczynski to enhance his power. Over recent months tens of thousands of poles have taken to the streets to voice their concerns up the legislation that government remained for. Now the e. U. Has given three months to consider changes to its plans it seems unlikely that it will stand down. To take the story out of brussels our correspondent is standing by for us going to you georg so weve got the polish president here saying that he will sign these controversial laws is this a sign that poland has no intention of battling to pressure from brussels. Its a brand Everything Else would have been a surprise to brussels pretty much expected that the standoff would continue at least in the short run and look for the European Union this step has been really difficult with a heavy heart is the words of france to munns used when he took this step and the real hope is that it will never come really that we see article seven in full actions with the full sanctions of it but the hope is that the threat at least will bring the polish side to the negotiating table to start a dialogue that is the chance that is now on the table and the time window we have is three months until the polish can still turn the tables here and what about articles been it has been triggered what will happen next well once these three months are over the next step is basically a warning now what we have here is a recommendation of the European Union and this now would have to be approved by the European Parliament which its likely that it would approve it and also by the European Council by twenty two Member States thats a four fifths majority in the European Council and you can pretty much expect that before friends to months made this announcement today he checked that the had this majority in his pockets and once we have that warning that basically would open up the way for the real sanctions that is a more difficult step it would take. A unanimous decision in the European Council and hungary has already said it would be told such a step and if poland does not budge from this what other measures then does the European Union have to bring poland in line with the Democratic Values and rules that everyone in the e. U. Adheres to. Well article seven is clearly the sharpest tool in the ears garden shed but there is also an infringement procedure already that is now being taken a further step fall forward that could end up in foreign of the European Court of justice and carries hefty financial fines which is also a mid term to i would say in the very long run we could see that the cultural funds that poland receives and lets bear in mind poland is the biggest net beneficiary of e. U. Funds and that these funds could be attached to conditions but that is something for the long term. Is on the story for us tonight in brussels georg thank you very much here are some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world hootie officials in yemen say at least eleven people have been killed in salty led airstrikes in the north of the country a spokesman for the rebel group said the dead included women and children it comes a day after saudi arabia intercepted a Ballistic Missile fired by towards its capital riyadh after three days of fractious debate ugandas parliament has passed a controversial bill to remove the president ial age limit the new legislation will allow president Yoweri Museveni to stand for reelection in two thousand and twenty one on wednesday Police Arrested several opposition lawmakers as they tried to enter the chamber. Germanys two Major Political parties the Christian Democratic Union and the social Democratic Party have agreed to hold exploratory talks about governing together those talks begin on january seventh the parties will announce five days later whether or not theyll pursue a formal coalition to go she ations germany has been without a government for three months since those inconclusive elections in september. Well three months have gone by since a controversial referendum in the spanish region of catalonia resulted not in independence but a crackdown by madrid spain the Prime Minister sacked the local government and called for snap elections the region is now gearing up for that vote set for tomorrow campaigning has been anything but easy several former ministers are in jail over rebellion charges while others including ex catalan president. Have fled to belgium. Is running for office again but of course from a distance. This is one scene that catalonia is former president. Will not speeding up his final Campaign Rally he would be having his say from over a thousand kilometers away they say as electioneering and exile. Melanesian be available to him is that his now that were facing one of cats and then he is most decisive elections once again i ask for your vote because he was alexey and i make this request with the promise that if im elected president i will end to the Government Palace accompanied by the whole legitimate government that was about us at that. It may be a far cry from the massive referendum rallies here than just three months ago but if support here among the die hard to see now is where he could well return. When we came to support our president because we want him back once and for all we want him to come back on december twenty first we want him back now. This is an election like no other the last Campaign Stop for candidates from the rival poor independence left party was to the president holding their leader. Audio junk could ask his fate loomed large as an evening rally. For him there is more at stake than mere votes. And brought out the young audio was calm and content when i explain the Campaign Details to him like im you know is that were the best guarantee for him to get out of prison let me you know get in the aggregate to do the lobbying. But the republicans face a strong challenge from anti independence candidate. To tell supporters that she will draw a line under the chaos of the separatists. This is the fifth taste to this historical day it will be important because thursday will be the end date for the independence process of puja mont junk at us and forget its over its an. Example of. This campaign has been viewed as a test of the regions Pro Independence movement but with the vote neck and neck and polls predicting a Hung Parliament catalonians may yet deliver a mixed result. Its all right so here we go again lets pull in our correspondent is in barcelona forest. Barbara is the election going to be a clear indicator for or against independence. That is the big problem because everybody here says all the polls and the newspapers in the local media and the National Media everybody agrees that is not really going to deliver the desired result what the Spanish Government one to two months ago when it called this Regional Election was to quiet things down and also taught that couple months might probably be coming to this senses see that this course of the union lateral independence was dead for them for their region for the economy and of course for the whole of spain but there has been a certain shift in opinion not enough to really deliver a clear result and so it seems one day before the election that the result will be just sort of the difficult situation where you say voters coming to their senses but not everyones coming home youve got karl is poised to morrow he is running for office but hes still in belgium so how failure of an election can this be. His party can run and his party is running however many people are sort of not so happy with his running away and his former kapan companion from the leftist republicans sort of who is now in jail says oh hes a coward you know he should also have gone to jail and then we could sort of fried from jail together and he has sort of lost the lead in the polls and he is now in third place and its not very likely that he will be able to form a new government so going to belgium was probably not smart such a smart idea after all and the other parties the leftist republicans for instance have put somebody in monrovia as a candidate and she is running strongly and we know that there were people like mr bridge jamal who wanted to make this an issue for the European Union the European Union refused saying it was a spanish issue what is at stake for the e. U. In this election tomorrow. The e. U. Of course hopes that the quiet will come back political quiet will come back to spain because the country was really in a very difficult position through this unilateral declaration of independence which is absolutely and clearly against the spanish constitution and by the way its against the constitutions of most European Countries the e. U. Will have none of this and it has made this quite clear to put them on and his supporters when they were in brussels having a big demonstration nobody received him nobody talked to him so that much is quite clear the question now is will the region sort of find a way out of this impasse out of this difficult position when nobody does any politics but everybody just fights against each other the country the region is deeply torn our correspondent barbara very soul on the story and on the phone for us tonight in barcelona barbara as always thank you. Youre watching the w. News live from berlin still to come stuck in a war zone we have an exclusive report from a village on the frontline of the fighting in Eastern Ukraine where the vulnerable are barely scraping by. Are you does it over an hour or do i need a taxi app or is it a taxi out funny friends actually talking tax reform first thank you so much the german business sector is calling on berlin for tax reform in response to transplant it says europes biggest economy economy rather would need a competent boots to head off industry moving to the United States as you have just heard of course at the beginning of the showed republican controlled u. S. House this was approved the first tax overhaul in thirty years and one and a half trillion dollars overhaul after a procedural violations being marred the first critics say the package is a deficit bloating giveaway to the super rich republicans argue that the tax cuts for corporations Small Businesses and individuals will bolster economic growth. Says mr and by the way the u. S. State of kansas attempted a very similar experiment to Donald Trumps tax reform in twenty twelve Governor Sam Brownback introduced sweeping tax cuts for individuals and what are known as a pass through businesses but the plan lets to a shop drop in revenue forcing massive spending cuts it was more. The midwestern state of kansas was hit hard during the financial crisis after years of sluggish growth Governor Sam Brownback was hoping to kick start the economy with drastic tax cuts his administration reduced the income tax and then got rid of it. The state eliminated taxes for farmers the selfemployed as well as small and medium sized businesses gary mason the owner of an Environmental Consulting and Services Firm gladly accepted the massive tax cuts. Probably got about twenty thousand dollars with a quick minute side of it you know with the state of kansas tax credit or lower taxes for Small Businesses. And ill tell you to buy a quick read like this but the dream of an economic boom never materialized the watchdog job center is not as busy as it was a few years ago but thats not due to the tax reform. There are no there wasnt anything that drastic change the economy is recovering so we know that thats part of it is just the las