RALEIGH — A broad tax cut proposal from North Carolina Senate Republicans that began its advance in the chamber on Tuesday also contains federal COVID-19 relief money to give more aid to businesses that previously received federal or state pandemic assistance.

GOP finance leaders unveiled an amended version of its tax plan, some of which was already revealed in March and contained an individual income tax rate reduction and more generous standard deductions. The latest edition also would increase the amount of per-child deductions by $500. If approved, more low-income individuals would pay zero income tax, and all individual filers would see their monetary tax burdens reduced.

Republicans have made rate reductions and deduction increases a cornerstone of their fiscal policy since a landmark overhaul in 2013 consolidated taxes to one flat rate and scaled back credits.

“We are proposing yet another tax cut because we believe people spend their money better than government does,” Sen. Paul Newton, a Cabarrus County Republican and Senate Finance Committee co-chairman, said during a news conference. “Allowing North Carolinians to keep their own money is the best form of stimulus our economy could have.”

The new version also attempts to assist business owners and some nonprofits that received the federal forgivable Paycheck Protection Program loans and other government assistance to keep employees hired during the pandemic. State law prevented PPP recipients from treating loan proceeds as business expenses that could be deducted, leaving an otherwise higher tax burden that business owners say would impair their recovery. The House passed legislation that would allow the deductions, resulting in smaller tax bills.

The Senate GOP tries to address that monetary loss instead by creating a program that would set aside $1 billion of North Carolina’s share of American Rescue Plan funds to send grants automatically to any entity that received PPP loans or awards from four other business relief programs. These grants would be based on aid received but capped at $18,750.

Newton said the grant proposal would benefit as many as 400,000 businesses, or potentially double what the House plan would assist.

“We believe that it’s a better alternative,” he said. It also gets legislators who received PPP loans out of the uncomfortable position of voting for a law that would directly reduce their company’s taxes.