Category: US House

DFL Chairman Ken Martin Statement on GOP Tax Plan

Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party Chairman Ken Martin today released the following statement on Congressional Republicans newly released tax plan.

“We need a simpler, fairer tax code for all Minnesotans. The plan Republicans released today is not that. By limiting a major tax deduction that families depend on every year, it could cost thousands of dollars for nearly a million Minnesota taxpayers. It will take away other critical deductions that help Minnesotans afford college, offset the cost of medical expenses, and purchase a new home. Meanwhile, the wealthiest Americans receive massive handouts and the federal budget is decimated.”

“Republican Representatives Tom Emmer, Jason Lewis, and Erik Paulsen have a duty to stand against this disastrous plan that disproportionally hurts their constituents in Minnesota.”

The tax plan released today limits the State and Local Tax (SALT) Deduction, which provides an average $12,000 tax deduction for 900,000 primarily middle-class Minnesota families and results in about $12 billion in tax benefits to Minnesotans every year.

  • 42 percent of taxpayers in Lewis’ district claimed the SALT deduction last year for nearly $1.8 billion in federal tax relief.
  • 40 percent of taxpayers in Paulsen’s district claimed the SALT deduction last year for nearly $1.7 billion in federal tax relief.
  • 40 percent of taxpayers in Emmer’s district claimed the SALT deduction last year for nearly $2.5 billion in federal tax relief.

Blue states already subsidize red states. Now red states want even more.

The following article by Prof. Bruce J. Schulman was posted on the Washington Post website October 30, 2017:

Paul Ryan is wrong about which states have their acts together. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

As congressional Republicans prepare their tax-cut bill (and President Trump negotiates provisions on Twitter), the deduction for state and local taxes (SALT) has become a flash point. Last week, the Senate approved an amendment to abolish the deduction, which especially would benefit residents of states with stiffer state tax bills and higher property values.

Hailing elimination as tool to offset some of the huge rate cuts Republicans seek on corporate incomes and high earners, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.) asserted that SALT unfairly subsidizes “big government states” and creates a situation in which “states that actually got their act together pay for states that didn’t.”

Defenders of the deduction, including Republicans from states such as New York and New Jersey, counter that even after the deduction, their states pay far more in federal taxes than they receive in federal spending. By that standard, wealthy populous blue states such as California subsidize less developed mostly red states. South Carolina, for example, despite its long history of opposition to the federal government, takes nearly $4 in federal spending for every dollar its citizens pay in federal taxes. Continue reading “Blue states already subsidize red states. Now red states want even more.”

Podcast: The Obstacles Facing the GOP Tax Plan

The following post and podcast by David Lerman and Catalina Camia was posted on the Roll Call website October 30, 2017:

Capitol-Ink-10-30-17

Budget Tracker Extra, Episode 37

Republicans are quickly trying to pass a tax overhaul plan but indications are that obstacles are around every corner, say CQ Tax Editor Catalina Camia and Budget Editor Peter Cohn, who explain the complications facing the plan.

View the post here.

How a Republican Idea for Reducing Medicare Costs Could Affect You

The following article by Austin Frakt was posted on the New York TImes website October 30, 2017:

Credit: Lennard Kok

Last month, as Republican leaders were preoccupied with another unsuccessful attempt to replace Obamacare, a senior Trump administration official issued a warning about a different major medical program, Medicare.

The official, Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, wrote in The Wall Street Journal that Medicare was facing a fiscal crisis. She announced that she was asking the agency’s innovation center for ideas to address it, and that part of the answer was to give consumers “incentives to be cost-conscious.” This has some Democrats worried that she’s trying to move Medicare toward something called premium support, which would be a huge change for consumers.

Before we get into the pros and cons, what’s the fiscal crisis? According to projections from this year’s Medicare Trustees’ report, the fund that pays for Medicare-financed hospital care will be depleted in 12 years, and care for other services will consume an ever-larger share of the economy and federal revenue. Citing trends like those, Republicans included the outlines of a Medicare premium support plan in the House of Representatives’ fiscal year 2018 budget resolution, as they did in several prior ones. Continue reading “How a Republican Idea for Reducing Medicare Costs Could Affect You”

Home builders group raises hammer, tries to smash GOP tax bill

The following article by Damian Paletta was posted on the Washington Post website October 29, 2017:

Credit: Matthew Hull via morguefile.com

The National Association of Home Builders knows how to demolish things, and on Saturday it decided to take on a new project — the House Republican tax bill.

That’s because one day before, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Tex.) informed NAHB that he would not be including a homeownership tax credit as part of the new tax legislation, which will be released on Wednesday.

NAHB’s chief executive, Jerry Howard, had spent months working on this new tax provision with Brady’s aides, but House leaders wouldn’t allow its inclusion, Howard was told. The next day, Howard and other NAHB officials gathered on a conference call and debated what to do. They agreed unanimously — kill the bill. Continue reading “Home builders group raises hammer, tries to smash GOP tax bill”

Democrats Attack Tax Bill as a ‘Middle-Class Con Job’

The following article by Jim Tankersley was posted on the New York Times website October 29, 2017:

Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, left, the ranking member on the Finance Committee, and other senators met with President Trump at the White House this month. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Republicans will pitch their tax bill this week as a gift to the middle class, but Democrats will call it a Trojan horse: a windfall for big business and the rich dressed as a tax cut for workers.

The tensions over who will benefit from the sweeping tax rewrite were on display during an hourlong meeting last week between President Trump and Senate Finance Committee members. Democrats who attended, including many whose states Mr. Trump won, said the president agreed with every point raised on the subject of tax cuts for the middle class. At the end of the meeting, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon told Mr. Trump that the tax bill Republicans were drafting would not deliver on his promises to the middle class and would instead benefit corporations and high earners.

Mr. Trump looked at his top economic advisers, waved his hand, and said, “Take care of it,” Mr. Wyden recalled in an interview. Continue reading “Democrats Attack Tax Bill as a ‘Middle-Class Con Job’”

Limit on 401(k) Savings? It’s About Paying for Tax Cuts

The following article by Patricia Cohen was posted on the New York Times website October 28, 2017:

Three out of four Americans say they worry about having enough money to get through retirement, and 45 percent have not saved anything for it. Credit Alex Wroblewski/The New York Times

When the benefits adviser Ted Benna first thought up a new type of employee savings plan in 1980, the client he created it for rejected the idea as too risky. After all, no one had previously used the unremarkable section of the tax code called 401(k) to defer paying taxes on money that rank-and-file workers set aside for retirement.

So Mr. Benna decided to try it out at his own workplace, Johnson Companies, a small consulting firm outside Philadelphia.

Without intending to, Mr. Benna set off a revolution. Nearly 40 years later, 401(k) accounts are the most common employer-sponsored retirement plans and a raft on which millions of Americans hope to float through retirement.

Suddenly, though, they are also at the center of a battle around the tax overhaul promised by President Trump and Republican leaders in Congress. A proposal to slash the amount of money workers can put in tax-deferred retirement accounts set off alarms among savers and members of the financial services industry, who contend that limiting the tax break would discourage contributions to 401(k) plans. Continue reading “Limit on 401(k) Savings? It’s About Paying for Tax Cuts”

Republicans’ horrible week (and not-great year) was entirely predictable

The following article by Amber Phillips was posted on the Washington Post website October 28, 2017:

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said on Oct. 24 that he will not run for reelection in 2018. Flake said the GOP is at risk of becoming a “fearful, backward-looking minority party.” (U.S. Senate)

Nine months into gaining full control of Washington, Republicans are not where they hoped they’d be. Very far from it, actually. They have no major legislative accomplishments to tout. After this week, they are tipping into a civil war. And early polls suggest voters would rather elect a generic Democrat than a generic Republican in next year’s congressional elections.

All of this was entirely predictable  — not that there was much Republican leaders could do about it. And yes, I’m referring to President Trump. But Republicans’ fracturing was evident long before Trump rode down that escalator in Trump Tower two and a half years ago. Continue reading “Republicans’ horrible week (and not-great year) was entirely predictable”

GOP plans tax blitzkrieg

The following article by Scott Wong and Alexander Bolton was posted on the Hill website October 28, 2017:

© Getty images

Congressional Republicans are feeling enormous pressure to deliver a win on tax reform before Christmas Day.

After a humiliating defeat on ObamaCare repeal, GOP leaders are desperate for their first major legislative victory of 2017 and are doubling down on their ambitious timeline to overhaul the U.S. tax code.

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) reiterated this week that House Republicans will pass their tax bill out of their chamber before the Thanksgiving recess kicks off on Nov. 16. Continue reading “GOP plans tax blitzkrieg”