Category: US Senate

Reduce Taxes…Increase Debt

The following article was posted on the TrumpAccountable.org website December 18, 2017:

Republicans have been dismissive of claims – including CBO projections – that the tax plan winding its way through Congress will increase the national debt by an estimated 1.5 trillion dollars. Other estimates put the cost of the tax cuts at 2.3 trillion dollars if  they are extended. Whatever the actual amount that the tax cuts add to the debt, the following facts remain:

  • After decades of tagging Democrats as “tax and spend liberals,” Republican lawmakers are voting for a significant increase to the national debt.
  • Nearly all economists dispute Republicans’ rosy economic estimates that growth will increase sufficiently to counter the increase in debt. Continue reading “Reduce Taxes…Increase Debt”

Republican Senators Will Save Millions With Special Real-Estate Tax Break

The following article by Alex Kotch, David Sirota and Josh Keefe was posted on the International Business Times website December 18, 2017:

When the U.S. Senate takes up the final tax bill this week, more than a quarter of all GOP senators will be voting on a bill that includes a special provision that could give them a new tax cut through their real estate shell companies, according to federal records reviewed by International Business Times.

The provision was not in the original bill passed by the Senate on Dec. 1. It was embedded in the final bill by Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, who is among the lawmakers that stand to personally benefit from the provision.  Continue reading “Republican Senators Will Save Millions With Special Real-Estate Tax Break”

John Cornyn doesn’t have a good answer on tax bill loophole that means millions for Corker and Trump

The following article by Emily Stewart was posted on the Vox website December 18, 2017:

“What we’ve tried to do is cobble together the votes we needed to get this bill passed.”

Credit: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) on Sunday said the decision to include a provision in the Republican tax plan that would personally enrich some GOP lawmakers and President Donald Trump came from an effort to “cobble together the votes we need to get this bill passed.” Not exactly a moment of putting country over party.

In a Sunday appearance on ABC’s This Week, Cornyn, the Senate majority whip, was asked by journalist George Stephanopoulos about an International Business Times (IBT) report, which saw Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) switch from a “no” vote to a “yes” after a certain provision that would boost his real estate income was added to the tax bill. Continue reading “John Cornyn doesn’t have a good answer on tax bill loophole that means millions for Corker and Trump”

GOP tax scam: How corporations and the rich are fueling inequality

The following commentary by Nell Abernathy and Steph Sterling was posted on the USA Today website December 18, 2017:

Political and economic power are now inseparable. We must dismantle not just this abysmal plan but also the structural conditions that wrought it.

The tax plan that Republican congressional leaders hope to pass this week and send to President Trump will soon be regarded as the zenith in a story nearly 40 years in the making, where corporations and a handful of America’s wealthiest families — some of whom now hold positions in the government directly — leverage their outsized economic power into political power. It is what happens when corporate and political power become inseparable. It is a call to arms to dismantle not just the plan itself, but the structural conditions that wrought it. Continue reading “GOP tax scam: How corporations and the rich are fueling inequality”

Tax plan could be dramatic in Minnesota

The following article by Jim Spencer, Maya Rao and MaryJo Webster was posted on the StarTribune website December 19, 2017:

Revamp has many in the state confused and on edge.

Julie Kolbow has spent hours building spreadsheets to figure out how the tax overhaul under debate in Washington would affect her family of five in Chanhassen.  She and her husband own small businesses and have two children in college, and she worries that the legislation could lower the amount of taxes they can deduct. Continue reading “Tax plan could be dramatic in Minnesota”

An update on winners and losers on the U.S. tax scorecard

The following article by Beth Pinsker was posted on the Reuters website December 16, 2017 and updated December 18, 2017:

A man walks the campus of the City College of New York in the Harlem borough of New York, U.S., December 16, 2017. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

NEW YORK (Reuters) – In the lead-up to the conference agreement for the U.S. Tax Cut & Jobs Act released on Friday, there were too many moving parts for most Americans to know how it would affect them.

Until the bill is voted into law, the various provisions are still a moving target, but taxpayers now have a better sense of the real math of what it means to them.

Here is an update on what some of the key issues would mean to your wallet: Continue reading “An update on winners and losers on the U.S. tax scorecard”

Will Passing The Tax Bill Help The GOP In 2018? Probably Not.

The following article by Harry Enten was posted on the FiveThirtyEight website December 18, 2017:

Protesters demonstrate near the full Senate budget committee markup of the tax reform legislation on Capital Hill November 28, 2017 in Washington, DC. Republicans in the Senate hope to pass their legislation this week and work with the House of Representatives to get a bill to President Donald Trump before Christmas. Credit:
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

President Trump’s first year has been marked by an almost complete lack of major policy wins.1 But that could come to an end this week. Congress is on the verge of passing a massive tax bill into law. It would be the first major legislative victory for Trump and the Republicans. And it would accomplish a long-held GOP goal: cutting the corporate tax rate.

But policy wins and political wins don’t always go hand in hand. Republicans who believe that failing to pass this tax bill will be a disaster for them in the 2018 midterm elections, like Trump and Sen. Lindsey Graham, are likely to be disappointed.

This tax bill remains historically unpopular. According to an average of nine surveys taken this month, 33 percent of Americans are in favor of it, and 52 percent are opposed. That -19 percentage point split between support and opposition makes it the least popular major tax bill since at least the Ronald Reagan tax cuts in 1981. Continue reading “Will Passing The Tax Bill Help The GOP In 2018? Probably Not.”

The Tax Bill’s Winners and Losers

The following article by Jesse Drucker and Alan Rappeport was posted on the New York Times website December 16, 2017:

President Trump, with his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who is part owner of his own real estate firm, will both benefit from breaks for commercial real estate in the tax legislation. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times

President Trump has called the $1.5 trillion tax cut that Republican lawmakers are on the verge of passing a Christmas present for the entire nation.

But the fine print reveals that some will get a much nicer gift than others, the benefits will change over time, and some will be left out in the cold. Real estate developers and technology companies could see big tax cuts, while low-income households and people buying health insurance could lose out.

With the bill finally headed to a vote this coming week, taxpayers are scrambling to determine whether the legislation renders them winners or losers. Continue reading “The Tax Bill’s Winners and Losers”

GOP, with tax bill finalized, makes its case to a skeptical public

The following article by Jeff stein and Mike DeBonis was posted on the Washington Post website December 17, 2017:

Politicians continued to debate the merits of the Republican tax overhaul on Dec. 17. The House could vote on the bill as soon as Dec. 20. (Patrick Martin/The Washington Post)

Republicans, confident they’ve found the votes to pass a massive tax overhaul, entered the next phase of their effort Sunday, attempting to sell the plan to a public that polling suggests is deeply skeptical.

GOP leaders argued that the tax bill — the final version of which was unveiled Friday — is aimed primarily at helping the middle class, brushing aside nonpartisan analyses that show the bulk of the legislation’s benefits would go to the wealthy and to corporations. Continue reading “GOP, with tax bill finalized, makes its case to a skeptical public”

Why Republicans shouldn’t be so optimistic their tax bill will be a big win

The following article by Heather Long was posted on the Washington Post website December 16, 2017:

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) hit out at criticisms of the GOP’s tax proposal on Dec. 12. (Reuters)

Republicans are on the verge of passing a massive tax cut for businesses that is deeply unpopular with the American public. They are doing it with no Democratic votes and at a moment when the U.S. economy looks pretty healthy (typically, tax cuts are most effective when the economy is struggling and the government wants to revive it). A surprising number of chief executives admit their top plan for the extra cash is to pay shareholders more, not grow jobs and wages. Billionaire chief executive Michael Bloomberg went so far as to declare the bill a “trillion-dollar blunder.”

So all of this raises the obvious question: Why are Republicans doing this? Continue reading “Why Republicans shouldn’t be so optimistic their tax bill will be a big win”