Category: US Senate

Disastrous Republican Tax Plan Is Only the First Step in Long Term Effort to Cut Social Security and Medicare, Exacerbating Inequality

The following article by Steven Rosenfeld was posted on the AlterNet website December 2, 2017:

Great damage is being done, even as the Trump mob is targeted by Robert Mueller.

President Donald Trump walks with House Speaker Paul Ryan, November 2017. Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

The wheels of justice might be turning with the guilty plea by Trump campaign and White House aide Michael Flynn and the reality that the presidents’ team are real targets, but that will not stop the GOP Congress and White House from gutting essential social safety nets.

The GOP tax plan, which passed the Senate 51-49 early Saturday with no Democrats voting yes, now moves to the phase where differences in the House and Senate bills get ironed out. That will prompt fierce lobbying and protests, but a major bill transferring wealth from the middle-class to the best-off Americans will be passed and signed by Trump.

If all the Republicans were doing was lining the pockets of the already rich, that would be bad enough—pick your adjective. But that’s not the endgame. Before the Senate voted, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a past presidential candidate, said the Republicans must make additional cuts to Social Security and Medicare, both federal programs for those over age 65 as well as people with disabilities and parentless children (such as Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan as a youth). Continue reading “Disastrous Republican Tax Plan Is Only the First Step in Long Term Effort to Cut Social Security and Medicare, Exacerbating Inequality”

A Tax Law For The Forbes 400

The following article by David Cay Johnston was posted on the dcreports.org website Decemer 2, 2017:

Even the Merely Rich Will Be Shafted as Congress Gives Billions to the Wealthiest of the Wealthy

Buried in the in the two tax bills being rushed through Congress is a fleet of lucrative opportunities to escape taxes, though no one is talking about this costly and unnecessary problem.

By the way, you won’t qualify for these tax favors unless you are mega-rich. The bills create tax avoidance yachts, not small sailboats or dinghies—and certainly not life rafts.

Think of the twin tax bills as the Forbes 400 Tax Forgiveness Act of 2017.

As much as two-thirds of the tax savings will go to the 1%—and of that, the savings will overwhelmingly go to the tenth- and hundredth- of 1%. The savings will help those whose incomes range from a few million dollars a year to more than a billion dollars a year. The official analyses by Congressional experts show that over the next decade everyone making less than $75,000 a year will pay more tax so that the super-rich can pay much less. Continue reading “A Tax Law For The Forbes 400”

The Republican tax bill will exacerbate income inequality in America

The following article by Dylan Scott and ALvin Chang was posted on the Vox website December 2, 2017:

“The bill is investing heavily in the wealthy and their children.”

America’s rich have gotten richer for decades, while the middle class and poor have seen meager gains. Since the mid-20th century, the top 1 percent have more than doubled their share of the nation’s income, from less than 10 percent to more than 20 percent.

Donald Trump said he was going fix it — that he would represent the forgotten men and women, the people who had been left behind in this widening of income inequality.

But the tax overhaul his Republican Party passed through the Senate early Saturday morning would make America’s income inequality worse. Maybe a lot worse, economists say. Continue reading “The Republican tax bill will exacerbate income inequality in America”

The Passage of the Senate Republican Tax Bill was a Travesty

The following article by John Cassidy was posted on the New Yorker magazine December 2, 2017:

Approved in the dead of night, when virtually nobody was watching, the biggest change in U.S. tax law in decades included last-minute revisions that skewed the bill even more toward the rich. Credit: Alex Edelman/picture-alliance /dpa/AP

When historians write about the broader atrophy of the American system of governance, the passage of the 2017 tax-reform bill will be an illuminating event to dwell upon. Whatever the Founding Fathers had in mind, it surely can’t have resembled the unedifying spectacle that played out in the Senate this week. When the delayed vote on the Senate version of the G.O.P’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act finally took place, in the early hours of Saturday morning, the sole Republican to dissent was Senator Bob Corker, of Tennessee.

Four G.O.P. senators who had been mentioned as possible holdouts—Susan Collins, of Maine; Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska; and John McCain and Jeff Flake, of Arizona—all voted for a proposal that is unnecessary, unfair, and still largely unexamined.

The Senate and House tax bills will have to be reconciled, but it’s now perfectly possible that President Trump will get to sign the final legislation before Christmas. If that happens, the process of getting there will have been a travesty of the legislative process. Continue reading “The Passage of the Senate Republican Tax Bill was a Travesty”

GOP’S list of economists backing tax cut includes ghosts, office assstants, ex-felons, and a sprinkling of real economists

The following article by Lee Fang was posted on the Intercept website December 1, 2017:

President Donald Trump walks with House Speaker Paul Ryan, November 2017. Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

TOUTING SUPPORT FOR their tax cut legislation, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the Senate Finance Committee, and Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, released a letter this week signed by 137 economists who say they strongly endorse the Republican legislation before Congress. President Donald Trump on Friday afternoon tweeted a short video featuring the list of 137 economists.

“Economic growth will accelerate if the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passes, leading to more jobs, higher wages, and a better standard of living for the American people,” reads the letter, which was organized by the RATE Coalition, a corporate advocacy group that is lobbying in support of the bill.

But a review of the economists listed on the letter reveals a number of discrepancies, including economists that are supposedly still academics but are actually retired, and others who have never been employed as economists. One might not even exist. Continue reading “GOP’S list of economists backing tax cut includes ghosts, office assstants, ex-felons, and a sprinkling of real economists”

The GOP doesn’t care if you like its tax plan. Here’s why

The following article by David C. Barker, Profession of Government and Director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, American University, was posted on the Conversation website December 2, 2017:

Credit: Christopher Penler / Shutterstock

Congressional Republicans’ collective sigh of relief after passing tax legislation may seem confusing. Won’t voters hold them accountable in 2018 for passing such an historically unpopular bill? The answer is “no,” for several reasons.

First, the bill’s unpopularity may be somewhat overstated. A lot of the disapproval expressed in surveys is more about the bill’s sponsors than about the bill itself. In these polarized times, almost anything carrying the president’s endorsement is going to be a nonstarter for more than half the population. If Trump were to designate ice cream the official White House dessert tonight, at least a third of us would stop “screaming for it” tomorrow.

This is not to say that this legislation should be more popular. But let’s face it, efforts to win over Blue America with fewer corporate tax cuts, fewer cuts for wealthy individuals or fewer changes to popular tax breaks would have probably fallen on deaf ears in this environment. Continue reading “The GOP doesn’t care if you like its tax plan. Here’s why”

Carried Interest Reform Is a Sham

NOTE:  Rep. Erik Paulsen serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, and would be aware of this and has voted for this in committee and then voted for the bill on the House floor.

The following article by Allan Sloan was posted on the ProPublica website December 1, 2017:

Republicans claim they’re fixing a tax loophole that benefits wealthy money managers. Don’t believe them.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, center, Speaker Paul Ryan, left, and other members of the GOP after unveiling the tax reform plan on Nov. 2 (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

This column was co-published with The Washington Post.

Donald Trump isn’t exactly shy when it comes to denouncing things he doesn’t like. And there’s one particular part of the tax code that he denounced over and over both during the campaign and after taking office.

He said that the people benefiting from this portion of the code were “getting away with murder.”

So you’d think that the tax bill being pushed through Congress with Trump’s eager backing would be closing this loophole. But you’d be wrong. As you’ll see in a bit, talking about closing the loophole isn’t the same as closing it.

The loophole is called “carried interest.” That’s tax jargon for the share of investors’ profits that goes to the managers of private equity funds, venture capital funds and hedge funds. The standard rate is 20 percent of a fund’s profits, although there’s wide variation, both up and down. Continue reading “Carried Interest Reform Is a Sham”

‘Wait, the tax bill is about to pass the Senate?’ … said everyone following the Michael Flynn news, basically

The following article by Amber Phillips was posted on the Washington Post website December 1, 2017:

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) on Dec. 1 said he supports Senate Republicans’ bill that would overhaul the tax code. (Jordan Frasier/The Washington Post)

Now that they have the votes to pass a bill revamping the tax code, Senate Republicans are on the verge of accomplishing something that has eluded them all year: fulfilling a major campaign promise. Politically speaking, it’s a much-needed victory after they failed to repeal Obamacare this summer.

But oh, the irony. Advancing a tax bill has been hugely overshadowed by literally the last thing Republicans want to talk about: a massive development in the investigation into whether their president’s campaign colluded with Russia. On the same day Senate Republicans were set to pass the first reform of the tax code in three decades, President Trump’s former national security adviser pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with the Russian ambassador. Continue reading “‘Wait, the tax bill is about to pass the Senate?’ … said everyone following the Michael Flynn news, basically”

Winners and losers in the Senate GOP tax bill: A running list

The following article by Heather Long was posted on the Washington Post website December 1, 2017:

The Senate on Dec. 2 passed a Republican bill overhauling the tax code. The bill passed by a 51-49 vote. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

Republicans in the Senate just passed a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. tax code, the largest change since Ronald Reagan’s presidency. The bill zipped through the process in a mere three weeks (you can get a quick rundown of what’s in the bill here). It’s still not a totally done deal though, as substantial differences between the House and Senate bills need to be ironed out before President Trump can sign the final piece of legislation into law. But there’s little doubt this is a major victory for Trump.

Here’s a rundown of the winners and losers so far (you can read the entire 479 page document here): Continue reading “Winners and losers in the Senate GOP tax bill: A running list”

How an unequal tax cut grew more unequal

The following article by Heather Long was posted on the Washington Post website December 2, 2017:

The Senate on Dec. 2 passed a Republican bill overhauling the tax code. The bill passed by a 51-49 vote. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

When Senate Republicans introduced their tax bill in mid-November, they faced competing interests: Some senators thought it wasn’t generous enough for working-class families. Others thought it didn’t deliver enough to business owners.

As Republicans moved closer to a final vote on the bill Friday night, they made several tweaks to the tax legislation. They announced more benefits for business owners, particularly wealthy ones, but they voted down a proposal by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) to give low-income families a bigger tax break. Continue reading “How an unequal tax cut grew more unequal”