Tag: GOP repeal of Johnson amendment

Politicking by Churches Fight Mixes With Tax, Spending Debates

The following article by Kate Ackley was posted on the Roll Call website December 6, 2017:

Johnson Amendment repeal effort waged on many fronts

Credit: Jusbe via Morguefile

As lobbyists spar over whether the final version of the GOP’s tax bill should roll back a rule that prevents churches and charities from endorsing political candidates, their efforts could add another wrinkle to the year-end spending debate.

Although a House proposal to scale back what’s known as the Johnson Amendment may not survive the tax overhaul, supporters of the change could turn to a spending measure as Plan B. And groups wishing to preserve the Johnson Amendment, which has been a part of the tax code since 1954, say they will be on alert.

“If it doesn’t make it in the tax bill, we need to watch,” said Lisa Gilbert of Public Citizen, who supports keeping the restrictions in place.

A partial rollback of the Johnson Amendment is already included in a fiscal 2018 House appropriations measure. Continue reading “Politicking by Churches Fight Mixes With Tax, Spending Debates”

It Started as a Tax Cut. Now It Could Change American Life.

The following article by Peter S. Goodman and Patricia Cohen was posted on the New York TImes website November 29, 2017:

A job fair in Atlanta in last year. While Republicans promote their tax plan as a way to encourage job growth and economic expansion, its constraints on state and local taxation could restrict spending on health care, education, transportation and social services. Credit Bob Andres/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, via Associated Press

The tax plan has been marketed by President Trump and Republican leaders as a straightforward if enormous rebate for the masses, a $1.5 trillion package of cuts to spur hiring and economic growth. But as the bill has been rushed through Congress with scant debate, its far broader ramifications have come into focus, revealing a catchall legislative creation that could reshape major areas of American life, from education to health care.

Some of this re-engineering is straight out of the traditional Republican playbook. Corporate taxes, along with those on wealthy Americans, would be slashed on the presumption that when people in penthouses get relief, the benefits flow down to basement tenements.

Some measures are barely connected to the realm of taxation, such as the lifting of a 1954 ban on political activism by churches and the conferring of a new legal right for fetuses in the House bill — both on the wish list of the evangelical right.

With a potentially far-reaching dimension, elements in both the House and Senate bills could constrain the ability of states and local governments to levy their own taxes, pressuring them to limit spending on health care, education, public transportation and social services. In their longstanding battle to shrink government, Republicans have found in the tax bill a vehicle to broaden the fight beyond Washington. Continue reading “It Started as a Tax Cut. Now It Could Change American Life.”