Tag: GOP supply side economics

Who Really Gets a Tax Increase if the Individual Mandate Goes Away?

The following article by Margaret Sanger-Katz was posted on the New York Times website November 17, 2017:

Senator Orrin Hatch on Tuesday at the meeting of the Senate Finance Committee to address the tax overhaul.CreditTom Brenner/The New York Times

If Obamacare’s requirement to have health insurance is revoked by Congress, some people will choose to go without it, and the government will save money because it won’t have to pay to subsidize their plans.

Almost everyone agrees on that. But precisely how much the individual mandate matters, and who would really be worse off without it, are trickier questions.

New estimates show that the mandate’s repeal would give low-income Americans a big tax increase. But Republicans say that’s not true. And they have a point. Meanwhile, left out of the tax tables is the fact that some higher earners, who look as if they are getting more of a tax cut, will get hit with higher insurance premiums if the mandate is repealed. Continue reading “Who Really Gets a Tax Increase if the Individual Mandate Goes Away?”

Tax Reform: This is the one big problem with the Republican tax “postcard” plan

The following article by Emily C. Singer was posted on the mic.com website November 16, 2017:

House Republicans love to tout the idea that their tax reform plan will make filing your taxes so easy you can do it all on what they call a “Simple, Fair ‘postcard’” — the same postcard President Donald Trump can be seen kissing in a video from Nov. 2.

“You can file your taxes, I’m going to bring a couple props out, literally on a postcard,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said this week at a town hall, showing off the small piece of paper he says 90% of Americans will be able to use to file their taxes if Republicans have their way. Continue reading “Tax Reform: This is the one big problem with the Republican tax “postcard” plan”

House Tax Bill: 5 key ways the newly passed plan would affect your money

The following article by James Dennin was posted on the mic.com website November 16, 2017:

The House of Representatives passed its version of a tax overhaul on Thursday by a 227-205 vote. The passage represents a major hurdle cleared for the GOP, but it’s still not clear whether the bill can survive a vote in the Senate — expected soon, following approval by the Senate Finance Committee Thursday night — and become law.

The bill, rolled out two weeks ago, has been criticized for purporting to help average Americans, while eliminating many middle-class benefits. Indeed, the biggest beneficiaries of reform seem instead to be corporations, said Jacob Leibenluft, a senior adviser for the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. Continue reading “House Tax Bill: 5 key ways the newly passed plan would affect your money”

House Republicans Vote to Raise Taxes on 36 Million Middle-Class Families

The following message from Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer was e-mailed November 17, 2017:

Yesterday, House Republicans passed their tax scam bill through the House, voting to raise taxes on 36 million middle-class families, provide massive tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and corporations, and add $1.5 trillion dollars to the deficit. House Democrats unanimously opposed this tax scam that overwhelmingly benefits the wealthy while leaving the middle class behind and triggering a$25 billion cut to Medicare next year alone. I urge my colleagues in the Senate to reject this bill and work with Democrats to reform the tax code in a bipartisan, transparent, and revenue neutral fashion. Continue reading “House Republicans Vote to Raise Taxes on 36 Million Middle-Class Families”

If The GOP Wants A More Popular Tax Plan, Minor Tweaks Won’t Be Enough

The following article by Harry Enten was posted on the Fivethirtyeight website November 17, 2017:

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY FIVETHIRTYEIGHT / GETTY IMAGES

Welcome to Pollapalooza, our weekly polling roundup. Today’s theme song: “You Can Count on Me” from the television show “My Two Dads.”

Poll of the week

A Quinnipiac University survey released on Wednesday found that just 25 percent of voters approved of the Republican tax plan. A majority, 52 percent, disapproved. That’s really bad and in line with prior polling.

Senate Republicans seem intent on pressing forward anyway and are now trying to include a repeal of Obamacare’s individual mandate in the bill. But while attaching a partial Obamacare repeal to tax legislation is probably a mistake politically, some of the GOP’s recent tweaks to the legislation suggest that they’re reading the same polling we are and trying to improve the politics of their tax push. Continue reading “If The GOP Wants A More Popular Tax Plan, Minor Tweaks Won’t Be Enough”

The Tax Bill Will be an Albatross for House Republicans

The following article by Ryan Collins was posted on the Center for American Progress website November 15, 2017:

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) shakes hands with Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), on January 3, 2017, on Capitol Hill. Credit: AP/Jose Luis Magana

Republicans have convinced themselves that they must pass a tax plan to maintain their political majority in Congress. As Heritage Foundation fellow and Trump administration tax policy advisor Stephen Moore said, “The Republicans are finally figuring out if they don’t pass this, the political consequences are going to be catastrophic.”  Republican members of Congress, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have echoed similar statements. The truth is that passing a tax plan this bad—which now includes repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) individual mandate—could be even worse for congressional Republicans’ political prospects.

Make no mistake, voting for this bill is likely to end a lot of political careers: Every single Republican member of the House will own this vote. The political ads against these members practically write themselves.

The robust string of Democratic victories in Virginia and New Jersey signal that the electorate has soured on both President Donald Trump and a congressional agenda that seeks to strip them of health care and raise their taxes, all while giving massive tax giveaways to millionaires, billionaires, and large corporations. Continue reading “The Tax Bill Will be an Albatross for House Republicans”

Blue states will be hit hardest by GOP tax plan’s limits on deductions

NOTE:  Minnesota CD3 Rep. Erik Paulsen supports this legislation.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Tex.), joined by House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) on Thursday (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

The following article by Carolyn Y. Johnson, Reuben Fischer-Baum and Aaron Williams was posted on the Washington Post website November 2, 2017:

The GOP tax plan’s changes to deductions would hit people in blue states hard, with limits on popular tax deductions that would have the biggest effects on people with high property taxes and expensive homes.

The tax plan doubles the standard deduction to $24,000 for a married couple, meaning most people wouldn’t itemize their mortgage interest or property taxes. But for those who do, the popular mortgage interest deduction would be capped at $500,000 of the loan amount for home purchases made after Nov. 2, 2017, instead of the current $1 million cap.

The deduction of state and local property taxes would be capped at $10,000, and state and local income and sales taxes could no longer be deducted. Continue reading “Blue states will be hit hardest by GOP tax plan’s limits on deductions”