Tag: GOP supply side economics

How The Super Rich Avoid Paying Taxes … And What We Can Do About It

Part 5: There’s a Simple Way to Force the 1% to Pay Up and Make the Tax System Fairer to Everyone

Our investigative series The Koch Papers illustrates many deep problems in America’s creaky, century-old income tax system, especially how our Congress has through favors to donors has transformed it into has two tax systems, separate and unequal.

These dual systems pose a threat to our nation’s social stability, to our national security and to America remaining a nation of equality under law. But there is a simple solution to this, as we shall see. It requires only that Congress stand up for honest and fair tax law enforcement, not the interests of those major campaign donors who cheat.

One of the most significant lessons applies to William Ingraham Koch and his company whether or not, as his former chief tax executive claims, the IRS failed to curb massive income tax cheating. That’s because if Koch did find a way to lawfully collect more than $100 million in tax-free profits annually it is just as much a public issue as if he did it by cheating.

View the complete July 12 article by David Cay Johnston on the DC Report website here.

How To Fix A Big Problem With The Trump-Radical Republican Tax Law

The American people got a highly misleading June 24 report from Congressional staff about the effect of repealing Donald Trump’s $10,000 limit on state and local tax deductions, known as SALT.

Millionaires and billionaires get most of the benefits if the limitation is repealed, the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation reported.

Duh.

Our major news organizations promptly parroted the findings without digging deeper. And none thought to report on whether the tax committee staff had been asked the right or best question in preparing its analysis.

View the complete July 4 article by David Cay Johnston on the DC Report website here.

What We Could Have Had for $1.9 Trillion

Center for American Progress logoThroughout his campaign and since taking office, President Donald Trump has promised to stand up for working people and families. But the most far-reaching bill he’s signed into law—the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017—was a handout for corporate America and the wealthy at the expense of working- and middle-class families. President Trump’s tax handout is estimated to cost $1.9 trillion between 2018 and 2027, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). As a result of the law, large corporations are receiving a massive tax cut—even bigger than what was originally expected. And while the law is running up federal deficits, it is having little or no positive effect on the U.S. economy, according to new research from the Congressional Research Service.

Working- and middle-class families deserve better. In fact, for the same $1.9 trillion cost of President Trump’s tax giveaway, the United States could afford to completely eliminate child poverty; double its federal investment in climate science; extend universal access to affordable child care and pre-K; provide a $10,000 raise for teachers in high-poverty schools; provide free community college; and take dramatic action to tackle the opioid epidemic. (see Methodology) Continue reading “What We Could Have Had for $1.9 Trillion”

Trump Awards Medal Of Freedom To Creator Of Debunked ‘Laffer Curve’

NOTE:  As you read this, keep in mind that a president can issue the Medal of Freedom to whomever s/he wants. And, the following difference the Laffer Curve (trickle down) has made in our lives:

US average annual per capita GDP growth, adjusted for inflation
1981-2017 inclusive = 1.7% (Reagan/Laffer Curve economics)
1933-1980 inclusive = 3.2% (FDR/Keynesian economics)

Arthur Laffer is a right-wing crank whose economic theory that tax cuts pay for themselves has not only been widely debunked by actual economists but has proven to be an abject failure when put into action.

Yet on Wednesday President Trump gave Laffer the Medal of Freedom — the highest honor a civilian can receive — and it’s all because Laffer has praised the egomaniac who occupies the Oval Office.

Laffer truly does not deserve the honor he’s about to receive.

View the complete June 19 article by Emily Singer on the National Memo website here.

Worker Bonuses Fell Sharply As Corporations Reaped Tax-Cut Billions

After a flurry of press releases last year touting all the bonuses that would come when Republicans passed their tax scam, it turns out corporations scaled back on worker bonuses in 2019, and drastically. But they’re still reaping the benefits of the GOP tax scam, according to a Tuesday Wall Street Journal report.

Compared to this time last year, worker bonuses have dropped by a stunning 24 percent, based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The drop is the largest decrease on record, dating back to 2005.

Since the tax scam was signed into law in December 2017, Trump and Republicans have highlighted anecdotal evidence from corporate press releases to promote its greatness. In January 2018, for example, the Trump administration praised Walmart for giving out bonuses, even as the company was closing more than 60 stores.

View the complete June 19 article by Dan Desai Martin on the National Memo website here.

Trump administration tightens restrictions on fetal tissue research

After Trump recently called his economy “the best ever,” MSNBC’s Morgan Radford spoke with a group of truckers who disagreed.

MSNBC spoke to a group of trucker drivers this week who say that President Donald Trump hasn’t kept his campaign promises.

>After Trump recently called his economy “the best ever,” MSNBC’s Morgan Radford spoke with a group of truckers who disagreed. Several of the truckers were Trump voters who don’t expect to vote for the president again.

“Do you feel like this administration is listening to you as truckers?” Radford asked.

“No, ma’am,” one trucker replied.

View the complete June 5 article by David Edwards of Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

‘Garbage’ GOP tax cuts didn’t benefit the economy — according to the Congressional Research Service

“It’s done nothing to raise wages and flown right into corporate execs’ pockets,” Rep. Bill Pascrell said of the Republican tax law.

Despite lofty promises from President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, the $1.5 trillion in tax cuts that went into effect last year have done little—if anything—to raise workers’ wages, boost economic growth, or spur business investment.

That’s according to a new analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS), which appeared to vindicate warnings from progressive critics that the GOP tax cuts were little more than a scam designed to put more money in the pockets of wealthy Americans.

In its 23-page report (pdf), the independent research arm found that while the Republican tax law has not done much for workers or the overall economy, it has sparked a wave of stock buybacks, which primarily benefit rich executives.

View the complete May 29 article by Jake Johnson from Common Dreams on the AlterNet website.

Rigged: How the US tax law props up people like Donald Trump — while screwing over everyday Americans

The New York Times disclosure that Donald Trump  was able “to avoid paying income taxes” for years, while he racked up $1.17 billion in losses, tells you all you need to know about the American system of taxation that rewards risk, debt and speculation because it so completely insulates the greediest among us from the real world consequences of all three.

The Times compared their Trump file “with detailed information the I.R.S. compiles on an annual sampling of high-income earners. His core business losses in 1990 and 1991 — more than $250 million each year — were more than double those of the nearest taxpayers in the I.R.S. information for those years.”

We know that our tax system taxes wages we earn at a much higher rate than the profits the rich earn off their investments. But it’s more perverse than that because it actually incentivizes the most predatory traits of vulture capitalism.

View the complete May 12 article by Bob Hennelly of Salon on the AlterNet website here.

Where The Money Is: How Trump’s Tax Cut Plundered America

Famed bank robber Willie Sutton once explained that he busted into banks because “that’s where the money is.” What a small-timer! Corporate thieves — including the biggest banks — know that the big scores are in the tax code and federal budget. America’s superrich establishment decided to woo Trump and his fanatical constituency to back their agenda of plutocratic plunder.

It’s working. The big legislative accomplishment of the guy who claimed to be a working-class hero was his 2017 Christmastime signing of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. As most Americans now realize, the tax cut was not for them but instead was a disgraceful trillion-dollar-a-year giveaway to corporate giants and their wealthiest shareholders.

According to Americans for Tax Fairness, hundreds of Trump’s corporate backers are already making a killing. In just the first three quarters of 2018, big business quietly pocketed stunning tax savings they would have — and should have — paid to support America’s public needs:

  • Apple: $4.5 billion
  • AT&T: $2.2 billion
  • Bank of America: $2.4 billion
  • Verizon: $1.75 billion
  • Walmart: $1.6 billion

View the complete May 4 article by Jim Hightower on the National Memo website here.

Trump’s tax cut plan promised working class job creation and pay raises. Where did all the money go?

America’s superrich establishment decided to woo Trump and his fanatical constituency to back their agenda of plutocratic plunder.

Famed bank robber Willie Sutton once explained that he busted into banks because “that’s where the money is.” What a small-timer! Corporate thieves – including the biggest banks – know that the big scores are in the tax code and federal budget. America’s superrich establishment decided to woo Trump and his fanatical constituency to back their agenda of plutocratic plunder.

It’s working. The big legislative accomplishment of the guy who claimed to be a working-class hero was his 2017 Christmastime signing of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. As most Americans now realize, the tax cut was not for them but instead was a disgraceful trillion-dollar-a-year giveaway to corporate giants and their wealthiest shareholders. Continue reading “Trump’s tax cut plan promised working class job creation and pay raises. Where did all the money go?”