Tag: GOP tax cut for the rich

It’s time to demolish the myth of trickle-down economics

The following article by Max Lawson was posted on the World Economic Forum website July 19, 2016:

The gap between rich and poor is reaching new extremes. Credit Suisse recently revealed that the richest 1% have now accumulated more wealth than the rest of the world put together.

This occurred a year earlier than Oxfam’s much publicized prediction ahead of last year’s World Economic Forum. Meanwhile, the wealth owned by the bottom half of humanity has fallen by a trillion dollars in the past five years. This is just the latest evidence that today we live in a world with levels of inequality we may not have seen for over a century.

Continue reading “It’s time to demolish the myth of trickle-down economics”

How Cutting Taxes Makes Life Worse for the Rich

The following article by Robert H. Frank was posted on the New York Times website November 17, 2017:

The Republican effort to cut federal taxes is still underway, and many crucial details are still unsettled. But little doubt remains that the effort has been heavily shaped by wealthy donors.

As Chris Collins, a Republican representative from New York put it: “My donors are basically saying, ‘Get it done or don’t ever call me again.’”

Many affluent people are likely to celebrate if an eventual deal in Washington grants them big tax breaks. Evidence suggests, however, that their jubilation would be short-lived — and followed by deep disappointment.

It is perfectly natural, of course, to believe that extra cash will help them buy the special things they want, such as more spacious homes or better performing cars. But that belief is a garden-variety cognitive error. Continue reading “How Cutting Taxes Makes Life Worse for the Rich”

Republicans push hard on GOP tax plan, but voters just aren’t that into it

The following article by Lisa Mascaro was posted on the Los Angeles Times website November 23, 2017:

 

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) applauds after House passage of the GOP tax plan in Washington. (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press)

Republicans are investing enormous amounts of political capital and dollars to pump up support for the GOP tax overhaul in a risky, last-ditch legislative undertaking ahead of next year’s midterm election.

President Trump is promoting the bill as a Christmas present for the American people, and a group aligned with House Speaker Paul D. Ryanhas spent $20 million so far on ads and outreach in communities across the nation. Senate Leader Mitch McConnell is set to fast-track the bill through the chamber next week.

Problem is, voters just don’t seem to be that interested. Continue reading “Republicans push hard on GOP tax plan, but voters just aren’t that into it”

Need more heart in this country

I strongly oppose the tax bill proposed by either the U.S. House or Senate without major modifications.

We need to protect and push forward with health care for every person in America.

We do not need more military, we do not need more tax breaks for the very wealthy, and we certainly do not need trillions more debt.

We need more heart in this country in caring for the most vulnerable.

My plan is to write Congressman Erik Paulsen about this regularly and hope he will listen to me — and all of his constituents.

Judith Potthoff, Chanhassen
Chaska Herald, November 24, 2017

Shifting wealth to the super rich

To the Editor:

The problem with politics today is that the truth is often hidden with half-truths.

Mr. Beaudette’s letter “Supply-side economics works” (Nov. 16) is a perfect example. He is correct that the federal tax revenues did increase dramatically during President Ronald Reagan’s years in office, and also during the term of President George H.W. Bush.

What he fails to mention is that national debt rose even faster during this period. Looking at the ratio of federal debt to the nation’s gross income, or gross domestic product (GDP), we see that it fell from 125 percent at the end of World War II to 30 percent by 1980. It rose during Reagan’s term, with the tax cuts, from 30 percent to 50 percent. Continue reading “Shifting wealth to the super rich”

Will a Corporate Tax Cut Lift Worker Pay? A Union Wants It in Writing

The following article by Jim Tankersley was posted on the New York Times website November 23, 2017:

A demonstration last week that was organized by groups that included the Communications Workers of America. That union has urged companies to pledge to raise wages if a tax cut is enacted. Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

WASHINGTON — At the heart of the Republican tax plan hurtling through Congress is an implicit promise that cutting corporate taxes will lift the middle class through higher wages and more jobs.

Speaker Paul D. Ryan, for example, said in a recent speech that “fixing the business side of our tax code is really all about helping families and workers,” adding that “cutting the corporate tax rate means more jobs here in the United States. It will foster increased competition, which will directly drive up wages for our workers.”

Yet few American companies have offered specific plans that support those promises. While many chief executives broadly praise Republicans’ efforts to cut taxes, few have detailed how they would deploy the savings from a corporate tax cut or put more money back in workers’ pockets. Continue reading “Will a Corporate Tax Cut Lift Worker Pay? A Union Wants It in Writing”

Cut Taxes or Die

The following article by Kenneth T. Walsh was posted on the U.S. News and World Report website November 24, 2017:

The Republican tax bill is about political survival, not policy.

Donald Trump meets with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan on Capitol Hill. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are aiming for one main objective as they push for a bill to cut taxes: a political victory. This has become more important to them than ideology, equity or consistency, and as a result any final bill is likely to be a testament to their desire for survival rather than legislation that will stand the test of time.

“At the end of the day, when all else fails, Republicans are expected to be able to cut taxes,” says political scientist Bill Galston of the Brookings Institution, a former senior White House adviser to President Bill Clinton. “If they can’t do that, why do they exist? … This is do or die for them.” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., a skeptic about the Senate bill, complains about the “awful, rushed process” and a “desperation to pass anything.” Continue reading “Cut Taxes or Die”

Expiring provisions threaten to upend promised tax relief

The following article by Damian Paletta was posted on the Washington Post website November 22, 2017:

Director of the Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulvaney during an Oval Office meeting on Oct. 19. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Congressional Republicans have implanted nearly 50 expiring provisions in their tax-cut bills that, if left unaddressed, would transform what Republicans promised would be middle-class tax relief into a law that raises taxes for tens of millions of Americans.

More than 80 percent of the tax breaks set to go away would be taken from households. The perks for corporations are generally permanent, including the biggest single benefit in the bill: a permanent reduction of the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent.

Democrats have accused the GOP of offering only illusory benefits for families, but White House and Republican leaders in recent days have repeatedly insisted that lawmakers in future sessions of Congress would extend the cuts or make them permanent. Future lawmakers, they argue, would be unwilling to let large-scale tax increases targeting the middle class take effect. Continue reading “Expiring provisions threaten to upend promised tax relief”

States Warn of Budget Crunch Under Republican Tax Plan

The following article by Alan Rappeport was posted on the New York Times website November 22, 2017:

n Oregon, which has one of the highest state income tax rates in the country, roughly 30 percent of taxpayers would see their federal tax bills increase if the tax bill moving through Congress repeals the state and local tax deduction. Credit Amanda Lucier for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Since getting crushed by the recession a decade ago, the state of Oregon has been on an economic upswing. The jobless rate has dipped below 4 percent from a high of 12 percent in 2009, home values are up and people are flocking to the state.

Net migration accounted for roughly 88 percent of Oregon’s population growth between 2016 and 2017, according to a Portland State University study.

But state officials worry that all the economic progress is about to be undercut by the $1.5 trillion Republican tax plan sailing through Congress. While lawmakers say the plan will boost growth and strengthen the economy, Oregon officials say the bill could have the opposite effect by making the state a less affordable place to live and putting a squeeze on state and local budgets. Continue reading “States Warn of Budget Crunch Under Republican Tax Plan”

The Finance 202: There is something very strange about the GOP tax plan

The following article by Tory Newmyer was posted on the Washington Post website November 22, 2017:

President Donald Trump talks to reporters Tuesday before departing with his family to Mar-a-Lago for Thanksgiving. Credit: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post

Here’s one way to tell whether a tax code rewrite is headed in the right direction: Corporate lobbyists should be whining that their private breaks are getting squeezed too hard, and economists should be cheering because the trashing of those preferences is paying for lower overall rates that could fuel new growth.

Neither of those things is happening. And the Republican push to overhaul the code is far enough along that it’s raising alarms from economists across the country. The latest came Tuesday, when only one of 42 top economists surveyed by the Initiative on Global Markets at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business thought the tax proposals moving through Congress would meaningfully expand the economy over a decade (22 disagreed or strongly disagreed, 15 were uncertain and the rest didn’t answer). And none of those economists, a sampling spanning the ideological spectrum, disagreed the measures would leave the nation saddled with a substantially heavier debt load relative to the size of the economy.  Continue reading “The Finance 202: There is something very strange about the GOP tax plan”