Tag: GOP tax cut for the rich

Statement from DFL Chair Ken Martin on Jason Lewis

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA — Today, DFL Chairman Ken Martin released the following statement after President Trump’s hand-picked Republican Senate candidate Jason Lewis—who Minnesotans in the 2nd Congressional District voted out last November—announced that he was running for the U.S. Senate in 2020:

“Jason Lewis spent his time in Washington repeatedly siding with powerful special interests over Minnesotans—voting to gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions and to give tax breaks and giveaways to big corporations like prescription drug companies, big oil and Wall Street. Jason Lewis may want to continue fighting for special interests and big corporations, but Minnesota voters will reject this failed attempt at a second act.” Continue reading “Statement from DFL Chair Ken Martin on Jason Lewis”

The Super-Wealthy Have Outsize Influence in Politics. Here’s How We Can Change That

In 2018, the 10 largest individual donors funneled more than $436 million to Super PACs in the most expensive midterm elections ever. Big money in politics has overwhelmed the political process, granting wealthy special interests more power now than at any time in recent American history. The Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United v. FEC and other court decisions left Congress and the states constitutionally prohibited from putting limits on raising and spending money in elections, unleashing a flood of corporate dollars in U.S. elections and opening the door for the super-rich to fuel their own interests in our government at the expense of ordinary Americans. While this trend has been decades in the making, these decisions further dismantled our campaign finance laws.

This summer, I joined with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and other Senate Democrats to introduce the Democracy for All Amendment, a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United v. FECand other disastrous court decisions. The amendment would give Congress and the states the power “to regulate and set reasonable limits on the raising and spending of money by candidates and others to influence elections” as well to draw a distinction “between natural persons and corporations or other artificial entities created by law.” Continue reading “The Super-Wealthy Have Outsize Influence in Politics. Here’s How We Can Change That”

DFL Statement on the Anniversary of the GOP’s Senate Health Care Vote

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Two years ago today, the Senate rejected Trump’s health care bill that would have spiked costs and jeopardized coverage for Minnesotans with preexisting conditions. Ken Martin, Chairman of the Minnesota DFL, issued the following statement:

“Donald Trump’s relentless effort to strip Minnesotans of their health care and spike their costs is not only irresponsible, it’s cruel. Their efforts haven’t stopped either: after failing to get their way in Congress, Trump and his allies are trying to use the courts to continue their sabotage of our health care system.

“Democrats are working to defend and expand Americans’ access to health care. We know that it’s unacceptable for families to be forced to choose between food on the table and having access to the health care they need. The contrast between the parties on this issue is crystal clear and voters will hold Trump and the GOP accountable in 2020.”

Taking Stock of Spending Through the Tax Code

Center for American Progress logoTax Expenditures Are Skewed to the Wealthy Even After TCJA

Overview

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which gave the largest tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, also failed to address the inefficiency, lack of fairness, and cost of many spending programs administered through the tax code.

Introduction and summary

Government spending through the tax code has flourished in the years since the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which significantly reduced the cost of a large number of tax breaks. In 2019, the federal government will spend roughly $1.6 trillion through special provisions of the tax code, called tax expenditures,1 up from an inflation-adjusted $600 billion in 1988—more than a trillion-dollar difference.2 Yet, as detailed later in this report, tax expenditures receive little direct oversight in the budget process, and many are poorly targeted to the goals they claim to achieve. As a result, the tax code contains many tax expenditures that do not achieve their stated claims, are unfairly skewed in favor of higher-income taxpayers, or both.

This report will review the status of individual tax expenditure policy in the aftermath of the December 2017 tax law, known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). After providing a brief review of the theory around tax expenditures, it will use specific examples to explain how the structure of individual income tax expenditures, as amended by the TCJA, affects their cost and who benefits, as well as how some tax expenditures are ineffective, with their underlying goals best not pursued through the tax code at all.

View the complete July 25 article by Alexandra Thornton and Sara Estep on the Center for American Progress 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.

‘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.

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?”

Profitable Giants Like Amazon Pay $0 in Corporate Taxes. Some Voters Are Sick of It.

AKRON, Ohio — Colin Robertson wonders why he pays federal taxes on the $18,000 a year he makes cleaning carpets, while the tech giant Amazon got a tax rebate.

His concerns about a tilted economic playing field recently led Mr. Robertson to join the Akron chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. At a gathering this month, as members discussed Karl Marx and corporate greed over chocolate chip cookies, it wasn’t long before talk turned to income inequality and how the government helps the wealthy avoid taxes.

“One of the benefits of taxation is taking it and using it for the collective good,” said Mr. Robertson, 25, comparing his minimal income to the roughly $150 billion net worth of Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive and the world’s richest person.

View the complete April 29 article by Stephanie Saul and Patricia Cohen on The New York Times website here.

Even millionaires are ashamed of their absurdly low tax bills

Fats Domino sings: “I found my thrill, on Blueberry Hill.” Maybe, but America’s richest corporate powers know precisely where to find their thrill: On Capitol Hill.

They rushed there in 2017 with a passion hotter than high school love, spewing the pheromones of campaign cash into the Republican congressional caucus. Sure enough, the GOP Congress came through for the corporations, satisfying their lust to have their tax rate lowered from 35 percent to 21 percent — lower than a modest-income working stiff pays.

Actually, the corporate elites hadn’t been paying anywhere near 35 percent, since they used dozens of loopholes to cut their average rate to about 13 percent. Yet Republican lawmakers coddled these privileged giants with a rate cut — plus, they kept intact most of those gaping loopholes. Thus, many corporate behemoths paid $0 in federal taxes this year. Or less!

View the complete April 27 article by Jim Hightower on the AlterNet website here.