Tag: GOP tax scam

Why so Many Americans Hate Trump’s Tax Reform

The following article by Jim Hightower was posted on the creators.com website November 29, 2017:

Sam Rayburn of Texas, who was a legendary Speaker of the U.S. House in the 1940s and ’50s, offered this piece of ethical advice for lawmakers who were conflicted over whether to vote for the People of the lobbyists: “Every now and then, a politician ought to do something just because it’s right.”

Wow, ethics — how quaint! Today’s House Speaker, Paul Ryan, has put his own perverted twist to Rayburn’s ethics, advising his Republican majority to vote for anything just because it’s right-wing. Along with Donald Trump and Senate leader Mitch McConnell, Ryan is now pushing for a rewrite of America’s tax law that’s so far to the right that it’s horribly wrong. Continue reading “Why so Many Americans Hate Trump’s Tax Reform”

Trump touts benefits of tax cuts for ‘the people that like me best’

The following article by John Wagner was posted on the Washington Post website November 29, 2017:

During a speech touting the GOP tax plan in St. Charles, Mo., on Nov. 29, President Trump said his “focus” is to help “the people that like me best.” (The Washington Post)

ST. CHARLES, Mo. — With a critical Senate vote looming, President Trump on Wednesday pitched the Republican tax plan as a boon to his working-class supporters, even as independent analyses have indicated that the wealthy and corporations would be the biggest beneficiaries.

“Our focus is on helping the folks who work in the mail rooms and the machine shops of America, the plumbers, the carpenters, the cops, the teachers, the truck drivers …. the people that like me best,” Trump said in remarks to an enthusiastic, invitation-only crowd of about 1,000 at a convention center in a state that he carried comfortably in last year’s election.

“Really, the people that like me best are those people, the workers,” Trump said. “They’re the people I understand the best. … They came out to vote for me. They came out to vote for us.”

A report released Sunday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that the GOP Senate plan would give substantial tax cuts and benefits to Americans earning more than $100,000 a year while the nation’s poorest could be worse off.

By 2027, most people earning less than $75,000 a year would be net losers under the plan, the CBO found. Meanwhile, millionaires and those earning between $100,000 and $500,000 would be big beneficiaries, according to the CBO’s calculations.

Senate Republican leaders have questioned the analysis, which takes into account the projected effects of a provision in the bill that eliminates the requirement that almost all Americans buy health insurance or else pay a penalty. The CBO has calculated that health insurance premiums would rise as a result, leading 13 million to lose insurance by 2027.

Trump appeared upbeat as he addressed the crowd from a stage lined with Christmas trees, urging the Senate to pass the bill in coming days.

“The big day will be either tomorrow or the next day,” Trump said. “I would say, ‘Do it now.’ ”

If the bill passes, the Senate will have to work out differences with the House, which has passed its own version of a tax-cut bill. Trump referred to the process as “a mixer” and said he hopes to have compromise legislation on his desk by Christmas.

“Together we will give the American people a big, beautiful Christmas present,” Trump told the crowd. “You’re going to have something I predict is going to be really, really special.”

Republicans are forging ahead with their promise to overhaul the tax code, even with very little public support for their proposal. (Video: Jenny Starrs/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Several recent polls show that more Americans oppose than support the Trump and GOP tax plans. A Quinnipiac poll this month found about twice as many disapproving as approving (52 percent vs. 25 percent), with nearly a quarter offering no opinion.

Polls have also found a widespread perception that the Trump tax plan is geared toward the wealthy. In a Washington Post-ABC News poll this month, 60 percent said his tax proposal favors the rich, while 13 percent thought it favors the middle class, 2 percent said it favors the poor, and 17 percent said it treats all equally. Continue reading “Trump touts benefits of tax cuts for ‘the people that like me best’”

Listen: Booming economy may not yield results GOP is hoping for

The following article by Alexis Simendinger was posted on the Hill website November 30, 2017:

Encouraging economic data and booming financial markets may not produce the political dividends President Trump and Republicans once envisioned.

The Hill’s Reid Wilson explains what voters say they’re most concerned about. 

View the post here.

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.”

Taxpayers want more fairness. GOP plan to ‘reform’ the tax code doesn’t deliver

The following article by Stephanie Leiser, Lecturer in Public Policy at the University of Michigan, was posted on the Conversation website November 29, 2017:

Credit Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Republicans seem to be operating under the assumption that if the details of their tax “reform” plan are aired for too long, the whole thing might fall apart.

The House passed its version of the most sweeping overhaul of the tax code in a generation on Nov. 16, barely seven weeks since Republicans disclosed their “unified framework.” The last major rewrite, passed in 1986, took two years. Continue reading “Taxpayers want more fairness. GOP plan to ‘reform’ the tax code doesn’t deliver”

Trump and Democrats trade insults to start tense month of negotiations on year-end priorities

The following article by Ed O’Keefe and Sean Sullivan was posted on the Washington Post website November 28, 2017:

The top two Congressional Democrats cancelled a planned meeting on Nov. 28 with President Trump after he said he didn’t think they could reach a budget deal. (Reuters)

President Trump and top lawmakers Tuesday failed to craft the outlines of a spending agreement as Democrats backed out of a planned meeting at the White House amid growing acrimony over a slate of year-end legislative priorities, with a potential government shutdown looming over the negotiations.

The impasse all but ensures another holiday-season standoff over legislation designed to keep the government open and that also is expected to settle complex issues regarding immigration and health care. Continue reading “Trump and Democrats trade insults to start tense month of negotiations on year-end priorities”

Trump Lobbies GOP on Tax Bill, But McConnell Still Needs Votes

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website November 28, 2017:

During turbulent day, White House tries to get a legislative win

President Donald Trump arrives on Tuesday with Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., left, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for the Republican Senate Policy luncheon in the Capitol to discuss a tax overhaul bill. Credit: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call

President Donald Trump lobbied GOP senators behind closed doors Tuesday to support a tax overhaul bill that is key to his agenda, but the chamber’s leading Republican indicated afterward he is still searching for the votes to pass it.

Trump returned to Capitol Hill for the third time in four weeks to sell Republican members on the House and Senate versions of GOP tax plan. But this time, he also went to try and wrangle the remaining holdouts to secure the 50 votes needed to pass the bill later this week. (Vice President Mike Pence could cast the 51st and decisive vote.)

Senate Finance Chairman Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, told reporters following the meeting that he believes Trump and GOP leaders will ultimately pass the first major tax legislation in three decades. Republicans moved a step closer shortly after their lunch with Trump when the Budget Committee moved the reconciliation tax measure to the floor on a party-line, 12-11 vote. Continue reading “Trump Lobbies GOP on Tax Bill, But McConnell Still Needs Votes”

Senate Republican tax plan clears hurdle with help from two key GOP holdouts

The following article by Mike DeBOnis, Erica Werner and Damian Paletta was posted on the Washington Post website November 28, 2017:

The Senate Budget Committee moved the Republican tax bill forward amid the shouts of protesters on Nov. 28. (U.S. Senate Budget Committee)

The Republican effort to rewrite the tax code surged forward Tuesday, as a Senate panel approved the measure and several wavering lawmakers signaled they are leaning toward backing the bill.

The Senate Budget Committee voted 12 to 11 to send the $1.4 trillion tax package to the Senate floor for a vote later this week. That margin was in doubt up until the votes were cast because two Republicans, Sens. Bob Corker (Tenn.) and Ron Johnson (Wis.), had threatened to oppose it. Continue reading “Senate Republican tax plan clears hurdle with help from two key GOP holdouts”

The GOP’s effort to let churches endorse candidates is deeply unpopular

The following article by Jack Jenkins was posted on the ThinkProgress website November 28, 2017:

Credit: www.speaker.gov/blog

For years, a group of largely evangelical Christian conservatives have pushed the White House and Congress to abolish the so-called Johnson Amendment, a provision of the IRS tax code created in 1954 that bars non-profits and churches from endorsing political candidates. They now stand on the cusp of at least partly achieving their goal: a GOP-led Congress has quietly included a provision in their embattled tax bills that would chip away at restrictions prohibiting houses of worship from participating in electoral campaigns.

But even as supporters argue that removing the Johnson Amendment is meant to protect “religious liberty,” new survey results indicate the proposal is deeply unpopular with Democrats, Republicans, and even evangelical Christians. Continue reading “The GOP’s effort to let churches endorse candidates is deeply unpopular”

Millions of Working- and Middle-Class Americans Would See a Tax Increase Under the Senate GOP Tax Plan

NOTE:  Rep. Erik Paulsen voted FOR the GOP tax bill.

Mitch McConnell (Credit: Reuters/Joshua Roberts)

The following article by Alex Rowell and Andrew Schwartz was posted on the Center for American Progress website November 27, 2017:

Senate Republicans have put forward a tax plan that would give corporations a permanent tax cut while raising taxes on millions of families. The plan would be a windfall for the richest Americans: In 2027, nearly 62 percent of its benefits would accrue to the top 1 percent. Yet, many families would end up paying more at tax time. And because the bill would increase the deficit by more than $1.4 trillion over the next 10 years, it would trigger automatic cuts to important government programs—including $25 billion in cuts to Medicare in 2018—resulting in additional burdens on working- and middle-class families. Continue reading “Millions of Working- and Middle-Class Americans Would See a Tax Increase Under the Senate GOP Tax Plan”