Tag: GOP trickle down economics

Poll: Distrust Over Trump And Tax Cuts Driving Democratic Midterm Wave

The following article by Joe Conason was posted on the National Memo website April 13, 2018:

Donald Trump meets with Speaker Paul Ryan on Capitol Hill. Credit: REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

For Republicans, disaster seems to dominate every news cycle: Paul Ryan, the House Speaker and one of his party’s most prolific fundraisers, announces that he will not run for reelection (and the leading would-be GOP nominee in his district is an actual Nazi). Ryan’s retirement is only the latest of at least 40 Republican members who are doing likewise. Nonpartisan analysts continue to increase the odds in blue turnovers in usually safe red districts. The historically unpopular president has instigated a trade war that is alienating his own rural base.

And the tax cut that was expected to serve as the centerpiece of the Republican midterm campaign? A new poll from Democracy Corps and the American Federation of Teachers shows that in House battleground districts, relatively few people believe the benefits were distributed fairly or that the tax cut benefits them and their families — indeed, the more they learn, the more voters are motivated to vote for Democrats. Continue reading “Poll: Distrust Over Trump And Tax Cuts Driving Democratic Midterm Wave”

Deficit to top $1 trillion per year by 2020, CBO says

The following article by Jeff Stein was posted on the Washington Post website April 9, 2018:

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) returns to his office. (Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post)

America’s deficit is rising sharply and will surpass $1 trillion per year by 2020, a gap that has grown since Congress cut taxes and increased spending, the Congressional Budget Office reported Monday.

The federal deficit — the gap between how much the government takes in and how much it spends — will hit $804 billion in fiscal 2018, up 21 percent from 2017, the CBO said. Continue reading “Deficit to top $1 trillion per year by 2020, CBO says”

Three months into the tax cuts, significant wage gains seem elusive

The following article by Philip Bump was posted on the Washington Post website April 6, 2018:

February’s blockbuster jobs report — a huge gain in employment and drops in the unemployment rate among key groups — was not matched by the March number released Friday morning. The economy added 103,000 jobs last month, according to preliminary estimates, and the number of jobs created in January and February was adjusted downward by 50,000 (down 63,000 in January and up 13,000 in February).

Continue reading “Three months into the tax cuts, significant wage gains seem elusive”

What Trump Doesn’t Say About His Own Tax Plan

The following article by David Kay Johnson was posted on the dcreports.org website in April, 2018:

The Republicans Didn’t Reform the Tax System, They Blew It Up

In a Tax Day essay under the byline of Donald Trump, the USA Today newspaper has allowed the 45th president to tell an utterly misleading story about the tax “reform” law he signed into law in December. The calculated deceptions in this piece matter a lot because the front page of that same newspaper declares “Exclusive: GOP banks on tax cuts to keep  majority in Congress.”

So, let’s examine what someone wrote for Trump as he campaigns for a second term and a Congress controlled by Republicans who will not hold him accountable for anything.

Keep in mind that Donald Trump claims to be the greatest world expert of all-time on taxes, but under oath has testified that he knows nothing about accounting. Accounting is central to taxes. Indeed, it is so critical that his claim of expertise is the same as if I declared myself the world’s greatest airplane designer, but then asked, “What is a wing?” Continue reading “What Trump Doesn’t Say About His Own Tax Plan”

GOP tax message hits a snag

The following article by Naomi Jagoda and Niv Elis was posted on the Hill website March 30, 2018:

Credit: Alex Edelman/picture-alliance/dpa/AP

More than three months after the passage of the GOP’s tax-cut law, new surveys suggest that many people don’t think they are getting bigger paychecks, which could cut into support for Republicans in this fall’s midterm elections.

A CNBC poll this week stated that just 32 percent of working adults reported having more take-home pay due to the new law, a problem for Republicans hoping to run on the measure and the health of the economy in November.

The GOP has made the tax-cut law the centerpiece of its campaign message, arguing that Republican control of Congress and the White House led to legislation that is putting more money in people’s pockets and stimulating an economy with low unemployment. Continue reading “GOP tax message hits a snag”

The Tax Cut Effect

The following article by Andrew Soergel was posted on the U.S. News and World Report website March 30, 2018:

The benefits of the nation’s new tax code haven’t cropped up in much economic data so far this year.

GOP LAWMAKERS BROUGHT in 2018 with a $1.5 trillion tax overhaul that upended the burdens individuals and corporations owe to the Internal Revenue Service each year.

The legislation heaped new debt onto a country already saddled with more than $20 trillion in outstanding obligations. But the overhaul was touted as an economic growth engine likely to drive investment and wage growth in America, eventually allowing the cuts to pay for themselves by virtue of a stronger economy. Continue reading “The Tax Cut Effect”

Republicans consider ‘balanced-budget amendment’ after adding more than $1 trillion to the deficit

The following article by Jeff Stein was posted on the Washington Post website March 28, 2018:

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.). Credit: Melina Mara/The Washington Post

House Republicans are considering a vote on a “balanced-budget amendment,” a move that would proclaim their desire to eliminate the federal deficit even as they control a Congress that has added more than $1 trillion to it.

The plan is expected to have virtually no chance of passing, as it would require votes from Democrats in the Senate and ratification by three-fourths of the states. Republican lawmakers have pushed for the vote as a way to signal to constituents ahead of the midterm elections that they have tried to reduce the nation’s deficit. Continue reading “Republicans consider ‘balanced-budget amendment’ after adding more than $1 trillion to the deficit”

Income Taxes Aren’t Going to Go Down

Rep. Erik Paulsen sure is busy telling everyone how great he thinks the tax reform act is.  Erik, if the plans is so fantastic why don’t you plan an in-person town hall and have a conversation with your constituents so you can hear what we think?

We all understand that the tax reform act will reduce taxes overall, but it appears to be a gift to the wealthiest individuals and corporations, not working families.  Home-owning Minnesotans, especially in cities like Eden Prairie, will see limited benefit or even tax increases while narrow interests, like real estate businesses will have windfall.  Republicans used to abhor government picking winners and losers.  No more. Continue reading “Income Taxes Aren’t Going to Go Down”