Tag: GOP wealthcare

Investment Boom From Trump’s Tax Cut Has Yet to Appear Image

The following article by Matt Phillips and Jim Tankersley was posted on the New York Times website April 30, 2018:

President Trump’s tax cuts have not yet translated into expanded investment by companies like Caterpillar, which provided a front-end loader for Made in America Day last year. Credit: Tom Brenner/The New York Times

After years of costly layoffs and plant closings, things are looking up for the heavy-machinery giant Caterpillar, which forecasts solid global sales growth and increased demand this year. Yet despite the corporate investment incentives at the center of President Trump’s tax overhaul, the company’s executives have no plans to supercharge investment or expansion.

Caterpillar’s plans for new investment remain low by historical standards. Instead, the company has started using cash to repurchase its own stock as a way to return cash to shareholders, something it hadn’t done since 2015. Continue reading “Investment Boom From Trump’s Tax Cut Has Yet to Appear Image”

GOP’s pathetic new pitch to voters: Cut Social Security and Medicare

The following article by Oliver Willis was posted on the ShareBlue.com website April 25, 2018:

Republicans in Congress are pushing plans for their most unpopular ideas, even as the party faces major challenges in upcoming elections.

Congressional Republicans have released an election year proposal targeting massive cuts to government programs that millions of Americans, including the poorest people, have relied upon. Continue reading “GOP’s pathetic new pitch to voters: Cut Social Security and Medicare”

What Trump doesn’t say about his own tax plan

The following article by David Cay Johnston was posed on the Salon.com website April 20, 2018:

The Republicans didn’t reform the tax system — they blew it up

McConnell-Trump-Ryan

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. Continue reading “What Trump doesn’t say about his own tax plan”

Americans to Republicans: Your tax bill scam is terrible

The following article by Dan Desai Martin was posted on the ShareBlue.com website April 17, 2018:

A new Gallup poll shows the Republican tax bill scam is wildly unpopular.

Credit: Evan Vucci, AP

The tax scam championed by Republicans is doing exactly what critics warned: showering the wealthy with deficit-financed tax breaks, while leaving workers and the American middle class behind. The latest Gallup poll confirms, once again, a majority of Americans disapprove of the GOP tax bill.

It makes sense that Americans continue to hold a negative view of the bill. For one, the overwhelming majority of the benefits are going to the already wealthy. In 2018, the richest 1 percent will see a tax break of more than $50,000, or almost $1,000 per week. The poorest 20 percent will see a mere $60 spread out over the course of the entire year, slightly more than $1 per week. Continue reading “Americans to Republicans: Your tax bill scam is terrible”

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”

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”

GOP praises, Dems question tax-cut boost in paychecks

The following article by Naomi Jagoda was posted on the Hill website February 11, 2018:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), left, and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.). Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Taxpayers are starting to see bigger paychecks as a result of the new tax law, which Republicans hope will pay off for them in the midterm elections.

Democrats warn that Republicans may be overpromising, and have expressed concerns that a number of taxpayers expecting refunds may instead end up owing the IRS money next year.

The growing paychecks reflect the new withholding guidance issued by the IRS last month following enactment of the tax law. The guidance adjusts the amounts that companies take from their employees’ paychecks for federal taxes. Continue reading “GOP praises, Dems question tax-cut boost in paychecks”

Senate GOP tax bill hurts the poor more than originally thought, CBO finds

The following article by Heather Long was posted on the Washington Post website November 26, 2017:

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) had a tense exchange during a markup of the GOP tax bill on Nov. 16. (Senate Finance Committee)

The Senate Republican tax plan gives substantial tax cuts and benefits to Americans earning more than $100,000 a year, while the nation’s poorest would be worse off, according to a reportreleased Sunday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Republicans are aiming to have the full Senate vote on the tax plan as early as this week, but the new CBO analysis showing large, harmful effects on the poor may complicate those plans. The CBO also said the bill would add $1.4 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, a potential problem for Republican lawmakers worried about America’s growing debt. Continue reading “Senate GOP tax bill hurts the poor more than originally thought, CBO finds”

GOP leaders in advanced talks to change tax plan in bid to win over holdouts

The following article by Damian Paletta was posted on the Washington Post website November 26, 2017:

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is surrounded by reporters as he goes to vote on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Susan Walsh/AP)

Senate Republicans are seriously considering several last-minute changes to their tax legislation in an effort to mollify wavering members, four people familiar with the discussions said, as GOP leaders seek to keep their members from defecting ahead of crucial votes this week.

The lawmakers attracting the most concern from leadership and the White House are Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.), who say the current version of the bill favors corporations over other businesses.

There are numerous members demanding changes, and their desires don’t all overlap. Together, the requests put Republican leaders in a difficult position, as they attempt to accommodate individual holdouts on a one-off basis without losing other members or creating a situation in which the bill collapses under the weight of disparate demands. Continue reading “GOP leaders in advanced talks to change tax plan in bid to win over holdouts”

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”