Tag: Trump tax cut for the rich

Trump ends it all with one final scam — and it bodes badly for Trumpism’s future

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For a presidency that’s been awash in grift and deception from the start, you could not have scripted a more fitting end.

In his final moments as president, Donald Trump hailed his massive tax cut for the rich and corporations as one of his leading accomplishments — just after pardoning the chief architect of his “economic populism,” all to protect him from facing charges that he literally stole money from Trump supporters with a two-bit scam promising to help build his border wall.

As Trump prepared to depart from Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday morning, he hailed his presidency as “amazing, by any standard.” Continue reading.

U.S. government debt will nearly equal the size of the entire economy for first time since World War II, CBO finds

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Report comes after huge increase in the deficit this year as government attempted to limit coronavirus fallout

For the first time since World War II, the U.S. government’s debt will roughly equal the size of the entire American economy by the end of this year, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.

The rapid change is largely due to the surge in new spending that the government authorized as it tried to control the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

By the end of 2020, the amount of debt owed by the United States will amount to 98 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product, the CBO said. That is up from 79 percent last year. Total government debt will surpass the U.S. economy’s size next year, the CBO said. Continue reading.

Census: US inequality grew, including in heartland states

ORLANDO, Fla. — The gap between the haves and have-nots in the United States grew last year to its highest level in more than 50 years of tracking income inequality, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures released Thursday.

Income inequality in the United States expanded from 2017 to 2018, with several heartland states among the leaders of the increase, even though several wealthy coastal states still had the most inequality overall, according to the figures.

The nation’s Gini Index, which measures income inequality, has been rising steadily over the past five decades.

View the complete September 26 article by Mike Schneider from the Associated Press on The StarTribune website here.

How a Trump Tax Break to Help Poor Communities Became a Windfall for the Rich

New York Times logoNEW ORLEANS — President Trump has portrayed America’s cities as wastelands, ravaged by crime and homelessness, infested by rats.

But the Trump administration’s signature plan to lift them — a multibillion-dollar tax break that is supposed to help low-income areas — has fueled a wave of developments financed by and built for the wealthiest Americans.

Among the early beneficiaries of the tax incentive are billionaire financiers like Leon Cooperman and business magnates like Sidney Kohl — and Mr. Trump’s family members and advisers.

View the complete August 31 article by Jesse Drucker and Eric Lipton on The New York Times website here.

It’s Official: The Trump Tax Cuts Didn’t Pay for Themselves in Year One

Federal tax revenues declined in 2018 while economic growth accelerated, undercutting the Trump administration’s insistence that the $1.5 trillion tax package would pay for itself.

It’s time to put to rest any notion that President Trump’s signature tax cuts are paying for themselves. Anyone who says otherwise is lying with numbers.

A year after the $1.5 trillion tax-cut package took effect, economic growth has accelerated, just as Republicans promised it would when pushing the law through Congress. Growth appears likely to hit 3 percent for 2018, after adjusting for inflation, which is a full percentage point higher than the Congressional Budget Office forecast for the year in 2017. Not all of that increase is attributable to the tax cuts, but some of it is.

That’s good news for Republicans’ longstanding claim that cutting taxes would provide such an economic bump that additional tax revenue would flow in to make up for what was lost through lower tax rates.

View the complete January 11 article by Jim Tankersley on The New York Times website here.

Accountants warn tax reform could add up to April shock

The following article by Jim Spencer was posted on the Star Tribune website September 1, 2018:

Those who rely heavily on deductions could see a bill.

Every summer, Mike McClure looks at his income tax withholding. The Apple Valley man doesn’t want to give the government what he calls a “free loan” by having too much money withheld from his paycheck. He also doesn’t want to end up owing a bunch to the IRS when he files his taxes in April.

In the past, McClure’s system has led to little more than minor tweaks. This year, under the new federal tax law, he will owe the federal government $6,800 in April if he doesn’t radically alter his withholding for the remainder of the 2018 tax year.

“This whole tax-cut thing was sold to middle-class Americans as ‘we’re all going to get a tax cut,’ ” McClure said. “This wasn’t what I expected.”

View the complete post here.

REMINDER:  Rep. Erik Paulsen voted FOR this bill, which provides a large, permanent tax cut for corporation and a moderate one that expires for his constituents.  Most of that cut will be impacted by the other changes in the bill including a decrease in the allowed amount of property tax that can be deducted from personal taxes.

The Trump Economy

Trump and the Republican Party sold Americans out. This is Trump’s scheme – to keep America great for the rich and powerful, while making it harder for everyone else to succeed.

Trump fuels corporate greed and will always empower wealthy special interests. Trump’s most consistent policy is to help CEOs and rich corporations while hurting workers and families. Look at all he’s done so far:

  • TRUMP TAX: Trump and Republicans passed a tax bill that gives massive new tax breaks to big corporations and more than 80% of the benefits to the top 1% by the end of the decade. CEOs have used these massive giveaways to further enrich themselves, but not to benefit their workers.

Nearly half of Americans agree with Nancy Pelosi’s ‘crumbs’ comment, according to a poll by a pro-Trump group

The following article by Ed O’Keefe was posted on the Washington Post website March 1, 2018:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has earned the ire of Republicans for suggesting that major corporations are giving workers “crumbs” while top executives reap bonuses after passage of the GOP’s tax revision plan.

But a new poll from a group supportive of President Trump finds nearly half of Americans agree with Pelosi’s comments despite weeks of relentless criticism from GOP leaders.

The poll was conducted by America First Policies, a pro-Trump nonprofit group established shortly after the president’s inauguration last year. A report published Thursday by CNBC details how the group, officially classified as a “social welfare organization,” is conducting extensive polling that is usually conducted by major party committees on behalf of an incumbent president. Continue reading “Nearly half of Americans agree with Nancy Pelosi’s ‘crumbs’ comment, according to a poll by a pro-Trump group”

The White House’s spin that its budget reduces the deficit by $3 trillion

The following article by Glenn Kessler was posted on the Washington Post website February 16, 2018:

White House officials are claiming big budget savings for a plan that sends the deficit soaring. How does that add up? It doesn’t. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

“The budget represents $3 trillion in savings over the course of the 10 years. It’s the second-largest proposed reduction in spending ever, second only to last year’s budget.”
— White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, briefing reporters on the 2019 budget, Feb. 12, 2018

“I know the president certainly would like to reduce the deficit and it’s one of the reasons that his budget — this budget reduced the deficit by $3 trillion, which was one of the largest in history.”
— White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, in an interview on CNN, Feb. 13

The Fact Checker did a double take when we saw these statements. After all, the New York Times headlined its article on the 2019 budget: “White House Proposes $4.4 Trillion Budget That Adds $7 Trillion to Deficits.” So how does a budget that adds $7 trillion to the deficit actually reduce the deficit by $3 trillion? Continue reading “The White House’s spin that its budget reduces the deficit by $3 trillion”

IMF chief warns Trump’s tax cuts could destabilise global economy

The following article by Graeme Wearden and Larry Elliot was posted on the Guardian website January 26, 2018:

Reforms may threaten recovery and lead to bigger US budget deficit, says Christine Lagarde

IMF managing director Christine Lagarde speaking at Davos. Credit: Gian Ehrenzeller/EPA

Donald Trump’s huge tax cuts are a threat to the stability of the global economy, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund has warned.

Christine Lagarde singled out Trump’s tax reformsas one of three risks that could destabilise the current economic recovery, especially given the boom in stock markets in the past year.

“While the US tax reforms certainly will have positive effects in the short term, for the US and other countries around, it might also lead to serious risks,” Lagarde told the World Economic Forum in Davos. Continue reading “IMF chief warns Trump’s tax cuts could destabilise global economy”