Tuesday, December 19, 2017

What we know about the Trump #tax plan which is very likely to pass

Despite adding trillions to the deficit & eventually raising taxes on the middle-class, the GOP corporate-tax-cut bill will pass quickly without any discussion because Trump (like a child) wants it before Christmas.

And who can blame him? Trump is getting very expensive gifts from his own tax bill. For example, in order to get holdout senator Corker (who the Donald childishly referred to as "liddle Bob Corker") to support the tax bill, Trump added yet another loophole which will benefit them both:

"The tax bill's loopholes for the wealthy benefit Trump and Corker"

 http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/18/opinions/tax-plan-benefit-trump-opinion-mccaffery/index.html
"Corker announced on Friday that he would vote for the Senate-House Conference version of the tax cut bonanza, even though it has the same irresponsible deficit impact as the Senate version that he had opposed. Shortly after Corker's announcement, the International Business Times broke a story that the Conference bill had added a provision that would benefit both Corker and Trump, personally. The particular provision in question allows real estate investors to get a special 20% tax rate like other small businesses -- even without paying significant wages to anybody, unlike other businesses. This clearly helps Trump himself, who holds many assets that he simply licenses out to others to run."

Once the tax bill passes, the media will be talking non-stop about the GOP "win" for weeks. But Trump is just a glorified used-car salesman: unfortunately, many people still believe his lies. He's selling the tax plan as a "Christmas gift to the American people". In reality, the working-class will not benefit from the Trump tax bill. Surprisingly, neither will the wealthy, just corporations & the "ultra rich":

"Tax Cuts Benefit the Ultra Rich, but Not the Merely Rich"

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/18/business/dealbook/tax-bill-wealthy.html



"Here’s the nuance: The tax bill soaks some of rich Americans — but it does not soak the richest.
It is the “pretty rich” right below that level that may get hit: the W2 employee making several hundred thousand dollars to millions of dollars a year with high state and local taxes that will not be fully deductible may see a higher tax bill. So will the chief executives of many large publicly traded companies who often itemize large, unreimbursed business expenses, which will no longer be allowed. Some executives are already calculating that they will be paying additional seven-figure sums in taxes."

People who rely on the health insurance market-place will also be negatively affected. & the number of uninsured will increase to 13 million since the Trump tax bill also guts the Obamacare mandate:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/tax-bill-guts-unpopular-obamacare-insurance-mandate-51823516
"The CBO estimates that repealing the requirement would lead to more people taking a gamble on going without coverage, raising the number of uninsured Americans by 4 million in 2019 and by 13 million a decade from now. The federal government would save about $338 billion over a decade because fewer people would seek subsidized coverage under the Affordable Care Act. But premiums for individual plans would go up about 10 percent because the people left behind would tend to be sicker."

For further explanation of the Trump tax bill, I'd recommend this article from the "Guardian":

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/18/republican-tax-bill-american-tragedy-brute-force-politics 
"...But for Republican lawmakers, the bill hits some very sweet political spots. Corporations? Check. The wealthy? Check. Obamacare haters? Check? When the deficit balloons, as it must, Republicans will then use that to justify cutting spending, especially on pensions and healthcare. Their cynicism is breathtaking. Their ruthlessness is impressive. Wait for the new Alabama senator, Doug Jones, to take his seat before voting? Are you kidding? There will be no waiting. This is brute force politics..."

No comments:

Post a Comment