When McConnell says giving "needed" tax relief to those who sent them there, he means of course those uber-wealthy who already own more than 50% of the nation. The poor and middle class conservatives are being played as fools.
I pity Rudolph and the other reindeer. To deliver this Christmas gift of a tax cut to a wealthy few, Santa’s going to have to trade in his sleigh and all his livestock for a semi and a 53-foot trailer. No way Rudolph and his buddies could get any lift, much less altitude, with this behemoth in the sleigh. Maybe Santa will buy the reindeer back, however, when it comes time to deliver the middle class Christmas gift—two lumps of coal, courtesy of the senior senator from Kentucky.
my wife and are both retired school teachers. we will pay more tax than the carried interest rate of the private equity caliphate. we are not represented in Washington. our government politicians are now the new terrorists.
So the Republican's Tax scam blows a 1.4 Trillion dollar hole in the deficit while kicking 13 million people off their health care. Guess deficits don't matter when Democrats aren't in charge unless you have principles and we all know Republicans are the least principled people around.
Mitch nailed it - "This is our chance to deliver relief for the people who sent us here".... i.e. big corporations and pacs ... donor maintenance.
This is amazing, as a middle class Californian, Mr. Trump has somehow found a way to raise my taxes, which I didn't think could get higher. Wig's off to him, I guess.
5
"This is our chance to deliver relief for the people who sent us here, and the way we can do that is by voting to proceed to the bill,” he said."
He got that right. No kissing, and leave the money on the table on your way out.
3
I sense an inevitable momentum for huge middle class tax cuts. The economy is booming. The media is being exposed as a hypocritical cesspool of sexual harassers. The world is at peace. This is what we voted for. Obamacare up next. Put that in the trash can and there will be a national party. I am getting tired of all this winning.
1
And let us not forget that slipped in to this bill are an end to the individual mandate (a twofer--raises money not spent on healthcare subsidies to fund more tax breaks that mostly benefit the already rich; and deals a blow to the ACA) and the enshrinement in law of the idea that a zygote or fetus "at any stage of development . . . in the womb" has rights, in this case to a 529 investment plan for college expenses. This bill is rotten to the core. Call your senators and anyone you know with a Republican senator.
3
Be prepared for another great recession.
5
"“This is our chance to deliver relief for the people who sent us here, and the way we can do that is by voting to proceed to the bill,” he said."
McConnell is talking about his wealthy donors, of course.
4
Don't like it? Vote Democrat, starting next year. 2020 might be too late.
4
Let's start to spell it out for those who may not understand what's at stake in future elections.
In 2018, one's vote for Democrats can get us back the House.
In 2020, one's vote for Democrats can get us back the Senate.
Because opposition to 'A Woman's Right to Choose', what the Religious Right defines as 'Abortion', is what drives them, they will get out the vote like never before and why Democrats have to get to the polls in record numbers. And we have to organize starting now. Now. Too often the Democrats rely on 'Common Sense Prevailing' and sit on their hands and consistently fall short. Please! Not this time.
1
I do not begrudge the top one percent the money they have
right now and I know some of it was gotten in ill gotten
ways. I never wanted to get money in that fashion and
my slender savings and Social Security money ( which
they will soon tax and then try to snatch away) was
earned honestly with hard work. It seems so strange
when they have so very much more, that they
begrudge me bare survival money and want that too.
And all the savings and honestly hard earned money
of all Americans. Why do they not just murder us
all right now? Would it cost them too much?
Probably and the stench,and who is to clean up,
We would make good fertilizer. They will have to keep
a few slaves,I guess the Republicans will do well enough.
What great justice to force them to physically fetch for
the richest people. Paul Ryan digging ditches for
our dead bodies. I guess they would only keep
the physically fit Republicans alive, Cannot see
Mitch digging a ditch.
4
Alert to everyone: The whole thing remains a sham. The country does not need any tax cut, certainly not corporations that already pay an effective rate of well under 20% using existing loopholes, certainly not any income bracket making more than say $100K in household income, and certainly not any repeal of the existing federal tax on estates. The Republican party is lost in a fog of supply side economics and, more duplicitously, agendas to undo "government" roles in economic policy including even basic entitlements like Medicare. Nobody should be fooled. Here's trusting that Ron Johnson and maybe at least five other Republican senators will have the courage to call a sham a sham.
2
"Senators Marco Rubio of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah want to expand the child tax credit and ..."
Why encourage people who can't afford kids to have more kids? Why are the poor having 6-7-8 or more kids?
1
This is a travesty.
3
why does the Times not report Schumer repeatedly objecting to the GOP process when the Dems actually followed the same process on Obamacare?
The administration says it opposes s 2% compromise on the corporate rate. What is Trump gonna do? Veto it? Gimme a break!
1
We have breaking news about yet another a man acting badly towards women. We have to prioritize. Let's talk about that important topic after we try to stop the crazy tax law that will also get rid of the pillar on which the Affordable Care Act stands. Getting rid of the mandate will do even more untold damage to millions of women. Call your congress person.
4
I am heartsick - for me, my family, my friends, and for the millions of Americans who will suffer directly as a result of this catastrophically destrutive legislation. This is the WORST, and brought to us all by the billionaire donors and their minions, the Republican Party. I will NEVER forget what these people did to our country.
6
Message to Deficit Hawks in the Senate: It's not too late to do the right thing and oppose the Trump Tax Cut.
6
Many, many of us in the highest income brackets believe that the GOP tax "reform" is a disaster that will fall on the shoulders of the middle class. The tax savings might add up to a few tens of thousands of dollars, but it will be felt as dirty money taken out of the pockets of many of the people we work with and who work for us every day. They will feel the ever-expanding income inequality that the "reform" will create. Those people will have higher taxes, less take home pay, and less disposable income, all of which is counter-productive to a healthy, growing economy. The upper 1% will buy more expensive German cars, Italian clothes, and travel on luxurious foreign carriers. The mantra of the GOP is that the bill will enable companies to expand and to create more jobs. There is not a word of paying higher wages to the current middle class workforce -- the employees whom they describe as struggling. At best, the unavailability of new workers to fill new jobs due to a low unemployment rate will force wages up, but it will also risk inflation. Doubling the minimum wage, not tax reform, has a ripple-up effect, increases disposable income, and explodes the demand for goods and services. But bring in the clowns? They're already here.
9
So let me get this straight...Trump personally benefits by millions from the tax cuts, but he's not compelled to release his tax returns so Americans can get some context...?....That's an awfully submissive working class base the President has...
5
The subtitle of this tax giveaway to the gilded edge is The Silence of the Lambs.
3
Having discussions about a trigger mechanism to either automatically cut budget items or to increase taxes says a great deal about confidence. Confidence in holding the deficit to $1.5 trillion over 10 years is likely absent among many Republicans, and the reason for the trigger discussions.
They continue to add and subtract and if it goes to reconciliation with the House version they'll be more ins and outs, and triggers, and ups and downs, and it will pass. The President will sign it, and declare victory. The American wage earner will be taken to the cleaners, the rich get filthy rich, and corporate makes out like a bandit, etc.
Ironic, past polls show that Americans found some tax "hikes" more popular than this tax "cut" with only a 25% approval rating.
These Republicans are absolutely heartless and nuts to boot!
2
"Debate"? Is that really an accurate description of what's going on here? Coming from the crowd screaming "Obamacare was shoved down our throats", I've got an irony overload that won't heal itself soon.
3
If they really wanted to be deliberate about reform, then they should phase out deductions over 10 years to give us time to adjust.
This bill will be the difference for me and many others of living within our means and living over the edge. We won’t be able to escape either due to the likely impact on home prices in our area.
The secondary effects on state budgets, charitable giving and property values in high cost areas will be bad.
3
What if everything the Republicans are promising doesn't happen?
What if every assumption the Republicans are basing this ram-it-down-your-throat vote are incorrect or have such a dubious foundation of fact, of intense volatility for future outcomes?
What if Republicans totally cave to the large donor class and 1% crust, and what if ordinary Americans finally get a cold slap of reality in their face that they have been swindled once again, this time led by the likes of grafter and supreme con man?
Want to watch the American experiment in government devolve into chaos and slide towards third world style dictatorships?
This is now the cusp of the slippery sloop to gut out all progressive reforms enacted starting in the 1880's,into the depth of the Great Depression of 1929-32, and through the most recent financial collapse of 2008. Who was responsible for these ugly bumps in democracy? Large, well-heeled financial, corporate, and individual entities.
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette learned what happens when there is gross income re-distribution to the wealthiest while the poor and shrinking middle are pitted against one another. America has its modern day equivalents of Imperial France's Monarchy.
2
The Repubs continue to yank good Middle Class tax reprieves from their tax policies. One of the best tax write-offs was the deduction on credit card interest. Prior to Reagan, you could deduct the interest you paid on credit debt. Reagan yanked that in the 1986 Tax bill. The Right-wing decided the Middle Class will now pay dearly, but the wealthy business owners would be spared and kept the write-off. There you go!
3
I have never seen such financial ineptness.
The party of fiscal discipline is now the party of deficits and debt.
3
Well, I have tried to analyze what will happen to me... a middle-aged middle-class self-employed single woman with no children living in NYC. It sure feels like folks like me are not even part of the conversation.
1
About 30 million of us better save up in 2018 for the new tax bill. Especially those who own homes and pay property and state income tax.
2
The majority of Americans are not for this tax plan.
If you are in a state where your senator(s) plan on voting for them, you must call them out on this. Call them, tell them you will not vote for them ever again if they vote 'yes' on this massive giveaway to the only groups that have prospered the past 40 years. As this article notes, history has shown time and time again tax breaks for corporations and the 1% do no "trickle down". They keep the money. The past 40 years are absolute proof of this.
Then, you must do good on your word and vote them out.
3
The Party of Trump has one major policy goal that supersedes all others: to decimate government agencies and programs that benefit poor and middle-class Americans, and transfer the money that funds thoseprogram to wealthy corporations and donors. There has never been any doubt that the tax bill would be an instrument for enacting this policy goal. But now, at last, we can see exactly how they plan to do it. The bill will immediately hand big tax cuts to the rich, and include provisions to automatically cut programs that benefit the rest of us if future budget deficits exceed projections (which they will, because trickle down economics is a sham). The result: essential agencies and programs will be cut across the board to finance a tax cu for the rich, and not a single Republican senator will have to go on record with a vote to cut specific programs.
1
Outraged Dem. opponents & media point to the 2027 reset date. How out of touch can they be?
Few Americans's think that far ahead. Our attention span is weak, and ten years is thousands of seismic news stories into the future.
Before Dem's demonize and debate the proposed tax bill, they need to take a look at the NYT's interactive graphs for a wide variety of middle income earners $40K - $100K/yr.
The vast majority would see a significant reduction in federal income tax. Most families earning from $40K to 80K will realize a $1600 or so decrease in their 2018 tax bill. Some, depending on number of family members, could get an even bigger cut.
Yes, families that itemize are more likely to see tax increase but the largest cluster of these top out at less than $1K.
See for yourselves:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/28/upshot/what-the-tax-bill-...?
Hate to say it, but Trump could look very good for the 2018 and 2020 election cycle.
... Unless, Dem's successfully highlight the dollars and cents costs to health insurance, Medicare etc. Otherwise, most of the middle classes will love the new bill as it is currently proposed.
Berating the wealthy is a weak strategy b/c if the MC can get a $1550 tax reduction, the greater tax break to the 1% will be ignored.
Give Trump and the Repubs some credit -- they know how to sweeten a deal and target it to snag the most votes in return.
Progressives have gravely underestimated him --- to their chagrin and defeat.
2
Aside from the common person having money taken out of their pockets and locked into the coffers of the already privileged, also be aware of the over provisions:
A provision that imposes a new excise tax of 20 percent on goods manufactured by subsidiaries of U.S. corporations in Puerto Rico and beyond. Why place another calamity for an already struggling island?
Also approved legislation allowing for oil and gas drilling in a section of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Who comes out ahead on this provison?
This is not a tax bill. It is a train wreck occurring on main street in slow motion.
3
Is there a point when automatic spending cuts would require 60 votes to approve? If all this can be done under reconciliation as a tax bill, are they able to make the spending cuts they want with just Republicans?
This bill has the potential to have a greater effect on life in the U.S. than any legislation since the 1960s. Meanwhile the Times and other news sources have been leading with articles about Trump tweets and celebrity misbehaviors. Yes, these other things matter, but the tax bill is the only story that cannot wait a couple of weeks. The media has been lead far afield instead of keeping its collective eye on what matters most right now.
5
This isn't a tax overhaul; it is a vast give-a-way to the ultra rich and to rich corporations. Help is needed for the middle class and the working poor and the small companies that create jobs. The Republicans are rewarding their rich donors. Please call your Congressional representative to protest.
There are 572,000 Americans that make more than a million dollars per year; their share of this tax bill is 34 billion dollars. There are more than 90 million Americans that make $50,000 yr or less; their share of this tax bill, in 2019 (the best year, over time it gets worse and in fact they actually pay more) is collectively 14 billion/yr., amounting to $160/yr or $7.50 per pay check. Just let that sink in.
3
The books, "A Tale of Two Cities" and "Les Miserables" indicate when people get poorer and poorer and the rich get richer and richer revolution takes place. With this tax plan we are headed in that direction. Let's hope it occurs at the ballot box instead of the streets.
4
The GOP's long con is nearly complete! No committee hearings, no debate or input from democrats, no attempt to work in a bipartisan way, all in an attempt to pass an absolute monstrosity in an explicitly partisan way. They know the expected economic gains from their plan won't happen, so it's no surprise the idea of a "trigger" mechanism to increase revenue when the deficit balloons will now get shot quicker than you can say "deficit hawk". They will advance and pass a "trigger" to enact spending cuts as a means to finally get after Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. If this does pass, I wouldn't be surprised if they are emboldened enough to cut those programs sooner.
Where's the unified outrage from the Democrats?
1
I have written my elected officials.
I have attempted to speak with my friends and coworkers.
Please do not pass this bill.
I can do no more than ask one more time.
Please do not pass this bill.
FWIW, We'd actually get a decrease.
1
McConnell said, “This is our chance to deliver relief for the people who sent us here, and the way we can do that is by voting to proceed to the bill.” Yes, those billionaires are indeed the people who sent them there.
2
Failure to bring in revenue triggers discretionary spending cuts.
We are back in Kansas, Toto:
From the article:
Senator John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana, opposes the concept of a trigger but prefers one that cuts spending to one that increases taxes.
“I would much prefer the idea of an automatic spending cut on the discretionary side,” Mr. Kennedy said.
Senator Bill Cassidy, the other Louisiana Republican, also appeared fond of the idea of using spending cuts as a safeguard in the bill.
“It’s intriguing isn’t it?” he said.
1
"• Some Republicans now say a “trigger” mechanism under discussion should require automatic spending cuts, not tax increases."
Yessiree. Kansas chopped their budget so far that the problem was the inability of Kansas to support public schools and road repairs. So the Kansas tax cut experiment that nearly cratered their economy was solved with more SPENDING CUTS. Gov. Sam Brownback would have liked to cut their budget to ZERO. All the extra money in the pockets of millionaires would somehow trickle down, right?
Oh, wait ... The Kansas legislature passed a TAX INCREASE over the veto of Gov. Sam Brownback. Even those reactionaries learned their lesson. But these Republican geniuses in the Senate think they are better at math and can do better.
2
And here is the perfectly weasel worded explanation of whom the GOP is trying to please, their wealthy donors.
“This is our chance to deliver relief for the people who sent us here, and the way we can do that is by voting to proceed to the bill,” he (McConnell) said.
19
So fun to watch Dem values getting crushed. You really do need to win elections folks. Instead of crying in your beer a year later. Trump is a liar!
The sheer glee of seeing Trump prevail cannot be overstated. Enjoy!
4
Enjoy your poisoned air. Your poisoned water. Your poisoned rhetoric. Your alternative facts. Enjoy the hatred, the racism, the anger, and the lack of empathy for your fellow citizens and human beings. Enjoy the more rapid extinction of multiple species. Enjoy the rising sea levels. Enjoy the record-breaking temperatures. Enjoy the disintegration of democracy through gerrymanders and dark money. Enjoy the oligarchy. Enjoy the massive deficit increase that will sink the economy, and likely this nation. Enjoy the reduction in your home's value. Enjoy your stagnant wages. Enjoy how impossible higher education will become for millions of Americans. Enjoy the end of Social Security and Medicare.
So much winning! So much to be gleeful about! But I doubt your children or grandchildren will agree.
I don't understand your logic. So, you are agains 'Dem values' of wanting a healthy middle class? You are for a society where the wealthy are rewarded for moving their money overseas, hiding it from the IRS, so the middle class can pick up their tab? Your logic is sad and bizarre.
1
your attitude is everything that is wrong with america in 2017. you care more about #winning than the fact that the bill that is very likely to pass is a complete sham which hits those who brought trump to power hardest.
1
The 'trigger" being discussed is automatic spending cuts...NOT automatic tax increases....the GOP are filthy liars as well as morally bankrupt. The cuts of course would be to programs that poor, working and middle class citizens need and depend upon as well as cuts to programs that we all paid into during our working lives such as Social Security and Medicare.
26
i e they are stealing from us
all of us
That should be entertaining. Senate Republicans are master debaters.
3
Close. Remove the de- and you're accurate.
1
Don't forget folks- what could so quickly and heinously be "done" in 2017 can be just as quickly be undone in 2018. Not only in congress, but with this fake president!
Saving the degenerates from themselves, that have put in place these knuckleheads, is requiring too many resources better spent on finding top quality candidates that will make this death spiral nothing more than a brief asterisk in US history.
10
Basically, Calif, NY, Texas, Mass, NJ all states that could lose out if SALT are no longer deductions, should secede and form their own country.
13
Could the entire republican party really be willing to sell its soul in the name of "Mammon"?
Are they certain that the sequel of "Paradise Lost" will once again be "Paradise Regained"?
5
Republicans! No More Wars on Our Children's and Grandchildren's Credit Cards!
Whether Trump or the other lunatic starts it, taxes must increase -- for the rich and corporations too. Do the rich and Corporations think the Bermuda, Jersey Is, and Bahama military are going to protect them!
4
Republicans - the best party money and special interests can buy.
11
"“Our focus is on helping the folks who work in the mailrooms and machine shops of America — the plumbers and the carpenters, the cops and the teachers, the truck drivers and the pipe fitters — all of the people who give their best each and every day to take care of their family and the country they love. It is not enough for the middle class to keep getting by — we want them to start getting ahead.”"
What a sham, this tax bill does NONE of these things.
10
"The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said that the Senate would vote to begin debate later Wednesday, and he urged his colleagues to vote yes. This is our chance to deliver relief for the people who sent us here, and the way we can do that is by voting to proceed to the bill,” he said."
And who are the people who sent them there? Not Republican voters. Republican members of Congress are doing this for their campaign contributors and PAC funders, who have already put them on notice that their piggy banks will be closed for 2018 election campaigns unless some tax bill passes. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/05/republican-donors-trump-mcconn...
7
Let's give every American 1 million dollars in cash. One time. End of story. No taxes. Thats only 3.5 trillion dollars. Cheaper then the current proposal.
Just saying.
14
I think your math is slightly off... $1 million to each american is around $320 trillion.
It's 350 trillion.
The intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the Republican party is on full display again.
8
In theory if this would happened in a third world with informed citizen, oligarch blood would be be gushing along street gutters and their bodies drag on the streets. But of course, US is "civilized" and follows the "rules". USA the beacon of law and order. This tax plan is unthinkable insult to the decency of common US citizenry. Donald and GOP have sold their souls to their god, Mammon.
2
Neil Gorsuch is in for life. The judiciary and the State Department are being corrupted by "the greatest" appointees from our Comrade in Chief. Climate change is something that we will have to observe as it happens since that's the only way to be certain that it is happening. And your access to the internet is about the be sold off like a Mar-a-Lago membership.
Now, Trump will leave an indelible mark in the Great American Federal Deficit that will sink the future of future generations for decades to come. There will be greater costs and less opportunity for those who want a college education and the change to own a home. The USA is on life support.
7
Naw, the Democrats will elect another Obama to resolve the damage.
Only problem is now we have an 18 trillion dollar deficit from bailing ourselves out of the last debacle.
I love the smell of Empire in the morning...
The unusually high (even for him) volume of crazy-talk/crazy-tweeting from Trump over the past few days - birther gaslighting, Access Hollywood gaslighting, retweeting fake videos by lunatics, etc - suggest to me that Trump is deliberately trying to distract from the Tax deform bill, so it can pass before opposition can effectively mobilize. Don’t get me wrong - I don’t think Trump came up with this strategy on his own - but I bet someone told him that if he wants his elusive legislative victory, it had better pass quickly ... and a few crowded news cycles sure wouldn’t hurt.
The sad part is that it's likely going to work. Even this very story on the website of the New York Times - which was once known as "the paper of record," back when such things mattered - is below a story on the fake Muslim video.
5
All you need to know about how Donald Trump operates is Roy Cohn, Esq was his very close friend and good mentor. It's nothing more complicated than divide and conquer and the Democrats are biting hook, line and sinker.
Starting to be embarrassed I'm a D.
How can a broad oveerall tax cut be wrong is beyond me. Ofcourse, Democrats want to tax and spend, specially on moochers and leeches who want NOT work but guarranteed hand out. And, with the highter tax Democrats will provide the hand outs to their vote banks.
1
How? Because it ISN'T 'overbroad' it gives most of the money to the rich and ultrarich and large multinational corporations, two groups that are doing exceedingly well and are flush with cash. The large corporations aren't even REQUIRED to repatriated their TRILLIONS.. Unless you think they need another yacht.
1
The Republicans are selling Americans down the river for 30 pieces of silver from their donors. Those senators thought to be waffling a few days ago are now on board to ream the middle and lower classes. The GOP is worse than the Taliban or ISIS. Republicans hate America.
5
To Middle- and Western-US complainers here -
You FAILED to pressure your GOP Congressmen to vote against the House bill.
In NY and NJ, we convinced our Republican Representatives to vote against. You didn't.
I emailed and snail-mailed 350 neighbors in our Village to write and call our rep. I stuffed 120 envelopes.
You didn't.
Our GOP Rep voted against. Your Middle- and Western-US Reps voted in favor.
How dare you come here to complain.
5
So if the cuts to corporate tax rates do not promote increased spending and investment (have they ever?) the new Republican approach is to say, oops, we made a mistake and need to automatically cut back on non-military discretionary spending (read as Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps etc). Unbelievable !!
6
Exactly. In the normal Repub approach, you first pass tax cuts. Then, when the deficits appear, they claim to have to cut spending. Now, they can do this in just one vote!
The GOP has a discretionary heart that opens to the wealthy.
All time highs for Corporations, all time high for upper 1%, and an average pay increase for working stiff $1400 per year until they expire. 1 and a half trillion budget deficit for welfare to the richest people in the country. Billions to come out of Medicare and Medicaid to start paying for this.
Sounds like a great deal to me, if your wealthy that is.
4
The $1400 if I remember right is a fictional figure plumped up by imaginary trickle-down. But even if the ave working stiff gets only half that, it's being propped up by ave mid& upper-mid working stiffs in hi-pop blue states like mine: our fam will pay about $5k more in taxes-- $700 for the $30-80k working stiff, $4300 for the corp & richies who pay for GOP campaigns & policies.
I ran last year's tax return of my middle-class household thru the Senate plan, and I estimate that mu household will have to pay close to $3,000 more in taxes. This is because we itemize and are losing the deductions for: personal exception (4,000 per person), property taxes, state and local taxes, medical expenses and student loan interest to name a few. Raising the standard deduction to $24,000 will not compensate for the loss of all the deductions.
In the mean time corporations can deduct all the expenses and get a lower tax rate to boot. Billionaires will benefit big time by the repeal of the AMT and estate taxes.
I wouldn't mind a tax increase if it goes to worthwhile causes such as healthcare for all and education. But it makes my blood boil to think that my taxes will go up to subsidize the 1% and rich corporations which have record profits now.
17
You are OK with giving free education and healthcare? So pay for it.
Before, Obama gave 30 million people subsidized healthcare on the backs of the middle class and companies. Trump is saying if liberals want to give stuff away, they should pay for the pleasure and leave companies out of it.
Me? I want national healthcare so we all have it.
The GOP tax plan is wrong for many reasons:
1. The incestuous relationship between the top wealthy families and the wealthy Congressmen and Senators, through organized donations, interest groups and lobbyists for gamming the system to their advantages has gone too far. This incestuous relationship has been in play for decades. The GOP tax plan will result in the top wealthy families and their wealthy Congressmen and Senator lapdogs making further gains at the expense of the middle and lower income earners well into the future. The middle and lower income earners are not similarly organized and cannot present their interests. This is key to what’s at play here !!!
2. As an economist, I am horrified by the prospect of widening fiscal deficits if this GOP tax plan becomes law. This will result in government incurring additional debt to pay for expenses in all programs. This is an abrogation of responsible government which is to enact laws that would support all Americans, Responsible government is NOT to enact laws on taxes to the benefit of the wealthy minority at the expense of the middle and lower class majority. This is tyranny of the majority by the minority !!!
3. There is a general rule in economics and finance: You do not take on debt to finance consumption. Households or organizations take on debt to finance capital projects, not current expenses. To do so is to invite major financing problems, including possible bankruptcy, in future !!! Who will pay the bills ???
6
Wow now they have it. they will include AUTOMATIC spending cuts to this bill. Meaning when their lies of growth never happen, they will also get to AUTOMATICALLY cut spending. They get a tax cut and a spending cut. And ruin America. They want to make the government do nothing but go to war.
11
The great sausage machine roars to life to serve its masters. These are donor days; the beast is in thrall to the select few that engineered power through subversion of our democracy. Whatever happened to public policy and the notion of serving the common good? This is not the United States that emerged after the experience of WWII, where a shared sense of purpose, self-sacrifice, and a great commonality helped to make this country a better place. Now the looting comes from inside and the seeds of future distress are sown. Is this who we are?
4
This will be the CPA and tax attorney full employment bill. If passed a lot of high net worth individuals will be moving from NY and California to exciting Nevada. Their loss will be our gain.
Or, they could be rich enough to be able to afford to stay in a nicer place.
100 million Americans have come forward with allegations of inappropriate fiscal Behavior by the Republican Congress. It is recommended that they be fired and legal proceedings should start immediately.
3
The carried interest loophole remains intact, despite POTUS pledge to eliminate the 20% rate on CI payments instead of subjecting them to ordinary income rates. Recent proposal from democrats to reduce the loophole would raise $17B over 10 years. Republicans are missing many key areas to fix, not surprisingly given the background of the WH Cabinet.
4
-- The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said that the Senate would vote to begin debate later Wednesday, and he urged his colleagues to vote yes.
“This is our chance to deliver relief for the people who sent us here, and the way we can do that is by voting to proceed to the bill,” he said. --
Am I to believe that the GOP messaging mastery is predicated on their use of pronouns in the place of proper nouns such as "Billionaire Donors" and "Corporations"?
I just don't understand how this is fooling anyone and results in anything other than their own political suicide. Sadly, I'm almost entirely sure they will in fact get away with it.
3
A trigger that cuts spending rather than increases taxes, good grief. My question, what would the impact of these spending cuts be on economic growth? I can imagine spending cuts that actually decrease growth and the resulting revenue. To me this sounds like a clever way to deliver additional tax cuts, but this time under the guise of deficit reduction.
2
If you can believe it, 45% of Americans pay the IRS absolutely nothing. And the top 20% of Americans contribute 69% of the taxes the IRS.
The tax rate should be a flat percentage, which would be by definition equal for everyone and thus fair.
But anything to force lower-income folk to contribute at least something would be great, especially when they arguable use public services the most: public transit, public schools, unemployment, welfare, foodstamps, emergency rooms as doctors visits, etc.
1
Why aren't those who pay nothing the Republican heroes? They've realized the Republican dream of really, really low taxes.
This is such a tired old talking point. What do you think "rich" means? Would there be any rich without poor? Any winners without losers? Keep up the trickle-down policies & watch that 49% grow. And by the way the flat tax rate theory has been debunked over & over w/simple math. You can't find a rate low enough that leaves enough for low-mid/wkg class/ wkg poor to live on while raising enough revenue to pay for govng the nation. And what are the sales et al non-inc-based taxes they pay daily, chopped liver?
Sure, let's curry more favors on those "job creators" moving, I mean hiding gobs of cash overseas where it's untouchable by the US so they can then pilfer the Medicare and social security we've all paid into. I demand my money back if this is indeed the dastardly plan.
2
The Tax Overhaul,besides adding a Trillion dollars or more to the 20 Trillion Dollar National Debt, does nothing about Congress,every year, spending a half Trillion dollars more than they collect in taxes. They already do not even collect enough in taxes, and are doing a huge tax cut. Not very fiscally responsible.
This money also goes on the National Debt.
When Reagan did tax cuts,the National Debt almost tripled. When pres. Bush Jr. did tax cuts, the National Debt doubled. Expect the same or worse from Trumps tax cuts.
3
Overthrow the government already. In no way is this representative government, when taxes are cut for big biz and the 1% while the majority of citizens foot the bill for these cuts. No taxation without representation!
2
Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said “This is our chance to deliver relief for the people who sent us here, and the way we can do that is by voting to proceed to the bill,”
How true, how true. And we all know who sent you. And we aren't talking about the poor.
4
Why are a bunch of very rich people writing a tax bill that affects the 95% of the country that will never make in excess of $200,000 per year, who will depend on Social Security and Medicare?
Why isn't this bill being written by the 95%?
8
Why are the Republicans raising my taxes and the taxes of many middle class people like me in order to get people like David Koch and Ivanka Trump a huge tax cut? I feel like I live in a bizarro world, the Republicans promised me a tax cut, this isn't a tax cut and its a huge increase in the deficit for what purpose?
Seems like its just a pay off to the American Oligarchs.
3
If some Republicans like Sen. Rubio want "to do better by working families," how about keeping our current deductions for state and local and real estate taxes as well as medical deductions? The "bait-and-switch" tax bill that gives to some while taking from many all to generate permanent tax cuts for the wealthy, both corporations and individuals, is a cruel con on the lower- and middle-class. And, it still adds almost $1.5 trillion to our already mammoth national debt. As Fed Chairwoman, Janet Yellen said, it does keep me "awake at night" as I contemplate my increased federal tax liability while trapping me in a home I cannot afford to keep and will be unable to sell here on high tax Long Island. This is well beyond "voodoo economics;" it is vampire economics that will drain the lifeblood out of the middle-class and throw us into a major recession all to further enrich the already fabulously wealthy. Haven't we learned anything from the Great Recession of 2008? I guess when we bail them all out by saying they're "too big to fail" and "too big to jail," this is their way of saying thanks.
3
Here's what will happen when this becomes law: the housing market collapses behind the Fed's increase in interest rates and the elimination of the mortgage interest/property tax deduction. The health and higher ed markets - the meds & eds sector - plummets, too, as cuts in Obamacare and the taxation of tuition benefits as income causes massive withdrawals from school. In short, this will be the last happy Christmas in a generation, as the Trump/GOP death cult depression rolls across America.
2
Only 25% of Americans approve of this Frankenstein's monster of a "tax" bill. Yet, the GOP is ramming full steam ahead as if the majority of Americans were thrilled. That is not the case.
I'm hoping that there are at least three Senators in the Republican party who have the common sense to realize that if this atrocity of a bill passes the GOP is toast this time next year.
2
I can't believe I'm watching, powerless, as my 'representatives' plunder the entire country's economy and natural resources. I tried calling, writing, and emailing- they're not even replying anymore. Sure looks like taxation without representation to me.
9
Here's a rule of thumb: if Grover Norquist is in favor of a tax plan, every decent American should be against it.
He's the guy who famously said he wants to "starve the beast" and "shrink the government until it fits in a bathtub and then drown it." He has no interest in effective government, only non-existent government.
Strangely, though, he has never called for cuts to the defense budget. I guess big government is bad only when it helps the little people.
2
Russian-Republican oligarchy at its finest.
Grand Larceny on 0.1% steroids.
RIP, America...and welcome to Republistan, the newest Russian satellite state.
10
Increase our debt, eliminate tax deductions for teachers who donate their own money to buy student supplies, for individuals and property - ADD deductions for businesses, cut taxes and make sure to undercut health insurance for the poor - yep, what a great REPUBLICAN plan.
Once upon a time they were about fiscal responsibility and supported education and families. Now they're going to undercut all of it in order to do a giveaway and not look like failures and liars.
36
The Republicans are assuming they can continue to buy elections.
19
More likely steal elections. There is no other explanation for this. They fear nothing.
2
Yes, Citizens United, close to eight years down the road, is perhaps the most egregious Supreme Court decision since Plessy, Dred Scott, or even Bush v. Gore. Ever since Eric Cantor was "primaried" out of office a few years ago by a Koch-fueld multi, multi-million dollar far right-wing campaign against him, House and Senate Republicans have become totally beholden to the Koch brothers and their extremely wealthy right-wing cohorts. They have become cowards, totally afraid of doing the right thing, totally beholden to the monied interests who will primary them out if they don't vote for this egregious tax scheme that horribly punishes the blue states of the northeast and the middle and lower to middle classes across the board. We have become a disgrace as a nation thanks to the Supreme Court and the attendant cowardice of the Republican Party.
63
How much conflict of interest do congress members, and of course the POTUS, have in this bill. I'm sure a good number, and of course the POTUS, will benefit greatly at the expense of the rest of us.
20
The final complegio of the Reagan Revolufion approaches. The middle class will pass into memory.
29
Next week they re-estblish debtors prisons. Private run profit, of course.
2
Senator McConnell's remark, "This is our chance to deliver relief for the people who sent us here, " is astonishingly honest. Big donations from the super wealthy and corporations certainly sent many of them to Congress.
65
Mitch McConnell said he will "deliver relief for the people who sent us". No one believes that by that he means the average American. Mitch means *his donors*.
Some lies are too big to hide.
54
The elimination of SALT (state and local tax) deduction is going to cause a huge real estate recession in California. And as goes California, so goes the nation.
People invest in very expensive homes, but their inability to deduct property taxes from their income taxes will devalue these homes by about 20 percent. I haven't modeled this, but that's my estimate. Once prices drop suddenly, they will continue to decline like a snowball rolling down a snowy mountain. Expect a 40 percent decline in home prices. Expect panic. Expect mortgage meltdown.
40
People who live in areas with modest housing costs are subsidizing federal tax contributions for those people who "invest" in very expensive homes. Sounds like a loophole for the rich or wannabe rich.
"The elimination of SALT (state and local tax) deduction is going to cause a huge real estate recession in California."
It's working to spite the "sanctuary state" as the GOP intended, then.
Even "illegal aliens" make states net tax revenue, so of course the vile GOP has to pick the pockets of the states with a heart and in the green. It works for the vile GOP because then the states are forced to increase taxes to make up for the assault, which in turn makes for an easy "dey're raisin yer taxes" ad that's credible.
Nonsense, and a lie, but credible—and for voters who can be swayed by a last-minute Comey letter or Butter Emails, that's enough to make them throw up their hands and vote against their own interests.
How, in good conscience, can the billionaires and multi-millionaires in the legislature overlook their profound conflicts of interest in voting for tax cuts that will benefit them personally and generously. How, with a straight face, can a president who refuses to release his tax returns sign a bill with tax cuts that doubtless will enrich him mightily? By increasing the gap between the rich and everyone else the proposed tax cuts fly in the face of republican campaign promises. On the other hand, the tax cuts will reward the super-rich who fund republican election campaigns. Could the expectation of large campaign contributions be fueling the push for tax cuts?
17
How, you ask? Easily, apparently. The have no consciences. They have no ethics. They are 100% amoral.
3
I expected more from our senators. Perhaps I am naive. They are willing to give a tax cut to Trump and his friends just to keep their seats.
There is not such a thing as trickle down. It was tried and it failed more than one time.
Improve education, roads, technology, and we may have a trickle up economics, it is working in other countries.
As a semi retired small contractor my taxes will go up, amazingly, to about the same rate, 25%, that Trump's will go down (asuming he has about what he has said he has, we do not really know).
25
I have always said that people in Congress have two stakeholders - their constituents and the lobbyists, but are accountable only to the latter. The fact that this tax cut bill disadvantaged the poor and middle class to the benefit of the rich and there are no revolts, said a lot about how disengaged and misinformed the American electorate is. The Republicans will push through this bill, against many of their conscience because they are confident that they will not be punished in this politicized left-right divide.
5
Well, the Bush administration exploded the deficit to go to war and give the rich a tax break. The Obama administration exploded the deficit in order to restart the economy after we nearly went off the cliff at the end of the Bush administration. And now the Trump administration wants to explode the deficit again in order to give another tax break to the rich and companies based upon the now dis proven theory that somehow this will expand investment and more economic opportunity to the working guy. How can any of the GOP members of Congress say with a straight face that this is a tax plan to help working Americans? The genius of their plan is that the real impact and harmful impact won't become obvious to Average Joe for several years though it will leave their children paying for it in terms of high middle and lower income taxes and fewer government benefits.
Perhaps McConnel revealed more than he intended with his statement: "This is our change to deliver relief for the people who sent us here...." And yes, the people who sent him there are those that are getting the greatest benefit.
12
It is amazing how the corporations can be people and not-people at the same time. They are people when they are giving money to politicians, and not-people when they give money to government. Everyone in the country should incorporate themselves and totally bring government to a halt.
24
When Ronald Reagan became President, he tried to push through a massive change not only in taxes and in federal spending, but also in the structure and operation of individual laws. The emphasis was on speed. OMB Director David Stockman said it had to be rushed through Congress before the "Iron Triangle" of legislators, administrators and program supporters could get mobilized to stop it. Several important measures were to be rammed full-speed through the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, but two courageous Republicans, Lowell Weicker of Connecticut and my boss, Bob Stafford of Vermont, got that runaway train onto a side track. In doing so, they were able to blunt some of the damage to important educational programs.
Ironically, the Chairman of the Labor and Human Resources Committee at that time was Orrin Hatch. Then, he was fair and accommodating, a real gentleman, to both Stafford and Weicker, giving them the time to expose Reagan's plans to greater scrutiny. I previously had been wary of his conservative firebrand image, but in dealing with him, I appreciated his dedication not only to the Senate's comity but also to the higher purpose of proper and transparent legislating.
Now, the Orrin Hatch I see is, as Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, a far cry from the Orrin Hatch I knew in the early 1980s. It is sad to see him near the end of his career as one of the primary engineers of this tax bill train wreck. History will not be kind.
21
Perhaps someone can clarify to the sheep assembly, aka senate
trumpicans, that before there will be the need to rein in
the spending to contain the inevitable deficit that this bill
will generate, there will be the phenomenon of low
growth due to the absence of demand that state and local tax
increases will induce to pay for functioning governments. The parts
of the population that will see their disposable income go down significantly
since they will now see higher costs needed to pay for government
services will not be able to drive consumer demand. So tax
revenue from sales diminishes and companies will not
see the need to increase production and create additional jobs.
When that occurs in the context of a need to reduce spending
to contain the deficit, there will be a recessionary effect that
is inevitable.
But who really cares about that future event? It will
occur safely after 2018 elections, if there are any... there are
those two foreign policy time bombs (Iran and NK) that remain
out there lurking, biding their time before they blow
up in all our faces.
So what we are witnessing is the third act of the play that
was scripted several weeks ago where the good sheep
line up to display party discipline, and bleat continually about accomplishing
a "major tax overhaul", a phrase repeated ad nauseum.
In the meantime, they will have generated enough goodwill among
the briber class to insure sufficient campaign support.
4
Republicans, the reverse Robin Hood party.
10
The Tax Relief for Billionaires Act marches on.
This bill is sick, and so is the party pushing it.
92
What a sad pathetic party the GOP has become. Tax breaks for corporations and the already wealthy, and a few others up front until the middle class loses any advantage after that. And Wall Street is a victim? Corporate profits are booming, major amounts of cash have been amassed by them, and they have no intention of spending it to create jobs. This is the triumph of greed and ideology over reason and facts. Pathetic.
65
You gotta love that these deficit hawks are scrapping over whether to raise the deficit or... raise the deficit maybe a little less if it gets too big.
33
Come on man, this week it doesn't matter, git 'er done. Soon after they will say the deficit is a huge problem and immediately attack and gut Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid. The Defense budget will go unscathed, of course, or more likely increased.
2
Wouldn't it be great if the largest "tax reform" in American History was actually debated and carefully analyzed, by the CBO, and in a bi-partisan fashion, for several months?
That Republican "healthcare" and 'tax reform" are facilitated, in the darkness of night, indicates that their purpose and intent is for their rich donors.
We have become a plutocratic oligarchy.
106
Here we are, folks. Ever evolving our democratic republic into a plutocracy.
The GOP has failed all but those in the top 0.1% of income ... please, make no mistake to their intentions. They've made their actions clear by now.
57
Good god. Our own government is out to destroy this country.
118
No. The Republican Party is out to destroy this country, with the help of the Koch bros. et al.
1
End Citizens United until that happens all this tax fight means nothing because the Corporations still run the govt and control both parties.
77
Follow the money to really understand this tax bill "proposal". End Citizen's United!