Fix lobbying:
Balanced lobbying: pay $x to lobby for your selfish self, you must pay an additional $x to represent the other side. Also a tax of $r to find the correct balanced side.
We need both sides of the issues discussed. Determine what is best for American not just one-sided selfish lobbying that hurts our economy, reduces ethical standards to 0, and makes firms weaker, etc.
5
I cannot read stories like this anymore. Far too depressing.
How about a story about 50 million Americans marching for social and economic justice.
It really does look like the answer is Bernie
21
This will be wiz kid Paul Ryan’s legacy.
He couldn’t get out the door fast enough.
15
The greed of these people are just beyond comprehension. We should eliminate corporate / business tax on profits and tax the top line gross revenue. This is the only way that all business will pay their fair share.
16
So let me get this straight:
In response to a huge gift from a corrupt president who wanted to line their corporate pockets with money at the expense of the American taxpayers, large companies didn't say, "Thank you."
Instead, they extorted the government by saying, "If you don't give us more, we're going to take our companies, profits, and jobs overseas."
These corporations are taking America's economy and jobs hostage, and the ransoms they demand are running in the ten- to twelve-figure range.
This is economic terrorism.
The sad part is, they're getting away with it.
The sadder part is, this administration is facilitating it.
24
The next time a pundit or politician talking head uses the word "socialism" with disdain, someone needs to throw the word right back at them with the addition of the word "corporate", as in "corporate socialism". Trump the great deal maker is a vacuous, easily manipulated, uneducated bag of wind. The tax cut for corporations and the wealthy is a set piece in the creation of a time in America's past where financial barons roamed and everyone else suffered. A means to an end to tear down Medicare and social security.
18
Sounds like a thing that was called transfer pricing back in the 60's& 70's.Sorry didn't the whole article but it it seems like a repeat of failed policies
2
Interedting, but this is not news. We all knew what this tax law meant when it was passed and signed.
6
Hahahahahhahaaaaaa, and a debt of 22 trillion. And people buy it and vote for the guy!
11
This article makes a better argument for Elizibeth Warren than she has been able to make herself.
This is "Grand Theft Treasury" and it must be stopped.
Is there anyone else who will even attempt it? I don't know.
14
Outlaw lobbying. Get rid of the corruption. You are elected to serve the PEOPLE.
9
The next sound you hear will be the crash heard around the world.
5
The message for Democrats is simple: These “tax cuts for the rich & corporations” = welfare - period. And not job creation, nor good paying jobs. And to pay for it, they want your social security , Medicare and Medicaid. Those crumbs they threw you - yes they were something, but without their corporate welfare, they would have been meals!
13
the tea party never cared about the deficit, and evangelicals never cared about morality
22
In a word: disgusting.
9
So Donald is mortgaging tomorrow's USA? smart move for a guy without future
8
Trump needs to pay us back for every dime he and his family stole from us.
8
Wow wonder what the rich and corps did w all that extra cash?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/27/your-money/private-jets.html
3
"You can steal more with a pen than with a gun." Vito Corleone, from The Godfather.
10
This tax relief for corporations and the wealthy is the strongest possible argument for the slippage of democracy and the advent of an oligarchy in America.
If your not included in the affluent life style you’re a loser!
4
President Donald J Trump (R, Imp.), when will you keep your promise to drain the swamp, instead of hiring swamp slime like Ross and Mnuchin? Rhetorical question, of course.
7
The dumbest people in this country right now are the ones who continue to believe that the economy and the stock market are going to protect us and them from the ongoing idiocies being perpetrated by Donald J. Trump.
As Trump’s bizarre mood swings and obvious mental decline accelerate -- which they show every indication of now doing -- the people in this country who are counting on the stock market to save them are in for a nasty surprise,
The stock market -- which is to say the business community -- may welcome some loosening of environmental regulations and additional tax breaks for the wealthy, but it isn’t crazy enough to indefinitely welcome a President who from hour to hour performs erratically, seemingly without reason or purpose other than to confuse and disable his opponents, who make up the majority of the American people.
7
As tension rises all over the world with all these political agenda, around Trump, Brexit, etc. This is crazy. Check out this article https://noplag.com/free-essays/impacts-of-political-and-economic-factors-on-marketing-in-emerging-markets-economies/
1
The tax base narrows. The executive branch usurps the authority of the legislative branch. And financialization continues to crowd out manufacturing, agriculture, construction, and mining.
This will not end well.
10
"To close the gap between the $5.5 trillion in cuts and the maximum price tag of $1.5 trillion, the package sought to raise new revenue by eliminating deductions and introducing new taxes."
And that is how you rob from the middle class and give to the rich.
14
Government revolving door policy has to change. Otherwise, we can never stop the corporate raid on our tax dollars.
The real end result is that tax payers will end up paying more and not less. The dues may not come now, but will be for our future generations to pay.
I thought Mr. Trump did say something about that subject during 2016 campaign. But once in the government, he has not delivered this promise.
2
My party (the Dems) have held the majority in the House for almost a year. Have they written better tax law? Such law would likely fail in the Senate, or be vetoed by the POTUS, but the Dems could point to action instead of just issuing anti GOP rhetoric.
I'm probably inviting a lot of disdain here... The content in this article is of vital importance for making some sense of the crisis reality we're in, but for some of us with certain, er, learning disabilities and visual processing issues, or perhaps those of us who are simply less familiar with finance, it's also dauntingly dense when presented as a flat sunless sea of words in Times New Roman with a few dull anchoring snips of tomes or Ionic columns to break the monotony that merely add to the fog. Yet the story is full of history, plots, deception and real characters who impact our lives on a daily basis. The Times has become so visual in recent years, sometimes so relentlessly it's hard to find what's relevant. What might a really good illustrator could do with an article like this? In this form it might reach a lot more of the people who really need to see it. (In a parallel universe, what a wonderful graphic novel it would make.)
6
Thanks for the details but who is really surprised by this rip-off of the nation? The republicans are determined along with Trump to make us a third-world country!
5
I had my doubts that I would see much of a tax break in 2018 but I did expect at the every least. a small pittance; somewhere in the range of $100. That was not the case, and despite the fact that my husband and I are retired, with zero income, we paid a tiny fraction more in 2018.
Somehow the massive tax break (according to Trump, the largest ever) alluded my household and I always perplexed when I see massive crowds at Trump rallies cheering about how the economy is wonderful. How did our accountant get it so wrong?
It is heartwarming to know that the massive tax break was not a Trump lie after all and the ballooning Trillion dollar deficit is the receipt to prove that. Thanks Paul Ryan!
6
This story symbolizes where America is going, where those struggling now and in the future will soon be asked to pay for these huge budget deficits. The Democrats need to elect a candidate who sees the core of the problem: that of crony capitalism and the corruption that pervades our government. I would support any Democrat, but Warren has proven she has the insight to solve this, and her opponents are fighting her in the media because they recognize that she is the bigger threat to breaking this vicious cycle, and moving toward a socially responsible capitalism. They fear here more than Bernie, who they think they can beat in the general election in a 'capitalism vs socialism' campaign.
8
So let me get this straight. My foreign earned income is exposed to US taxation while these multi-national corporations pay nothing? I haven't lived in the US for decades, make no use of any US services and want no services. So why should I be exposed to US taxation?
Oh that's right. I'm not a member of the 1% club. Silly me. Carry on Republican Party.
14
Habitually in the cycle of our history, the most important question is whether the inevitable bubble-bursting collapse conjured up by our capitalist plutocracy happens in the months before (benefiting Obama) or the months after (benefiting Hoover) a national election. If the bubble is still intact next November we can all settle down and prepare for 4 more years of Trump and McConnell. As the Great One so often tweets: "Sad!!"
1
If the Trump administration has taught us anything, it is that words speak louder than actions.
4
There is no legal requirement that Treasury Department officials or members of Congress meet with lobbyists or pay attention to their self-serving blather. There is so much corruption in this country. We need people in government who are willing to work to root it out.
12
@CH We spent the fall watching such people testify in the impeachment proceedings. We see how welcome their message was to the GOP.
6
time for Democrats to challenge this sloppy hastily compiled Congressional law that is engendering painful and expensive unanticipated consequences.. The Treasury Department as a Federal Agency has the latitude to direct implementation of laws. But when the interpretation and implementation go astray it may be time to litigate. It's time to take this to court
3
@John Huppenthal
But who is "recovering?
Not the middle class, the working class or the underclass. Congress can't even pass a bill to raise the minimum wage bill.
These "tax breaks" have amounted to pretty much NOTHING. But wall street and the 10%?
Feds are now cutting SNAP (food stamp) benefits and now cutting out free lunches for low income kids in public schools.
Wow, great "recovery."
Talk about "the oxygen needed to sustain..."
Let them eat cake...
"Corporate executives, major investors and the wealthiest Americans hailed the tax cuts as a once-in-a-generation boon not only to their own fortunes but also to the United States economy."
Thank the great "signature legislative achievement of Donald J. Trump’s presidency."
8
@Brandy Danu
Tax breaks for the "little guy" might even amount to what one of these fat cats pay for one lunch...
7
The lament of health professionals, educators, scientists in many fields - global warming, as an example, those working with the homeless, troubled youth, urban blight, etc. and the list goes on.....keep shouting louder on deaf ears - our priorities are all wrong.
With this tax cut we know the economic picture of these United States will deteriorate and we also know that it will be the middle class and the lower income workers who will be made to bear the brunt. With this tax cut the income disparity will continue to grow. Our society will be terribly altered as to become unrecognizable.
The voters must be made aware of this foreshadowing of our future place in the world. Trump is seeing to it we are no longer the leader of the free world.
7
Last year my family got hosed under the new tax rules. We lost our State and Local Taxes (SALT) deduction, and our mortgage interest deduction was capped, all in this bad-faith effort to pass Trump's Tax Bill through reconciliation. We paid thousands in new tax liability after breaking even for a decade. And apparently this wasn't enough for big business. Say hello to the new Welfare Queens of 2020.
23
So whose going to clean up this mess? Pence, after Trump is sent packing? I hope so. Time for them to pay the piper and clean up after themselves.
3
@karen Pence is part of the mess. He aided and abetted the entire way. We need a clean sweep of the entire admin.
6
War-time tax cuts are unpatriotic. We should be supporting instead of shorting our nation in times of war.
5
Are we still calling Bernie Sanders and the Democrats - Socialists? When the Tax Reform bill was passed, there was much debate as to how it would benefit the people and the government treasury. We are now learning from this article that not only are the companies continuing to channel profits offshore, there is also less tax revenue coming into the treasury . The deficit has grown bigger.
In order to make good of the original intent of the tax reforms, we should have each one of the benefitting companies to explain how they have reinvested income saved from the tax cuts.
20
The tRUMP , drain the swamp was all a hoax, the voters bought into it with the WOOL pulled over their eyes. 2020 bring on the BLUE WAVE and tidal wave strong. VOTE AND VOTE BLUE enough is enough of the GOP run "We the People" into the ground scams are over.
7
Mr. Trump and his Attorney General Bill Barr would do very well to remember what has been done has not been undertaken lightly, and was done with the greatest conviction. Impeachment can happen again and as many times as need be to drive them and their brand of hollow self service out of our government.
11
Why the 30-40% who support Trump in "everything" do not understand that he is the agent of Wall Street or the Business Right. That he is intent on reducing the most real incomes and employment security in order to enrich the 1% of us at the expense of 90% of us, is beyond me.
Unless they are like some Wall Street fans I know and don't read the Times.
I wonder sometimes if they read at all.
19
The power of this recovery is unlike any other recovery in history.
In the past, this kind of explosive economic growth, $2,550 billion nominal in just 11 quarters would have resulted in an explosion of taxation, robbing the recovery of the oxygen needed to sustain it.
Not this time, the Treasury Reports show revenues rising just somewhat faster than the economy. That means the recovery will not be choked off.
As long as we can keep the Democrats out of the Whitehouse, this recovery may be able to go on for another twenty years.
During flush times , responsible governments take advantage of the opportunity to pay down debt. You do understand that the Trump tax cuts have swelled the deficit hugely... bigly one might say.
Prudent companies build reserves for the sure to cone harder times. Families and responsible individuals build up an emergency fund.
Your plan? We are waiting. Oh yea, cut the social safety net and cut social security. Perfect.
20
@Johninnapa
"...have swelled the deficit..."
Nope.
Deficits include the unfunded liabilities of Social Security, Medicare and Disability. At Obama's 1.6% growth, these unfunded liabilities swell over $40 trillion.
At Trump's 2018 2.9% growth, they shrink by $40 trillion.
That's why the stock market is at $35 trillion while Europe's stock market is at $9 trillion. Our economy is growing $440 trillion real for our 330 million people while theirs is growing $140 billion real for their 540 million people.
1
Or at least until we become the United States of Russia.
Thank you, Jesse and Jim, for uncovering even more distressing information about the tax scam originally enacted by Trump. I am firmly convinced thatjournalists are the new rock stars.
14
Is anybody really surprised? We all knew what would happen. Lobbyists need to go the way of the horse and buggy in this country and as soon as possible.
19
The "permanent" corporate tax cut is illegal and must be immediately repealed, as the deficits it has created could not be approved through reconciliation.
It would have required 60 votes to be approved through Congress which it did not have.
Lawless.
18
Wow, I retire and now pay more in taxes. The corporations get new tax breaks. Companies get wealthy but the deficit exceeds trillions of dollars. Not long ago there was a balanced budget. Oh wait, the gop were not in office. Fiscal conservatives right, right in the pocket of the rich, ceo bonuses, etc. and I pay more in taxes. Wow.
20
This is exactly where I find myself. Retired and paying thousands of dollars more in taxes. In 2019, thanks to the Trump tax law, I upped my tax withholding and made quarterly estimated tax payments and that still won’t be enough.
16
I hope there is a follow-up to this story by the Times. I think we should see a true cost-benefit analysis. I suspect that when all of the campaign donations and lobbyist fees are totaled, the corporations could only dream that other expenses delivered such am obscene ROI.
But. as we all know, there is no quenching of corporate greed. Undoubtedly these companies have planned for these expenses (investments) in the Calendar Year 2020 budgets. New yachts and penthouse apartments for the C-Suite and an extra pick on the lottery tickets for the rest of us.
13
Republicans have always been good at diverting the attention of the masses with emotional issues such as gun ownership, abortion, immigration, and kneeling at football games. The piper will need to be paid and many of those voters will suffer the most when that time comes.
25
@DB
"..the piper will need to be paid..."
And, with the best economy in the world, we will have the economic strength to pay the piper.
They won them the same way that unions do, by lobbying. However the unions can promise votes in return too, which companies cannot. Unions vote for democrats, democrats vote to support unions. Raise taxes for public workers pay raises ad infinitum. That's why people move to Florida and Nevada, to avoid the never ending tax and tax some more cycle.
2
@baba ganoush
No, corporations can only provide money to politicians - millions and millions of dollars. At least unions lobby on behalf of people...there's no comparison.
6
I’m a clinical social worker and I worked at the veterans administration for five years. Nowhere did I ever receive pay raises ad infinitum.
2
Maybe we need to put tariff's on products that are built on US patents shipped to tax havens overseas. The iPhone would cost an extra $200 in the US. Maybe Apple can sell them cheaper in China instead...
1
Politicians who balk at giving a single parent a couple hundred dollars a month to feed themselves and their kids stand in line to give billions to companies that don't need it.
What happened to the supposed free market? If Company X can't hack it on the ground in Nowheresville, Flyover Country....then the market is saying they need to move somewhere else, not be provided with massive taxpayer funded subsidies.
18
Ah yes. “Job Creators,” Republicans’ new idol, the capitalist heroes who, we are told, we must indulge at every turn lest they take their genius and their office furniture elsewhere and leave American workers to subsist on fast food minimum wages. Never mind that they happily take the tax breaks, subsidies, investment credits, etc. etc. etc. and manage to somehow not create any new jobs. Just being a corporation is apparently enough to qualify for the handouts. Meanwhile actual human beings who cannot hide behind a legal fiction are expected to pay their taxes. Where’s my lobbyist?
28
If one needed more proof that it's only the suckers who have to work for a living who have no way to finagle out of taxation here it is. Of course the massive give away to the 'job creators' has not lead to increased revenues, just the opposite. Where's the concern about this from the so-called fiscal conservatives who say we can't afford enhanced social security or better health benefits?
17
Good that Trump drained the swamp just like he said he would.
7
More like he drained tax revenue.
4
@Joe - You can’t fool all the people all the time, but you can usually con the base - just like P. T. Barnum said and poll after poll shows. No need to vote in 2020. The Russians will do it for you.
2
I would Much rather Big companies Keep the Money they Made than Government take it ....one only needs to look at Democrat Party Controlled California where We have the Highest state taxes only behind Democrat run Hawaii and the Graft and Waste and TRILLION dollar Debt. has no end or cure insight ..they sold us voters on a 10 billion dollars High Speed Rail Train ...its now 10 years later 66 Billion over budget and looking as if it will never be built ...and the newly elect Governor has stated it was Mismanaged!
3
@There for the grace of A.I. goes I
Your use of "Democrat Party" gives you away. Those taxes pay for your clean water, highways and police departments. But, yes, let's give corporations more money.
7
Looks like the Republicans are robbing the government coffers before the Democrats come in.
9
Some of the largest shareholders are pension funds. Think CALPERS, union pensions, anyone with a 401K... Guess the NYT wants lower returns / income for retirees. Guess those greedy school teachers, nurses, and secretaries, construction workers, bus drivers, 1st responders, etc. ...can take one for team so Warren can forgive the college debt of someone who borrowed $250K to get a degree in creative writing. The Dems also want to give illegal aliens taxpayer paid healthcare.
4
Can we now recognise that this tax bill has cost something like 5-6 trillion PER YEAR?!? So this is a 30 trillion dollar policy!?! And the GOP (and their goons in the media) have the gall to exaggerate the cost of universal healthcare? What a disgrace.
19
@Altug
You're mixed up. It's spending that costs money. Tax cuts save money.
'The proof is in the pudding', 'what you see is what you get'..."The President & First Lady's 2019 Christmas Message"
https://youtu.be/l73tJGqHFOw
Yeah, right, right?
3
Trump paid off old debts by selling out the treasury department. He’s spent a hundred million dollars at his properties. He’s a crook.
19
Thank you NY Times for exposing the shady deals and corrosive lobbying by the corporations. They truly own the GOP politicians and the rule making.
The ROI on lobbying by the corporations are far higher than the costs they incur. Whether it is American Legislative Exchange Council or the industry lobbyists, the result have always favored the corporations that are detrimental to meeting the fiscal needs of the nation.
The enemy is within; it is the unbridled greed of the powerful and the wealthy.
16
I'm shocked, SHOCKED! I tell you!!!
8
The top 91 companies in the US paid no corporate income taxes in 2018 and it will happen again in 2019. Republicans balance this by forcing 4 million off of food stamps, trying to scrap Social Security and new rules for disability.
Voting Republican is like cutting your own throat if you are middle class, but they do it to themselves happily. This country will be over soon. They will have their King Don the Con the first. God help us all.
27
@Kevin
Trump has rescued 5.8 million people from welfare dependency. That's a good thing.
It must be Lucy pulling the ball away from Charlie Brown in Congress.....again. And the American people land on the ground, humiliated.
11
I have to ask, is his base just stupid? The Rust Belt, of all places should know better. They have no love for the liberality of the coasts and places like NYC. But they have fallen hook, line, and sinker for a con job from a Big Apple (now Florida) con man who represents something that is actually not them in the slightest if they opened their eyes. It's almost like being raped and cheering your rapist on. Seeing superman flying around pregnant would boggle my mind less then trying to wrap my brain around Trump supporters in Rust Belt and Corn Belt states falling behind him, because he is so far removed from what they are, in lifestyle and belief system. This article covers one of the most glaring examples of the gap between Mr. Trump and his base, a gap that his base seem oblivious of...
31
A new government study shows how Trump's tariffs have backfired [MSM]
President Donald Trump has promised throughout his presidency to revive American manufacturing by slapping punishing tariffs on foreign competition.
But a new study from the US Federal Reserve suggests that his efforts have backfired — and that the manufacturing sector is worse off than it was before the president began his protectionist trade policy.
18
The projected federal budget deficit of $1 trillion by 2020 is an anomaly that must be addressed if the United States intends to continue leading global trade via the dollar. The best way to address this anomaly is by creating a huge economic growth. Currently, the economic growth that's taking place in the United States is corporate paper profits. Also, most of the jobs being created are lower-paying, part-time work, that cannot sustain families.
But, we need to be creating very many jobs that pay $75,000 and more, in order to create an economic system that will give Americans a higher quality of life. The jobs that pay $75,000 can be created through very big ideas like free education, from kindergarten to the university, and Medicare for all. For instance, these two economies of scale, when added to the economy of scale in the defense industry, will enable the United States to bridge the federal budget deficit, and thereby free more resources for investments.
But when tax breaks are given to corporations, they seek more ways to make profits for the shareholders, not necessarily adding value to their customers or employees. Corporations will always find ways to exist and therefore, don't need a lot of assistance. People are the ones in need of assistance. And, you begin by lifting income up by creating very many new jobs that pay $75,000 and up (through free education and healthcare), which will create very many new jobs in administration, teaching, medicine, & others.
15
What can we Floridians do? Senator Scott is a solid member of the cartel, he's probably picking up another million every 48 hours, and benefits from the tax shenanigans in the Trump iteration of the Deep, Deep State. Marco Rubio's entire career has been based on making as little trouble as possible, while mouthing meaty conservative pieties that satisfy the same base Trump employs to bully Congress. Marco's concealed base is the conservative, Kennedy hating Cuban exile population in South Florida. That gives him a half million vote leg up on any opponent. Which is why he should stop fearing Trump or McConnelly, who is heading for a beating next fall anyway. Marco's expressed a willingness to draw blood in the Senate trial, and he just might, if he's given enough cover. He could vote for witnesses, say it's to give Trump his fair acquittal. That's sufficient cover right there, Marco...go for it, hermano!
11
So we're essentially subsidizing the largest corporations in the world but need to have people on food stamps and disability tighten their belts. Is there any doubt that 100% public financing of all federal elections would bring sanity to our tax and other laws?
31
@Mark Pope
Lot better for people to have a job than to be on welfare.
5.8 million rescued so far.
The Democrats in Congress made a big show of opposition to the bill, but probably told their donors it was all theater for the peasants. Note that when the Dems took the house, there was no talk of legislation in the House to reverse this outrage. None. These treacherous corporate Democrats need to be shown the door and make way for a new generation of REAL Democrats. FDR Democrats.
5
@Iron Felix
The House alone can't pass "legislation".
Civics 101 is in order big time.
16
Had it not been for the junk measure of “reconciliation” in the Senate, the current Democrats wouldn’t have let the tax bill even see the light of day.
13
How Come They the Ones
They the Ones Having Fun?
How Big Companies Won New Tax Breaks
From the Trump Administration?
Big Companies Big Donations
Change Law Bad Law
Good Explanation?
How Big Companies Won New Tax Breaks
From the Trump Administration
5
In the name of excess regulation, of which there is some (of course in a government this size) he's dismantling the Treasury . . . just like he's dismantling all the pillars of our society.
Mind boggling.
13
What a surprise!!
5
Trickle-down economics.
When has this ever worked? Don't eat the yellow snow.
19
@MidtownATL
When has supply side economics not worked?
After Trump reduced taxes on all families of four making $53,000 or less in 2018, real economic growth hit $680 billion, up from $290 billion in 2016 while Europe fell below $215 billion.
Reagan reduced tax rates from 70% to 50% in 1983, economic growth was a stunning 7.3% in 1984. The highest growth in the last 65 years.
Reagan reduced tax rates from 50% to 28% in 1986, economic growth was 4.9% and 3.6% in 1987 and 1988.
Reagan tax cuts combined created the highest six year period of growth, 31% since the Kennedy tax cuts in the 1960s (37%).
Roosevelt eliminated the excess proftis tax, reducing taees on corporations from
Congress overrode Truman’s veto and cut taxes in 1948, we had six quarters of highest growth in the history of the U.S. 16.4%, 12.7%,16.3%, 8%, 5.6%, and 7.1%
Calvin Coolidge and Warren Harding reduced income tax rates from 75% to 25%, economic growth in the 1920's was 37% as compared to Obama at 13%.
Kennedy reduced tax rates from 91% to 70%, economic growth was 6.5% and 6.6% in 1965 and 1966.
Clinton reduced capital gains taxes by 29%, economic growth in 1998 and 1999 was 4.5% and 4.7%.
Bush2 reduced tax rates in 2001 and had economic growth of 18% compared to Obama’s 13%
1
Ever more proof that the idea that conservatives are deficit hawks is a joke. In fact everything about republicans is a joke. They don’t stand for anything and have zero credibility. But then they really don’t care, do you?
24
The Trump administration is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the largest corporations in the world. The rest of us can like it or lump it. The GOP doesn’t care about the rest of us
13
Paying off corrupt Republican politicians in this country has become easier than getting decent broad band. All a big "donor" has to do is to write its own legislation and submit it for inclusion in the latest Republican tax bill - legislators don't even read the documents but they DO count the money they just made for looking aside as they casually pass the corrupt legislation that WE pay for.
The NRA, Oil, Gas, Mining, Coal, environmental polluters of air and water - they all get what they want and WE, who demand simple things like gun legislation, healthcare, infrastructure, REAL tax breaks for the MIDDLE CLASS, decent schools, an impartial Judiciary and an HONEST PRESIDENT get nothing.
Priorities of politicians - line their pockets until they can't carry any more and then resign with no, accountability like all those Republicans who are leaving Congress this year and the crooks from Trump's Cabinet and do-nothing political appointments.
WE deserve better than that. no matter what our race, creed, color or petty political affiliation. At least Democratic voters care - not so much for Republicans; they drank the Koolaid.
19
Beautifully expressed. Couldn’t agree more. We need to repeal the tax cut, repeal or cancel Citizens United decision, eliminate the unbalanced and severely outdated Electoral College, reenact The Voting Rights Act, ban voter suppression measures such as canceling poll locations, limiting voter hours, forcing Indians to have street address, outlaw gerrymandering, and banning lobbyists. If a person wishes to represent American citizens, they need to get off their butts and read the proposed bills in their entirety and visit their constituents more often than just before an election. We must also bring back paper ballots as a security back up and destroy any voting machine that can be hacked or not produce an accurate voting record. It’s time to safeguard our votes and voting rights and stop allowing crooked politicians to destroy valid voter identities. Expand voting hours. Protect and listen to the voices of our citizens. Stop handing our hard earned salaries to the insanely wealthy in unnecessary subsidies and giveaways. We want democracy not oligarchy. Enough with corporate greed and destruction of our country.
15
I vote for you
8
Down with crony capitalism.
Down with the military industrial complex.
A billion dollars is a crime!
and see McGloin from Brooklyn above.
5
The GOP strategy Pandering to the rich, pandering to corporate greed, Pandering to hate and fear and pandering to the extreme religious views within the fundamentalist and evangelical movements. The real party of special interest. The GOP, or as it is increasingly known the Party of Trump apologist.
13
@GUANNA
The GOP strategy: full-time jobs, fewer people on welfare, fewer murders, higher stock market.
Results so far:
7.3 million jobs open for 5.4 million unemployed, 6 million hired last month, in a single month.
Stock market: $35 trillion for our 330 million people as compared to EU at $9 trillion for their 540 million people.
Meanwhile our deficits under Trump are exploding during a strong economy. People this is not going to end well. Trump will blame it on Democrats, but we know all GOP policies favoring corporations is the source of all these debts. We got a taste of this under Bush 2 even before the great recession of 2007.
Fool us twice shame on us.
21
Did Trump's companies benefit from this huge tax cut?
7
Yes they did. The tax bill was larded with goodies for real estate developers.
14
Dear Republicans,
I get it. You don't like to pay taxes. Who does?
But please just be honest about that. Stop it with your trickle-down economics, and your "job creators" meme, and all your pseudo-intellectual justifications for paying lower taxes.
You are just greedy people. And you want to keep it all for yourselves -- in the short term, rather than invest in the future of our great country. It's really just that simple.
43
Anyone who had any delusions that Trumpanomics would benefit the average man and the middle class was perfectly conned by the “Con Man in Chief”. Only the Republican Oligarchy profited from Trumps perfect tax plan, which has left the rest of us, as well as the Country, poorer and deeper in debt, Thanks to his Tax Bill and Sanctions. Ask the farmers, who he “loved” how they fared? Yet many of these same people are to deluded to turn away, even tho many have been financially ruined. I do not or ever will get it!
12
@Sschmidt
Yes, Sschmidt, I'd call it a MAGA version of Thomas Frank's revealing 2005 book, "What the Matter with Kansas" --- which first diagnosed how ill-informed people can be so easily conned into voting against their own economic interests.
14
@Sschmidt They're faring more than fine. Farmers are paid tens of billions in public funds to shut up and vote for the GOP hand that feeds them.
13
@schmidt, you mean the welfare king farmers? They are feeding mightily at the public trough.
12
Elizabeth Waren and Tom Steyer are right.
18
Trump bring his special economics to the USA. . .'always use O.P.M. for purchases to provide easy escape by way of bankruptcy'. Of course, for our country, the bankruptcy would be default on payments and re-negotiation of rates and time.
The lifeboat is flooding quicker than the pumps can keep it dry, as trump-pence-gop hold the helm hard to starboard as we circle the drain.
10
Drain the swamp much? Right.
10
With the federal debt exceeding 100% of GDP, and this ratio increasing very fast thanks to the anemic 2% rate of GDP growth and the all-time non-recession record deficit of 5% of GDP, our country is quickly becoming another Venezuela, “socialism” not required, presumably to the schadenfreude of the Russian Federation, the PRC and the DPRK. Ironically, the Russian Federation seems to be accomplishing by relatively peaceful means and in just a few years what the Soviet Union was unable to achieve.
By simply walking back the TCJA and closing the Offshore Tax Deferral loophole M. President Warren will increase both federal collections and outlays by 2% of GDP , thereby increasing GDP annual growth to 4% and bringing down the federal debt/GDP ratio after 8 years to a much more fiscally responsible 68%, all without increasing the deficit.
13
When the regular people don’t show up to vote, or when their power is split along social issues, the wealthy win. So they’ve kneecapped working people by destroying Unions. Then they convinced white working people that the REAL bad guys are the immigrants/blacks/Muslims, etc. Blanket the airwaves in rural America and military bases with Republican Party propaganda, and you get a huge advantage in the Senate and EC. Now you control the rule writing, and you write the rules to benefit your donors.
This scheme has worked out better than the Heritage Foundation, Club for Growth and Kochs ever could have imagined. It’s going to take another generation to cleanse out the brainwashing. Hope the youth show up at the next election.
18
@RD - "Hope the youth show up at the next election."
Doubtful. The young people in my building are clueless politically. I asked one if he voted in our last local election He said he forgot. I asked how he could forget since we vote by mail. He still thought we went to voting booths here in Washington. I was shocked. I told him that every time you try to renew your driver's license or state i.d. or apply for state assistance, the first question they ask is, "Would you like to register to vote?". He just smiled which makes me wonder if he has a valid driver's license to operate his big truck.
Another young guy? I made a comment about Bezos and he asked who that was. I broke my own jaw when it hit the parking lot. How on earth could he live in Seattle and not know who Jeff Bezos is? Our lobby is full of Amazon boxes day after day. But I'm sure he could name every third string player of the Seahawks.
14
@tom harrison Hopefully just very recent transplants..
3
(Please.
Nobody tell the MAGA crowd that not a single billionaire ever attends Trump’s “show daddy some love” rallies.
Not a single one.
Placards, chants, hats?
These are for the small people.)
17
@Opinioned!
Yes, as the 'Queen of mean', Leona Helmsley, infamously said:
"Only little people pay taxes"
10
Criminal.
6
Being the end of the year, my wife and I are looking at our 2019 taxes and planning for 2020.
We are both in our early 50s, MFJ, and in our peak earning years. We are fortunate to gross about $200,000 per year. We could easily be in the 22% or 24% tax bracket, but we have managed to stay in the 12% tax bracket. We take advantage of every tax deferral we can, including maxing out my wife's 401(k) and HSA contributions, my 403(b) and 457(b) contributions, and every bit of IRA deductions we are allowed to take.
So you might think we are Republicans.
We are not. We are willing to pay more taxes. We did not want or need a tax cut. (Ours is worth about $2000 per year.)
To the contrary, we would be happy to pay higher taxes. We want to invest in a better future and more opportunity for all Americans. We want to see investments in education and infrastructure. We want to see an end to medical bankruptcy. We want to stop the explosion of our national debt, which is a tax on our grandchildren and our future (we don't have children ourselves).
We are both pro-business, but believe in appropriate regulations and taxes. Sanders and Warren do not scare us one whit, but we will both vote blue, no matter who. (We both voted for Sanders in the 2016 primary, and voted for Clinton in the general election.)
We will proudly vote for a candidate who believes in investing in the future of America. Even though it is against our own financial self-interest. I hope many of you are with us.
39
bottom line the sequester worked and brought deficit to ~$500MM. Trump doubled it and he's not done. Wait until the "poison pill" takes effect, and personal tax breaks become permanent. (I believe that's happening in 2020?). Once that happens we will likely be at 1.3T to 1.5T deficit.
4
Well, duh. Get ready to meet your new corporate overlords when our government defaults and the banks we bailed out foreclose on the White House.
4
Trump is nothing more than a car salesman- a used car salesman. Soon enough, the wheels will be falling off our country from his trade wars, massive deficits, corruption, climate change denial, and hate. It’s already happening as evidenced by N Korea’s growing nuclear threat, Russia’s growing lead in advanced weapons, America’s struggling middle class, and GOP’s attempts to kill Social Security/Health Care. Of course, Trump will keep selling his pie in the sky to us while the ground is crumbling. Think about it- Would you want to buy a car from Trump?
15
Crooked is as Crooked does --- particularly in this world of a Disguised Global Crony Capitalist Empire.
“We can either have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”
—Louis Brandeis
U.S. Supreme Court Justice (1856-1941)
11
Hmmm the federal debt could be a concern. But it's a wonderful opportunity for liberals to lead by example. They can start a charity to
forgive college debt
give healthcare to the lazy and irresponsible
give childcare to people who can'afford kids but have them
give illegal aliens healthcare
support those who did not prepare for old age
No doubt Warren and Sanders will be the 1st two to write large personal checks.
1
@Reader In Wash, DC The liberals won't need to rely on charity. All they will have to do is regain power in November 2020 and enact tax laws that take back the windfalls granted to the 1% and the corporations they own, and re-direct it toward affordable healthcare to the middle class, affordable quality education to the middle class, improved infrastructure, environmental policies that slow climate change, etc. etc.
14
@reader, it’s a fact that the liberal coasts pay taxes while the lazy flyover states spend our taxes. Thanks for nothing.
12
It is alarming to see the ever-increasing access lobbyists from multinational banks and corporations now have to our government.
They are like sharks in a feeding frenzy, swimming in bloody seas where working folks are treading water and getting bled for more labor at less pay whenever possible
The United States is now in a second Gilded Age surpassing the original one a hundred years ago, with no check system in sight to stop this.
The “too-big-to-fail” banks that taxpayers' money bailed out in 2008 are now bigger than ever. A few years of “quantitative easing” post 2008, amounting to 4.5 trillion dollars of public money generated colossal private profits for the very few.
In addition to the social costs of America's financialized and rent-seeking economy, Trump’s 2017 1.5 trillion-dollar tax break gift to these same corporatists was the last nail in the coffin of the social contract.
In this circumstance, it’s ludicrous to talk about repatriating even a tiny fraction of the trillions of dollars now hidden in offshore tax havens around the world. That won't happen.
Big banks boast they’re in the business of tax avoidance (legal), not tax evasion (illegal). But willing legislators are there to make “legal” anything that needs to be.
The world’s greediest financiers are eating their own nation-states. A Brave New World it is indeed.
oz.
11
@oz.
Yes, oz, this faux economy has been long running on only one dumb dictate that CEOs and Crony Capitalist corporations know --- which is "Labor Cost Displacement" as opposed to the enlightened opportunity of 'Energy Cost Displacement'.
But the well hidden and deeply disguised 'fly in the ointment' is the massive scale of world-ending and dumped 'negative externality costs' --- which at least the CEOs and Crony Capitalist corporations know very well how to hide over the scope to time and distance.
2
No one in the rich community is paying there taxes. That needs to stop. A country ceases to exist if no one pays there taxes. Why are the GOP not patriotic and cowards . They won’t go into the military to fight in the wars they start and now refuse to pay taxes. Lock them all up.
6
Question for all those blue collar workers who voted for Trump.
How's that working our for ya?
10
“I can balance the budget in 90 days” ..... really?
Enjoy the deficit for 9 decades my fellow Americans.... both the costal elites and Trump base.
Vote this crook in the office again to burden your children, grandchildren and great grandchildren for ever.
What magic of Republicans!!!!
10
I can’t even get anyone in Congress to respond to an letter, email or phone call...
I cannot understand why ANY of our representatives or senators in congress — let alone Democrats! — give corporations EVERYTHING while giving We-The-Tax-Payers nothing — and in fact take more and more away from us every year to give to billionaires. Why is ANY corporation, for-profit or fake for-profit entity allowed to lobby our government? I know the historical and technical reasons why, I’d just like some answers that address the ethics, integrity and morality of our current lobbying situation.
10
At least the federal government can afford it. Here our Mayor and Governor dole out all sorts of State and City tax breaks to corporations, most notoriously Amazon, on the backs of resident property tax payers, of these, disproportionately the ones most victimized by its unfairness, the middle class. No surprise that the Mayor is among the beneficiaries of the system.
1
My Fellow Americans,
It is not raining today. It's time to pay our bills.
Yet we have a deficit-funded tax cut, where all the benefits are flowing to the most fortunate among us.
My wife and I are comfortably middle class. We did not want or need a tax cut. We would gladly pay more taxes to invest in a better future for all Americans -- including education and infrastructure. We would also be happy to help pay down the national debt, which is a tax on our grandchildren and our future.
18
Trump was elected to ROB USA and public finances for tthe rich GOP donors. That's what he did.
Any questions ?
Doubled annual budget deficit in 2 years in a healthy economy .
Annual budget deficit after 240 years = 1/2 Trillion.
After two years of Trump = 1 Trillion.
16
My mistake was not owning a major corporation, or becoming a CEO, and conning my employees into believing in trickle-down economics so that I could become even more fabulously wealthy at their, and other blue-collar workers’, expense. In the meantime, I guess I’ll just pay my taxes like always so the fat cats don’t have to.
16
Can the NYT share tactics on how individuals could potentially lower their tax bills to zero? As a millennial struggling to make ends meet every month, the high federal taxes that are deducted from my paycheck would go a long way in meeting savings goals, paying off debts, groceries, etc. I would be putting hard earned money back into the US economy. Is there an affordable lobbyist that I can hire to assist with this dream of mine coming to fruition?
17
The modest tax cuts the middle class got from Trump were supposed to signal that he was a proper conservative. What very few people in his base appreciate is that while drastically cutting revenues by giving back the tax cuts, he also went on a wild spending spree, with increased military spending, bail outs to farmers, and his ridiculous wall. All of this spending was essentially borrowed by raising the deficit. he has already added 4 trillion to it in three years, and if he gets reelected he will likely add about 9 trillion to a twenty trillion dollars deficit. His campaign promise to eliminate the deficit entirely is a joke. He promised GDPs of 5-6% which have not materialized.The last time we had a GDP that high was under Obama in 2014. Im starting to feel like he is treating our country like one of his over leveraged real estate development that ends in bankruptcy.
17
@ach
That has been the Republican gamebook since Reagan - finance the good times through debt and giveaways to the wealthy, claim that social services and government have to be cut to compensate, and leave Democrats to clean up the mess and wear the blame.
22
@ach “...starting to feel....”??????
3
This article was very vague. How about several examples of the largest "carved out exceptions" in the series of obscure regulations.
2
But if you have US citizenship and have chosen to live somewhere else the IRS is hanging over your head anyway - and they claim that "avoiding US taxation" on earnings in the country you live in is not a valid reason for renouncing US citizenship. Once again the little people get smashed while large corporations can skate away without paying their share of the costs of the country where they actually DO "live" and do business.
9
We all know what will happen next. Mitch McConnell said it shortly after the tax bill—cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and SS. He said it on camera. With a smirk on his face.
22
Trump = short term pain for long term pain for 99% of the population
15
The Oligarchy wins again. Your article was spot-on. Kudos. It's the Regulations (the "Rules") that are implemented/enforced, not the Laws. Laws often are changed significantly in the Rule-making process. Congress has no say in that.
We are well on our way to NeoFeudalism. Plus, we're marching there voluntarily. That's due mainly to Edward Bernays style Propaganda. The whole show is both tragic and comical.
11
Given the requirement for cost to not exceed $1.5 trillion over 10 years, why isn’t the Treasury Dept legally mandated to interpret the rules such that the threshold is met? Does the lax - potentially illegal - interpretation of the law make the law itself unconstitutional or something akin to that, given the restrictions associated with how it was passed?
7
All of this anti-corporate sentiment treats corporations as if they were abstractions and conveniently forgets that they are run and owned by taxpaying individuals, that they employ many millions of taxpaying individuals, that they pay a wide array of other taxes in addition to federal tax. These same kneejerk anti-corporatists want higher wages for workers, corporate responsibility, and of course for the same companies to be taxed into oblivion simultaneously. One sees why sensible people might be a little alarmed by such thinking.
2
@Frunobulax
No, all we want is fair treatment for both individuals and corporations.
8
@Frunobulax … No one is intent on taxing corporations into "oblivion" A fairer and more progressive tax code is the aim.
9
@fruno, I believe it was corporations that lobbied to be considered as a person for purposes of lobbying the government. Then they should pay taxes, correct? Taxation comes with representation.
6
Voting won't change a thing. Republicans and democrats are one in the same. The deficit goes up! The rich get richer! Vampires like Nestle get millions of gallons of water a year dirt cheap from Michigan, while folks in Flint still don't have clean water. Corporations holding the U.S. hostage! Yes we're in a fiefdom! Capitalism at it's best!
"The basic confrontation which seemed to be colonialism versus anti-colonialism, indeed capitalism versus socialism, is already losing its importance. What matters today, the issue which blocks the horizon, is the need for a redistribution of wealth. Humanity will have to address this question, no matter how devastating the consequences may be."
Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth
7
@Buck Tex Nosferatu
The deficit went up under Obama because he was fixing the economy that the republicans ran into the ground AGAIN. The Republican Party actually grows the size and scope of the government every time they come to power.
9
Crow all you want about the deficit — but like the climate it seems like a tough issue to win on. Maybe tougher since its consequences are less certain?
4
My Fellow Americans,
We could not build the Interstate Highway System today. We could not send a man to the moon today.
If a modern president proposed a massive public works project, like Eisenhower did, he would be labeled a "socialist" on Fox News -- and today's Republican Party would scream from the rooftops, "we can't afford that."
I mourn for the loss of our once great nation. We used to be leaders. We used to be ambitious - especially for our children to have more opportunity than we did. We used to invest in a better future.
The Trump Republicans have sold out our nation for thirty pieces of silver -- cashed out in their current year tax bill.
29
@Midtown ATL
It’s true, post WWII, this country had the highest standard of living in the world, not so much today. This country created the technology to go to the moon and back until it was routine, none of the technology existed until the space programs were charged with sending a man to the moon, and return him safely to earth. At the turn of the century we were the only country to have a public school system that educated beyond just the three Rs. We lead the world in medical research, we created the polio vaccine, and the scientist that invented it, GAVE IT AWAY, for the betterment of mankind. The list of this countries accomplishments goes on, many of the achievements were made by immigrants.
I remember growing up in the 1960s, I was a small child when we first went to the moon, I stood in that furniture store, watching that Saturn 5 rocket head to the moon, I was speechless. There was a time, when being an American meant something, countries wanted to be like us, we were once a proud people.
11
@James
Thank you for your wonderful comment. I was born in 1969, several months after the moon landing. But I know my history, and still believe in the promise of America, as do you.
7
The Republicans forced this tax cut through on a lie: they claimed the cost would be $1.5T over 10 years. Because that cost fit under a budget resolution passed by the Senate, it was legal to be handled by a majority-only vote. Democrats, those nasty fiscal watchdogs, never had a say in the process.
Now we see that the situation is going to worse than even the $1.5T lie. How does the Senate get held accountable for this grievous financial planning error? Can we change the rules of the Senate so that if their predicted budget doesn't hold, the tax bill automatically gets reversed? How do we hold these people accountable?
10
@Ken L
The GOP are above the law . Trump said it himself. We need to vote them out and change the law but those profound immoral GOP will always be corrupt and get away with lots of criminal acts. Very sad
5
Every man, woman, and child in the US will have $2,500 of new debt in 2020 if the deficit hits 1 Trillion. This is insane!
7
@church/state
And yet 40% of Americans could not come up with $400 for an emergency.
Adjust for the fact that 1% of Americans own more than the bottom 50% and this 1% will never help repay the debt, and the situation is truly horrendous.
13
Never fear, middle class tax cuts will expire in December of 2025, just in time to start paying off what will be massive national debt. Consumer spending, which has been he backbone of this strong economy will be reduced, because people will have less to spend Corporate tax breaks will roll on. This surprise package will be opened by whomever has the misfortune to be president that year.
10
This tax cut was obscene and made to pander to big business and the spendthrift GOP. And frankly at a time when working people pay their taxes in full, because of withholding it would be reassuring for the tax laws to be EQUALLY well-enforced on high income earners. And why shouldn't business pay a fair tax without loopholes? Why so much greed? And why do people vote in these greedy people? Vote blue 2020 and see if the deficit can't be reduced before we are in another recession.
9
The Tea Party Republicans are too busy spreading Russian propaganda to worry about the deficit anymore.
11
Go ahead, NYT, and continue this anti-business diatribe, but don’t tell about your big tax breaks. Or those of your executive staff. Or any if your other anti-business cronies getting comfy under the best economy in the world.
So what else is new? Theft by the American Oligarchy is a fact of life. Their Republican enablers will characterize it as "hard work, innovation, job creating", but it is plain and simple grand theft.
We have turned into a society of thieves.
9
This is just one more disgusting thing perpetrated by Trump to be popular. He has robbed our country for his own interests. It is time for Corporate America to give this money back, now.
10
What trickle down didn't work again ?
Silly Rabbit- Deficits only matter when Dems are in power or the money is going to little people.
14
Dear Democrats,
Repeat after me:
1. Deficit-funded tax cuts for the rich.
2. The Republicans are printing $1,000,000,000,000 per year, and handing it to the wealthiest among us.
3. Privatize the profits; socialize the losses.
4. The Republicans want to take away your social security, your medicare, your healthcare, and your education -- so they can further line the pockets of the most fortunate among us.
18
Within a few years of Reagan imposing Trickledown Economics on the country, US manufacturing took a big hit as the tax cut gave the corporations billions in extra dollars to invest overseas. Why should we think the Reaganomic's III is going to be any better than Reaganomic's Part I, and Baby Bush's Reaganomic's Part II?
8
Arthur Schlesinger Jr. compared trickle down economics to little birds picking kernels of grain from horse manure.
2
Read about the Patriotic Millionaires in the New Yorker. New York Times get with it. Report on these people trying to change the income inequality in America. Jeff Bezos needs to wake the frying pan up. So does Mark Zukerberg. Pay people a decent wage. Have respect for American workers. Change the horrible history of corporate greed. Hello! Anyone listening?????
4
Ah that fine line between winning and stealing ... Maybe we could invent a new word, Oligarching ... Borrowing best practices from a uniquely Russian styled economic ecosystem - allocating profits to the oligarchs while socializing losses among the pauperized citizens.
Bureaucrats, as tradition holds, remain protected as their own parasitic class.
8
The Republicans are printing $1,000,000,000,000 a year and handling it to the most fortunate among us.
Volunteer. Donate. And VOTE!
8
Corporations now control the government, the American people and their government have been totally hijacked.
5-4 decisions in the corporate Supreme Court are solidifying corporate power and betraying the trust of the American people.
It would take an uncommon leader to restore the American experiment to its intended path.
Republicans are taking advantage of an uninformed and uninformed electorate.
The destruction of the country is an inside job by unethical and self-serving opportunists.
Our system desperately needs better protection from these parasites.
8
One fact- Fed Express paid 1.5 billion in taxes in 2016 and paid zero after the tax cut. In 1980 the corporations paid about 35% of fed taxes and workers 10%, This year workers pay 15% and Corps about 10%. Thats why we have a 20 trillion debt.
10
One Trillion dollars in the red. Just think about this for a moment. When have you ever been able to pay your rent and bills with a negative bank balance?
10
--Trump’s Trade War With China Makes Russia Great Again
https://www.cfr.org/blog/trumps-trade-war-china-makes-russia-great-again
--“Tariffs will make our country much richer than it is today,” President Trump tweeted in August. So far, there’s not much evidence of that. As the left-hand graphic above shows, U.S. exports to China have plummeted since June—while U.S. imports from China have continued to rise. Meanwhile, U.S. importers (many of whom are exporters) have seen their U.S. tariff bill more than double since May, topping $5 billion in October.
--Trump’s tariff war has some clear winners, however—high among them, Russia. As shown in the left-hand graphic, Chinese imports from non-U.S. firms have continued to grow at a robust 18 percent year-over-year rate while those from U.S. firms have fallen. Among the hardest-hit U.S. sectors have been soybeans, autos, and oil. Whereas China had accounted for about 22 percent of U.S. oil exports in the two years to July 2018, it fell to zero thereafter. This has proven a boon to alternative suppliers like Russia, as shown in the right-hand figure. And so, in the ultimate irony, Americans are paying tariffs that boost the profits of Russian firms subject to U.S. sanctions.
7
and this is the simple reason why Trump changed from Democrat to Republican.... to serve and supplied himself of lots of tax breaks
3
Perhaps more than any one single article the Times has done in the past year, this one neatly summarizes the rot at the root of our republic. As they say, it's always about following the money and this story illustrates the lengths to which the 1% and their GOP enablers have worked to make it ever harder to tax them for the public good.
11
DJT, our IMPOTUS, continues to do business as he has for decades--borrowing from others to enrich himself and his friends. Only this time, he isn't ripping off contractors and banks- he's ripping off you. We're paying for this corporate stick-up.
8
The Trump Republicans have sold out our country for thirty pieces of silver.
3
not to be pessimist but we are heading a big chaotic event.... The handing of the crown and scepter to China.....
Just read about what China is doing from Mexico to countries all the way down... Scary for the US but very good for the rest of America...
1
"The 2017 overhaul of a federal law reduced the tax burden for big companies, but a lobbying effort created a windfall for corporations." I'm shocked, shocked I tell you. Thanks Trump voters.
8
Do you realize how the companies invested their tax savings? Hired new employees, gave raises, expanded benefits, updated equipment, etc etc. Thats why the economy is booming. My employer was generous enough to give every employee a 10% raise with their savings, hired 30% more staff, and increased 401K match. I had a better year than anytime under Bush or Obama. Obama ruined my 100% employer paid Health Insurance, canceled Bush Tax Cuts, and increased payroll tax (which really hurt people in the lower class). Democrats caused the 2008 housing crisis with their Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac policies. I’ll take Trump any time & all the time. Trump 2020.
2
@JOSEPH
I'm not sure you read the article you're commenting on?
Congratulations if your employer did some nice things for you. By all means, share their name so others can prosper. Most companies, as mentioned in this article, simply bought back shares and did little for employees.
Clearly you don't understand the housing crisis or tax policy, but I hope you remember the words "too big to fail" because you're going to be hearing it a lot when the Wall Street house of cards collapse as a result of Trump's policies that are financing it all.
9
@JOSEPH
You forgot to include the sarcasm tag.
I know for a fact of being there that Fannie and Freddie didn't cause housing crisis, read the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission report.
The US GDP is growling slower than under Obama and yet the deficit has doubled.
Most of the corporate tax cuts went to buy the company's own stock to boost the value and increase executive compensation.
etc. We are truly in Bizarro World but this is no comic book and there is no Superman.
7
@JOSEPH …… Good for you. Not so good for the rest of us.
2
Y'know, this is getting very tiring.
Why are John & Jane Doe American expected to keep bearing the burdens and picking up the tab for gazillion dollar corporations?
And don't pin this trillion dollar deficit on the backs of poor and desperate migrants and the dwindling services we as a humane and enlightened nation should provide. NO. It's not on them.
Not unlike GWB, we will be paying this off for generations, and/or seeing another '08 meltdown. Should that occur, my only hope is that it comes in time to sink DJT's chances.
8
Most Americans aren't benefiting from the stock market boom [CNN Business]
The stock market's record-breaking ascent this year has become a favorite topic for President Donald Trump. "With the great vote on Cutting Taxes, this could be a big day for the Stock Market - and YOU!" he tweeted on Mondy morning.
It's true -- the S&P 500 is up 17.4% since the beginning of the year and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 22.2%, reflecting strong corporate earnings and the anticipation of a massive tax cut.
But just who benefits from those skyrocketing numbers?
The short answer: Wealthy people.
As measured by those who declare ordinary dividend income on their tax returns, stock ownership varies dramatically by income level. Among filers who make less than $25,000 a year, only about 8% own stocks. Meanwhile, 88% of those making more than $1 million are in the market, which explains why the rising stock market tracks with increasing levels of inequality.
How many people actually make more than $1 million a year… According to a Wall Street Journal article published on October 25th, 2011 called The Wild Ride of the 1%, in 2007, before the Great Recession, there were nearly 400,000 individuals earning $1,000,000 or more in the United States.
In the depths of the recession in 2009, there were still 236,883 individuals who earned more than $1,000,000 in the United States.
6
The Stock Market vs The Economy Explained [CNBC]
Each day, investors are treated to news about the economy and information about how the stock market has done recently. It can be very difficult to process what’s going on because at any given moment in time, there may be very little correlation between how things are going in the real world and how prices are acting on Wall Street.
Investors are not well served by incorporating economic expectations into their long-term investment plans for the following reasons:
1. The future is impossible to predict.
2. Even if you knew what would happen in the future, you would still have to guess about what that might cause buyers and sellers to do, and how sentiment might shift in the investment markets.
3. There were many years during which stocks have rallied as the economy had performed worse than expectations. There are also years during which economic data was strong but stock prices were weak. And then we’ve seen literally everything in between. No one can reliably predict which of these scenarios is more likely to occur in advance.
Understanding the economy is a helpful exercise. Placing market bets as a result of this understanding is a carnival game on the midway.
3
I am a small business owner. I do not have lobbyists or internal tax experts. I did not look for questionable and shady laws to lower my taxes. I pay more in taxes now then before the tax "reform".
It is absolutely disheartening to realize that the corporations are paying less and less and our national deficit is getting bigger and bigger.
I do not want to sound like a panicked allarmist but this state of affers cannot end well.
15
--Trump's Tariffs are Effecting our Recycling and its beginning to cost Americans a lot of money and increasing our pollution. China is no longer buying our recyclables.
--Is this the end of recycling?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/is-this-the-end-of-recycling/ar-BBUpk8p?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout
--These municipalities have two choices: pay much higher rates to get rid of recycling, or throw it all away.
--Most are choosing the latter. “We are doing our best to be environmentally responsible, but we can’t afford it,” said Judie Milner, the city manager of Franklin, New Hampshire. Since 2010, Franklin has offered curbside recycling and encouraged residents to put paper, metal, and plastic in their green bins. When the program launched, Franklin could break even on recycling by selling it for $6 a ton. Now, Milner told me, the transfer station is charging the town $125 a ton to recycle, or $68 a ton to incinerate. One-fifth of Franklin’s residents live below the poverty line, and the city government didn’t want to ask them to pay more to recycle, so all those carefully sorted bottles and cans are being burned. Milner hates knowing that Franklin is releasing toxins into the environment, but there’s not much she can do. “Plastic is just not one of the things we have a market for,” she said.
3
--Use to project future economics of US economy, the difference between Republican and Democrat governing. From: Politics That Work
--Change in Unemployment Rate by Party of President- Since 1945 Each party has held the presidency for the same number of years since 1945. During those years, the unemployment rate has risen 11.8% under Republican presidents and has fallen 7.2% under Democratic presidents. Unemployment has fallen during the overwhelming majority of Democratic years since 1949. Unemployment rose steadily under Republicans up until 1982, then fell during the remaining Reagan years, and then rose again under both Bush Presidents.
--Dow Jones Performance by the Party of the President During the most recent 15 years during which Republicans have held the presidency, the value of the Dow has increased by 42%. During the Democratic presidencies, it has increased by 609%- 14.5 times faster. The average growth in the value of the Dow under Democrats during this period has been 14.75% and under Republicans it has been 5.11%.
--Change in Disposable Income Since 1930 by the Party of the President In the 44 years that we have had Democratic presidents since 1930, the real per-capita disposable income has increased 271%. During the 40 years during which we have had Republican presidents, it has increased 44%. On average, it has increased 3.1% (after adjusting for inflation) under Democratic presidents and 1% under Republican presidents.
8
I remember when Bush was talking to a woman who had three jobs, no health insurance and was taking care of a special-needs adult son. He said, with a big smile on his face, "That's so American." He said it as though that's something we should be proud of. Many Americans agree with that, so it's no wonder everyone sits still while corporations steal everything. They run the government with the blessing of everyone who votes Republican.
14
This article is misleading. Of course, buybacks accelerated under the new tax law, but it will stop as the rules change over time. This tax law was created to jump start the economy and improve income for all gradually over time. The painful fact here is that these companies will do things such as buybacks first due to the law of self preservation which all living beings are guilty of. Regardless, every subsequent year from now, income for all will improve rapidly. The real rub is on those who live in states that tax income prior to federal income tax. They pay more in taxes. Those states need to change this by improving and improvising how they acquire their funding each year. For example, some states charge tolls on roads rather than spreading the cost to everyone. If you don’t use the toll roads, then why should you pay for it?
@Bob Dean
"Regardless, every subsequent year from now, income for all will improve rapidly."
That is a faith-based assumption. You have no evidence to support this claim.
To the contrary, I will argue that the money will continue to flow to the most fortunate among us, and the deficits will continue to grow to the sky, and be the burden on our grandchildren and our future.
This is nothing but a rehash of trickle-down economics, with the addition of a new focus-group tested phrase, the "job creators." We all know how this will end.
8
I always find it astonishing that the lower middle class and middle-class continue to vote against themselves and their interests. I agree that the media should provide more coverage on issues such as this. Make the coverage understandable and concise so that people who do not have training in tax and finance understand the implications of what their vote has produced.
14
I own a small business in the UK and worked at it part time while maintaining a full time job in California. GILTI hit me like a freight train. All of a sudden the earnings of this business were subject to US tax (and California’s taxation of it was unclear). The compliance costs alone were $25,000 or more per year and prior to 2017 these costs were zero. While the tax itself was only going to be $5,000 or so annually, I could not run my business while thinking of the US tax implications of every transaction.
So I expatriated. Was this a net benefit to the United States that I gave up a lucrative salary spent in the USA? I spent three or four months worrying about every single thing I was doing in the UK and the effect on an American tax position that came out of nowhere.
In what world is the UK considered a tax haven?
3
People do not understand.
Forgive me for sounding like an intellectual elitist, but it's true. Half our people have an IQ under 100. That's why it's the median.
Do you think the vast majority of people have even an inkling of what is being presented in this article?
Do most people even know the difference between the deficit and the debt? No.
Does anyone truly understand how much a "trillion dollar deficit" is? That it's more than $3,000 per person in the U.S.
This information must not be presented to the public in terms they cannot wrap their minds around.
Instead, OK Joe, you made $50,000 last year and paid $2,200 in Federal income tax. Did you know that Amazon made 200,000 times as much as you did and didn't pay a single dime? That's like an entire city of workers just like you, Joe, and none of them paid anything. By rights, they should have paid, at the very least, a couple of billion dollars.
etc.
15
The G.O.P. tax bill was just a rehash of trickle-down economics.
How many times do we have to see a remake of this movie to know how it ends? Don't eat the yellow snow.
14
This is exactly the thing that Trump said he would prevent by draining the swamp.
8
Under Trump the Swamp has only become incredibly Swampier! Yet his minions still believe he’s on their side. Talk about being duped and being too ignorant to understand just how badly....
2
The rich are our masters. If they are happy they will be kind to us. If they are angry we will suffer. This is a good law for poor people so we don't have to make hard decisions. Thank you Mr. Trump, smartest president ever.
2
When will "the American people" learn that Democrats need to win both the Senate and House, plus POTUS position, to reverse these shameful tax breaks. It will be especially hard, I know, since Republicans are getting away with shedding likely Democrat party voters from voting rolls.
8
The Democrats are the lesser of two evils. One of the rather fairer criticisms of Hilary Clinton was that she was too close to Wall Street. What makes you think they care about you? They don’t. They’re just less evil. Hardly a motivation to take the time to vote FOR something vs. voting against something.
1
So Trump and his enablers said one thing and did another? Surprise, surprise. You think the economy is good? It is all illusion of free money and the piper is warming his pipes. Get ready, we saw this in 2002 and 2007. Here it comes again.
10
“We were responsive to job creators,” he said.
What an outright lie. The foreign banks he was helping out do not create jobs here in the US. It's the ol' trickle down thingy all over again.
8
Foreigners own 35% of large cap U.S. stocks (S&P 500).
Thanks a lot, Republicans. One third of your tax cut did not even go to Americans.
Yet it is We the People who are the hook for the $1,000,000,000,000 in annual deficits that will pay for this.
G.O.P. = Grand Oligarch Party.
MAGA = Modern American Gilded Age.
- And both of these are true on an international level.
12
Simply put: Our National Debt has ballooned to $23 TRILLION; Budget Deficit is at an all time high....all Thanks to the Trump Tax Scam!
7
Another Trump’s promise broken.
4
"Ronald Reagan proved that in politics, deficits don’t matter” Dick Cheney
2
how the oligarchy rolls...
1
And the rich keep gettin' richer
And the rest of us just keep gettin' old.
-- Stephen Stills "Word Game"
3
Steven Mnuchin looks like the villain in a Batman movie.
And, according to this article, he acts like one too.
7
PS. The Republicans LIE they are not “fiscal conservatives” it’s a scam, America!
8
Where is good old Grover Norquist these days? I notice he is not calling out his GOP spending hawks!
3
Makes perfect sense. Leave it to the 45th to bankrupt the country.
He’s more than qualified for the role. In fact, that may be his only ‘strength’.
9
As if we needed more evidence that most things are backwards as 2019 comes to an end, this article leads me to imagine a near-future scenario in which a popular rallying cry against corporations will be “No representation without taxation!”
6
Now, that is a very clever and appropriate slogan! Excellent.
And I never saw the 4% growth that would eliminate national debt that Trump promised. I am surprised that the democrats are not even talking about the National debt at all.
9
Frankly, the Dems are clueless. Not sure why. You can buy the talents of smart people.
1
Which candidate has the courage ala Franklin Roosevelt to tax these corporations and the billionaires who benefit?
5
Funny how the fed is also stepping in to subsidize the borrowing costs for many of these same corporations. Ultra low borrowing costs for them to play the Wall Street game while making sure there are few to no tools left for when that house of cards collapses and the government has to step in to save all those "too big to fail" institutions again.
4
The Trump/Republican trillion dollar federal deficit.
The Trump/Republican tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations.
Please identify these shenanigans for what they are, so that the party responsible and their president take the hit.
6
This article is mistaken. Lobbyists are stereotypical bad guys. But here the stereotype is wrong. When the IRS writes regulations about tax matters affecting corporations it often needs input from those corporations. In particular, some provisions create incentives. Incentives not to transfer business overseas, incentives to make environmentally friendly decisions, and incentives to locate franchises in poor areas to name a few. In order to create the proper incentives, the IRS consults lobbyists for guidance. The corporations want the tax breaks and the IRS wants incentives that work. The two are cooperating to achieve the goals of each. This is a good thing. By arguing that it is a bad thing this article subverts the truth.
1
@michjas Yes - well said, and then when the incentives work, people label them loopholes.
Whi are you kidding. Yes. the incentives work for the corporations. Period. Not for the American public who will bear the burden of trillion dollar plus deficits.
5
@michjas a 50% increase in the national debt in 3 years is a good thing? A massive redistribution of national wealth to the very wealthiest is a good thing? Explain how this would be a good thing for this, or any other, country.
8
We do have a balanced budget in Germany and sometimes I wonder what the advantage of a balanced budget is compared to other nations, countries etc. It strikes me how easily Trump is using debt to improve his popularity in the US. This would not be possible in Germany and in the EU. There would be democratic forces and institutions that would hinder a corporate tax cut by 14 ppt. In the end, the debt will be paid by people who have not voted for Trump and who certainly will need to look back many years to find him in the list of US presidents.
5
@Martin...this has been debated ad nauseam for decades here, with zero action. Traditionally, Republican blowhards stroked themselves as light years ahead of Dems in terms of fiscal responsibility. Too bad the reality is something much different—EVERY TIME they have majority control. What you cite regarding TrumPutin's fleecing of America for his own gain is right on the mark, but 40% of the comatose in this country are the only ones that get airplay, so the debt thing is rarely even mentioned anymore.
3
Exactly! That is what makes a crooked president and an equally complicit party so despicable. They all mortgage the future fore their own benefit and their supporters are too ignorant to comprehend the scam.
1
The avoidance of corporate taxes by allocating profits to foreign low tax countries can be simply eliminated by using a worldwide unitary method. Simply compute the tax on all profits and apportion to the US based on the percent of US sales divided by worldwide sales. If 40% of your revenue is derived in the US, 40% of your profit is subject to US tax. The states (starting with California) have done this for years.
2
Since the highly paid lobbyists have so much influence on the lawmakers, it hard to see what point there is in democracy.
4
"In September 2019, Ms. Nijenhuis took off her lobbying hat and joined the Treasury’s Office of Tax Policy, which was still writing the rules governing the tax law."
Is anyone surprised?
I suspect Trump followers can't comprehend, that it will be themselves, who pay with cuts to SS, Medicare, Medicaid, Education and such, in the end.
11
In hindsight the law would not have qualified for approval through budget reconciliation because of all the new regulations there will be insufficient projected revenue to meet the requirements for this exception to the filibuster. If this two-step legislative maneuvering- a sloppy worded tax law with ample room to water down the revenue raisers after enactment through regulations - is not challenged, the rule to partially offset lost revenue with revenue raisers has in effect became moot and the fiscal floodgates have been opened. So why not challenge this law in the same manner as the Republicans are challenging the ACA by saying the total law should be repealed?
6
This is only further proof that the Republican Party of the United States is a regional political organization with outsize influence and power whose mission is to bankrupt our country, destroy our planet, and ensure that we are less safe, less healthy, and less educated now and in the future.
It could not be more important that a Democrat wins the Presidency in November and that both Houses of Congress fall under Democratic control. Of course, I cringe at the idea of a Republican minority as it existed during Clinton and Obama's terms. Republican politicians (I dare not call them civil servants) are truly the worst and ensure that history remains in a loop instead of on a steady forward line of progress.
16
@Lauren You left out the Supreme Court. Democrats must raise the number of justices to achieve some balance and stability or, as it stands now, it could take 3 or 4 decades to undo what this unbridled, unbalanced court might do.
If you need any reminders or further incentive, think, "Citizens United," the most anti-democratic decision in more than a century.
6
Where is the fiscal responsibility? The economy is great because we are spending like crazy on our credit card. The story that tax cuts pay for themselves because of the economy growing doesn’t seem to be true. We will have to pay the bill - who is actually going to be responsible. So called fiscal conservatives - where are you now?
13
Trump places the tax burden on the middle class to pay, while corporations and the wealthy to ride on easy street. Trillions in debt. No infrastructure, No healthcare. More welfare defense spending and mansions.
17
We now have a "don't care" electorate with respect to the great policy issues that used to shape the public's evaluation of politicians. At least, that fairly characterizes narrow-issue voters--virtually ALL of Trump's base, and many of the "slice" interest groups on the left as well. And to the extent that economic trends fail to respond to classic signs of approaching trouble, the executive and legislative thieves get away with what they've done--and even get reelected. All of this is a sign that American policy and politics are unhinged from reality--and you can only say "there will be a reckoning."
3
It's been a familiar narrative for at least 6 decades. Republicans complain about deficits, deficit spending, high taxes, etc., until they're in office. Then they create all those things and wait for the Democrats to come in 8 or 12 years later to clean the mess up. It's all in the history books.
20
My, my, my.
We were duped, again.
Imagine that.
The reason most rich folks are rich is because they take whatever they can, without apology. The reason most of the remaining 99% aren't is because they just let the rich take most of the money.
A lot of the bottom 99% vote for politicians (generally Republicans) who then game the system for the top 1%. Some of them actually believe Donald Trump's promises to look after the little guy! They are such easy marks.
And Donald Trump and his super wealthy cabinet just mock their middle class supporters with scams like this.
Someday the piper will be paid. And let me tell you this: It won't be the 1% that pays. It will come in the form of "entitlement reform". Social Security and Medicare go on the chopping block because the cupboards are bare.
26
Don’t let it play out this way. Vote for Bernie, our new FDR.
3
In America it’s called “lobbying”, elsewhere in the world it’s called “bribery and corruption”.
21
I hope trump wins next year. Maybe once he drives the country off a cliff will people start waking up. But I fear even then, not.
The last time total IRS collected dollar amounts decreased from the previous year was in 2009 right after Obama was elected. This was not Obama's fault, however tax revenues continue to rise under Trump and maintain the increase pattern seen since 2008. In 2009 it was 2.1 Trillion and in 2018 it has risen to 3.33 T. The range of yearly collected increase/year is .01T to .20T.
4
"Only the little people pay taxes." - Leona Helmsley
8
So, "Bill Barr thinks American is going to hell" and one of the main ideas for thwarting Satin is giving huge tax-breaks and windfalls to Big Business?
"We're doing God's work" --Lloyd Blankfein
4
Sometimes I wonder if people think that rich people and corporations hoard their wealth in gold and jump around in it like Uncle Scrooge. That's not the case - generally it is either reinvested directly or indirectly. That money goes out and does work in the economy. It can be reinvested directly in expansion or improvement of the company itself, it can be used to invest in other companies and facilitate their enterprises, it can be put in banks, which turn around and invest something like 99% of it (keeping a small fraction in the digital equivalent of Uncle Scrooge's vault to allow for liquidity), or it can be returned as dividends to shareholders. The end result is that the pie grows larger in an efficient manner led by market forces. I'd rather give tax breaks to corporations knowing I'm feeding the economic engine than give it to the Federal Government, which is not known for efficiency.
1
Yet it appears that many corporations used most of the tax relief to buy back stocks for quick bumps in stock prices that benefitted CEOs. I don't know of any corporation that used the extra profit for large scale investments. They certainly didn't invest a large portion in their employees.
10
@MPO Investment in manufacturing is on the decline. Medicare overhead costs are below 5%. Nice talking point though.
5
It is very predictable what will happen: taxes will be increased - just like Ronald Reagan did with the gasoline tax - and “entitlement” programs like Medicare etc. will be cut as much as possible to pay for the enormous deficit the Trump administration has created. Maybe only then it will finally become transparent to the biggest Trump supporters - who usually do not belong to the upper 0.01% - that they were scammed really badly by President Trump and the GOP.
7
Surely everybody flying the Stars and Bars in the front yard can get behind the massive Trump tax cut that put an extra $2.92 in their pockets every month while it poured millions on the nine figure royalty folks.
Perhaps the explanation for Trump's ferocious resistance to releasing his tax returns isn't that "audit". Maybe it's that when his devoted loyalists see how much Trump profited from his own tax bill, they'll see they've been had.
8
Dear Democrats,
The Republicans want to take away your social security.
And your medicare.
And your healthcare.
Just so they can further line the pockets of the most fortunate among us.
===
Wake up, people.
Volunteer. Donate. And VOTE!
14
In the 2020 election the battle will not be left vs. right or capitalism vs. socialism, it will, in reality, be OLIGARCHY vs. DEMOCRACY.
Trump wins so do the Oligarchs and democracy in America will be history.
15
This is exactly what was intended and expected. It's how you "entice" companies to grow and/or to come back from locations abroad.
@DED Except, as in previous cases, it didn't. Reread the article.
2
@DED - How's that working? They aren't coming back.
How did the Trump lemmings miss the fact that Trump products are made in China?
3
The United States of Corporations. What was long ago predicted/feared is here.
9
A 40% reduction in corporate taxes (35%->21%) was not enough for these people.
They want more, more, more!
Sheer. Unadulterated. Greed.
They will pay for this on November 3, 2020.
14
@MidtownATL
They’ve been doing this for 40 years, and the people keep voting for them.
Not likely that the people will wake up.
8
@Grove Longer than 40 years. Try almost 60 years. It all started at the beginning of the 1960s. Before then, business taxes were at least 50%.
4
@Grove
"Not likely that the people will wake up."
Perhaps. But it seems the Trump Republicans have pushed it too far this time. They have truly jumped the shark.
I have not seen people this politically motivated in the last 50 years.
1
rewrite the tax code to tax the top-line.
tax gross revenue. no deductions. no loopholes.
tax the same top-line number corporations report to shareholders.
taxing the top-line is the only way to prevent creative accounting, loopholes, and lobbying.
allow tax credits to encourage strategic objectives or industries, but require 2/3 Congressional approval and require that any tax credit have an expiration date.
PS...this article is why Elizabeth Warren & Bernie resonate beyond the hard core left...too bad they are too far left on other issues to ever win the big dance.
3
If the GOP Tax cut was passed with only a bare majority with the claim that it did not reduce revenues by more than 1.5 trillion over 10 years, then this whole law should be thrown out as illegal, since it has violated that condition. This law is bankrupting the country and increasing income inequality to enrich corporations and the super rich. Sick!
5
How soon Trump supporters forget. It is time to fear for our nation.
“Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.”
― Franklin D. Roosevelt
“Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all.”
― Adam Smith
6
I hope this information can be used to refute the Trump administration claim that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional based on the new tax law.
4
And what can we do about this? Could you guide us on how to pursue a class action suit against the Treasury Department? If that is not possible, why? Are we a constitutional democracy? If we are shouldn't the constitution allow us to pursue our happiness the way our rhetoric teaches us from the day we are born? If the constitution is silent about this, should it to be amended or even better dumped for a new one?
Thank you for exposing the scam. Now guide us in what to do about it.
5
@Blunt
It would help "picking" comments like this to make sure it circulates maximally. It speaks the truth and is proactive. Don't you think?
2
Too many voters have become willing True Believers in the propaganda put out by big corporations and loyal, bought politicians---only weakly argued against in our cautious media.
Otherwise citizens would have long been marching in the streets nation wide to demand proper Representation by the officials they stand in long lines to elect. Then Trump wouldn't even have been nominated, much less elected---and defended.
US Corporations simply tell exploited, fleeced, underserved Americans that low taxes and lack of regulations on big business are a precious American credo, that makes us better and more independent than other countries who conform to 'big government'.
This flatters gullible US voters' egos, while they're being fleeced. They thus identify with their exploiters! Quite a coup, in a country created for equality of the average citizen.
The countries with an explicit class system not that long ago, now have more economic equality, as well as health care, even with all their problems, than does America, Land of the Free.
Too many US voters cling to a credo that damages them, in order to be seen as identifying with the Haves, not the Have--Nots. It's a status thing. The psychology is obvious.
4
"There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning." - Warren Buffett
7
The government serves only the rich now.
Reagan realized that once elected, The people trusted you to do the right thing.
The perfect crime.
Not sure that that is what the founders had in mind.
7
It’s the same hypocrisy practiced by Reagan and Bush. Juice the economy with tax cuts and massive spending increases on the military industrial complex then let the Democrats rebuild the economy while the Rs in Congress scream about entitlements. Im just curious as to whether the next recession will be as bad as 2007-2010.
5
G.O.P. = gospel of prosperity.
There is nothing wrong with success. But to whom much is given, much is expected.
The Republican tax heist is nothing but sheer unadulterated greed.
What would Jesus do?
5
@MidtownATL
A man came to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to have eternal life?” ...
Jesus then answered, “If you want to be perfect, then go and sell all that you own. Give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven. Then come and follow me!”
But when the young man heard Jesus tell him to give away his money, he was sad. He didn’t want to do this, because he was very rich. So he left.
--Matthew 19:16-30
5
Don't fret, Trump cultists. When the MAGA messiah ever leaves office after scamming America and getting even richer in the process, we can just declare bankruptcy, lawyer up, and stiff all our creditors.
Why not, he's done that all his life.
9
I think unless we get Bernie or Warren in there and hand them the Senate, the US is lost.
It’s now a kleptocracy, in which the rich shareholder class can just serve themselves from the government buffet and limit social mobility.
I love the States but will move (back) to Europe when my kids hit college age. No way I’m paying the extortionate tuitions charged by universities here.
8
@Liz
I would also submit and all Americans take close notice of the fact that if Bernie Sanders looks like he has a good chance of being the democratic candidate for President and could beat Trump, the corporate/establishment of America in BOTH parties will commence a smear and disinformation campaign against him that will, no doubt, be unprecedented in American history.
They will do or say anything to make sure the"status quo" in America remains, even if it means dismantling democracy in America. They would prefer Trump re-elected or feudalism to take hold in the country, rather than have a government that actually works for ALL Americans.
4
Hence all the big donations for Trump reelection.
5
How in the world does trump get his 40% solid support? Most of his adherents got hit by his so-called tax reform bill big time. He declares repeatedly that he and his spawn didn't benefit from this bill. This is utter brazen lying. What has occurred is the most massive transfer of wealth from the middle class to the wealthy in US history! By 2027 those earning annually $40-50,000 collectively will pay a total of $5.3 trillion MORE in taxes. While those earning more than a million annually will collectively pay a total of $5.7 trillion LESS in taxes. These are numbers certified by both the CB and the Joint Committee on Taxation. This is so outrageous that people should be up in arms.
10
Fox News doesn’t report it, that’s how.
3
If and when the deficit becomes a financial problem, it will be an excuse to further shred our safety net. So the deficits are welcome to Republicans and their horror and tears at them are a well-rehearsed and often-used act for which they should get some sort of reward.
Republicans would and do vilify lobbyists who lobby for food stamps, Social Security, or the Affordable Health Care act. But lobbyists for corporations are honored as an essential part of how our government and economy work.
9
No surprises here: Trump has always been the master of debt, and now he has now pesky bankruptcy judges to get in his way! Watch the debt balloon to $1T+, and then watch the stock bubble burst when the full faith and credit of the US Government finally loses some of its power and sheen....
5
Tony's mom writing to you from Paris:
Keep it coming, NYT! Please. keep it coming. Shucks, with the kind of work you guys are doing, you just might save the country. Keep it coming!
3
Yoo hoo. Paul ryan???? Or any republican
I know let’s cut food stamps for the poorest of the poor.
Yoo hoo?? Evangelical Christians???
Crickets on both
5
"Hey Senator Warren! How dare you say you can pay for Medicare for all? Where is the Money? Huh? Where is it? Huh? We don't have that kind of money."
I rest my case (for Medicare for all)
3
Extreme capitalism has reached its zenith: the holy altar of Greed. And the evangelical right trumpet the Second Coming riding a golden chariot of prosperity!
2
Do we just ignore the fact that these corporations which benefited from the tax cuts employ hundreds of thousands if not millions of people.
1
@awink
Yep, but since the minimum wage hasn't been upped in over ten years and many states are paying only $7.25 hr.(if that), the bulk of those profits are going to the top ONE percent, they are generating their massive profits on the backs of the people they employ.
5
@awink - Yes, they employ them often at wages too low to live on so middle class taxpayers end up footing the bill for social services.
Why are hard working Americans subsidizing millionaires and billionaires?
3
Thank you for naming the lobbyists - their names and their organizations. Very helpful.
3
Here's a plan for real tax reform:
1. Tax passive income at the same rates as earned income.
2. End the step up basis for inherited assets.
2
The MSM should have been talking about this "corporate welfare" years ago, however, I guess better late than never.
This is what progressive candidates like Bernie Sanders have been talking about for years, BILLIONS and TRILLIONS of tax breaks to corporations, yet, when he talks about Medicare For All, tuition free schooling and removing student debt that will help ALL Americans, the corporate/establishment along with those that receive those tax breaks claim that the country cannot afford them and we aren't even talking about the record $738 BILLION budget for the military/industrial complex and BILLIONS in tax breaks to the pharmacare industry.
When does it stop America? Whether it be poor pay, underemployment or massive problems with those that have no healthcare at all, are under-insured and have to claim bankruptcy every year because they can't pay their medical bills, a considerable number of Americans will continue to suffer because of these insane handouts.
Remember that when you go to the polls in 2020 and it won't be the corporate/establishment "status quo" candidates whom will do anything about it. This is what legalized bribery and corruption does to the social fabric of a country.
3
Based on the tepid GDP growth, we have not gotten much in exchange for the $5.5 trillion gifted by us to the so-called "job creators."
The tax cut was nothing but a radical wealth redistribution plan -- upward redistribution.
"There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning." - Warren Buffett
4
Us Boomers are getting old enough for Medicare, I’ve got 6 months until I’m eligible. We’re a large portion of the population of the US. Try messing with SS and Medicare, it will effectively end your political career. Even trumpsters won’t put up with that.
2
@Paulie BUT, you could have a problem and that is, IF, Trump and his Republicans are re-elected, they have already confirmed that they will introduce a budget to substantially CUT, social security, medicare and medicaid, all enacted because they claim the deficit has to be reduced, a deficit they created in the first place.
2
Based on his economic "policies," Trump may actually have made himself a billionaire by the time he is removed from office.
Our founders are rolling over in the graves.
6
The biggest threat to US democracy isn't Iraq, Syria or Afghanistan where our troops are fighting, but rather the tax havens of the world for which it would take only a small fleet of tax accountants backed by a platoon of marines to avoid the haemorrhaging of US wealth from the US.
It has been a solution available to the US government for decades but never acted on because those that own and bought the US government don't want to fix the problem.
Welcome to Corporate Feudalism.
3
Massive tax cuts for corporations and the rich, an exploding deficit for our children and grandchildren to repay, and no money for infrastructure, schools or to address climate change. And how long until Republicans succeed in gutting Social Security and Medicare? Forty percent of the electorate actually supports these amoral thieves who never, ever have enough. I firmly believe that this behavior by politicians and the greedy rich will eventually have a bloody end. They absolutely will not stop until the people rise up and stop them.
7
The wealthiest individuals and corporations are taking $5.5 trillion from the U.S. Treasury.
Dear Republicans,
Who are the real "takers" now?
5
@MidtownATL the average Republican is so far removed from the ebb and flow of money on a national scale, they have no concept as to the damage done by the trump administration.
Ivanka shows up on Face the Nation and trots out a plan for government employees to receive 12 weeks of paternity leave. Sounds great. What tiny percent of employees does it affect. And she wonders why private corporations can’t do the same. A real ditz.
4
Where’s my tax cut, I paid $9700 in taxes on a income of $30,000. I live in a tax free state.
3
I wrote a check for $25,000 in taxes last year on $60k total income. And thank god I didn’t get sick once, or I might be living in a car. The land of the free and the home of the brave... Had enough yet? Bernie2020
Donald Trump; CEO The Trump Organization.
can you say, "emolument clause?"
The Trump Organization's economic interests in foreign countries include...
Argentina | Azerbaijan | Bermuda | Brazil | Canada | China | Dominican Republic | Georgia | India | Indonesia | Ireland | Israel | Mexico | Panama | Philippines | Qatar | Russia | Saudi Arabia | Scotland | South Korea | St. Martin | St. Vincent | Turkey | United Arab Emirates | Uruguay |
6
The very affluent believe that most people are stupid, and their lack of wealth is evidence of that. They believe that most get what they deserve. Ask any rich Republican after a scotch or two at the steakhouse and they will tell you this. And if so many of the the bottom 99% continue voting the way they do— for the Mitch McConnells and Trumps of the world—then it becomes difficult to disagree with the very rich.
9
Taxes are the price of civilization. If these business leaders had any foresight beyond the next quarter, they'd realize that they have to contribute to the national wealth through taxation. If they did, there'd be less resentment of the wealthy and more social cohesion. Yet our business leaders really only care about stocks and compensation, leading to what George Packer has termed "the great unwinding" and loss of fellow feeling among America's diverse citizens.
5
I agree. Short sighted, greedy and ignorant they missed the class about social compact in MBA school - if they still have that! When their profits tank and they preside over a country that can’t afford their products and has general unrest and unhappiness due to a lack of social
Capital building who will they complain to?
3
So this all means that the bill was stuffed through congress under false pretenses since the net impact will be far larger than allowed under the special rule utilized to eliminate Democratic input. Can the Democratic-held House now negate the tax law or does it have to go through the courts? Seems that if special rules apply only for impacts below a certain level and then that level is far exceeded that the law should be renegotiated in Congress.
I can feel the coming resurgence of how much deficits matter and how we need to balance the budget -- by cutting programs but leaving the tax law untouched (at least for companies and the 1%ers). How many times can the Rs use this same gimmick (lie) and have middle-class people believe them? This is just a bigger version of the Starve the Beast strategy used since Reagan.
4
Payroll taxes are not TAXES, they are insurance premiums that workers pay to fund Medicare and Social Security. Do not let Trump cut these insurance premium payments, and do not let anyone call them payroll taxes! Trump and before him Ryan and those in Congress, are trying to take away your Medicare and Social Security. Folks, pay attention!
6
The fact that my mortgage interest and property tax deductions were severely cut to subsidize this corporate theft makes by blood boil. Must reverse this tide in 2020. Please vote!
19
Some of the largest shareholders are pension funds. Think CALPERS, union pensions, anyone with a 401K... Guess the NYT wants lower returns / income for retirees. Guess those greedy school teachers, nurses, and secretaries, construction workers, bus drivers, 1st responders, etc. ...can take one for team so Warren can forgive the college debt of someone who borrowed $250K to get a degree in creative writing. The Dems also want to give illegal aliens taxpayer paid healthcare.
1
@Reader In Wash, DC corporations need to pay a reasonable tax amount and investors need to make a reasonable return. It should not be that I can only deduct $10K when corporations pay nothing. I am by no way a high earner but I pay, income tax, real estate tax, water tax etc...
2
@AJ
Corporations pay millions and millions in payroll, excise, sales, real estate and other taxes. Income is not the only tax for them or for you.
Trump stooges are all together too stupid to snap to the fact that Trump has DOUBLED the national debt in three years!! Can you grasp this through your one-dimensional fog?
Who do you think is paying for his political events?? The jet, the fuel, the security, the locations, the time out of the office? HIM? Oh, please. It's you, suckers. YOU.
10
“No particular taxpayer or group had any undue influence at any time in the process,” he said.
My aunt Fanny.
Big-(Fill In The Blank) always has more say. Sometimes it's the only voice that gets heard. Vast majorities of Americans, even a majority of Republicans, want the rich and corporations to pay more in taxes, not less. Yet every time the Party of Trump gets power it does the exact opposite.
They also tell the same lie: They will pay for themselves! This despite the fact that they never ever do.
2
These large corporations and their lobbyists are GILTI as charged.
2
@MidtownATL
And it's time to BEAT them!
3
The telling detail behind these economic facts is, Donald Trump is first and foremost CEO of The Trump Organization who also just happens to be the President.
2
Unbelievable - to a small extent- and yet hardly surprising. Accident? Oversight? Don't make me laugh. Mr Jones with 10 yrs loyal service at Wal-Mart would be out the door INSTANTLY, pension sayanara'd if he underpriced a line of baked beans by so much as a penny a tin. The drafters of the bill knew well what they were doing. Don't think so? Wait a little while, say a month, see if any advisers/officials get sidelined/demoted/sacked/put out to pasture with their equally greedy and bloated hogs on their $$$$million-dollar ranches. You the people voted Trump and his cronies in. Hopefully, with "2020" vision you'll vote the criminals out.
2
This is the only piece of legislation the anointed one bothered to, or was able to, manage out of that empty head of his. The public, the day to day American citizen, be damned. How can the rank and file who are far from these oligarchs; far from these too big to fail banks; far from those corporate boards, manage to venerate this charlatan when this give away to the richest, the pardoning of a rogue SEAL hell bent on murdering as many as he could, and the extortion of an ally admitted to by his own ambassador to the E.U., are the only administrative successes he can brag about. What a bunch of losers we have running this clown car.
Barack Hussein Obama spent $10,000,000,000,000 in 8 years—more than all of the administration in US history COMBINED.
Don’t pretend to Fake News lecture Americans on how Trump is spending because Liberalism has ZERO credibility on the subject.
1
@Reality Check
Phenomenally false statement you've made there. And to emphasize his middle name, as all right wingers love to do, tells me far more about you than that man you refer to who tried like heck to make things more equitable in this land of the Whiney insatiable 1%.
8
You conveniently failed to mention that the Bush administration policies over 8 year’s led to the worst financial collapse since the Great Depression, yet Obama policies rescued the country from a lot more pain and significantly reduced the annual deficit. Under Clinton budgets the country actually turned an annual surplus in his final years and the debt was reduced. Trump has exploded the annual deficit (it will surpass $1 trillion in 2020) and our nation’s debt thanks to his tax 2017 tax bill. All but one recession over the past 40 years has occurred under Republican administrations. These pesky facts may be inconvenient to your argument, but they are still facts.
8
@Reality Check
And Donald Trump is on track to spend even more than that. And he doesn't have the Great Recession as an excuse.
Hypocrites.
7
A deficit of this magnitude is a National Security threat of Biblical proportion.
The American Treasury has a crew of morons at the helm.
Our nation's economy will be the latest bankruptcy created by the sociopath, Donald Trump
6
Is there a mystical standard for taxing the rich that the NYT would like to share w/its ever-faithful tribal followers? Oh, wait, youre commies. Your mystical standard is 100%. Thus anything less is a “break.” I have a better idea. Any company whose profit is $1M or more has already greatly contributed to society. Its taxes are cancelled. How about progressive taxation on Obama or Hillary? How did they get their millions? What productive genius do they have, other, of course, than producing introductions among cronies.
1
We know how they got their millions. Unlike Trump, they have released their tax returns. Let’s see how Trump got his.
5
So where are the deficit scolds? Already running a large deficit and this administration is hell bent on making it bigger.
During an economic expansion!
When the next recession arrives the deficit will explode some more. At that point the deficit scolds will probably re-emerge to tell us we can't afford to pay such "generous" unemployment benefits.
High time we realized: the deficit scolds are blinkety-blank lying Republicans, they have never actually carried one whit about the deficit. Not one whit. It's just been a bravura performance by a bunch of utter liars.
4
You can have Wealth in the hands of a few or a Democracy.
You cannot have both.
2
It is long overdue to allow foreign corporate ownership in the United States. At the very least, they must create subsidiaries that are liable for their full tax burdens, nor may US corporations move overseas. Moving overseas should be seen as a fundamental violation of their American corporate charter.
The headline reads that corporations "won" extra billions behind the scenes. Won? Like it was a fair competition and the best team won. How about the verb "stole"? "Bribed" "Cheated?" This was simply a backroom deal between co-conspirators. NYT, stop being too nice. Your constant attempts to find language that won't offend Republicans is understandable-they're already coming after you for telling the truth-but it's a lose-lose, surrender attitude these days. It hurts the rest of us when even you deny reality. Republicans don't soft-pedal their plans to destroy democracy. Mitch comes right out and openly promises not to carry out his sworn responsibilities. So stop trying to make it look and sound like everybody's right. This tax break is killing the deficit. That's how Trump bankrupts everything: he sucks out all the cash. Right? Just ask the GOP about deficits. The 2010 GOP of course. Today's GOP can't talk about that.. They're on the way to the bank to cash in before next year's recession.
5
Baby-boomers have allowed the corporate world to steal the futures of the young generations in this country.
Boomers need to set this right.
Put the squeeze on Social Security and Medicare for the next 10 years?
Force high taxes on those over age 60?
What? They won't want to do that? Then they should force super-high corporate taxes to make up for the loss.
By not paying their fair share, the corporate world is asking for a nasty back-lash---and they deserve it.
And the boomers need to make it happen.
2
@SLB Really? You think "boomers" are going to give up their wealth, just because it is "the right thing to do?"
Sorry, but this is red-meat capitalist America. You get ahead by ruthlessly taking what you believeyou deserve -- and more -- not by politely asking for it.
1
Republicans must be so proud of the country they are going to leave their children. Crippled by debt and the entire nation sinking beneath the waves of the expedited global warming they did less than nothing to address other than to deny it even exists.
They count on the continued, proud ignorance of their proud ignorant base and slash education funding to assure it lasts as long as possible. Winners! MAGA!!
If only it affected your proud ignorant children. Nope.
5
Term limits.
1
@JB -- We have them.
They are called elections.
Whose fault is it if the people voting don't know how to use them?
2
@JM
This reply happens all the time. Yes...ws do have term limits. It is called Presidential term limits. And this solution works better than the one you speak of.
Let's not lay blame. People have all kinds of reasons to not know what is going on with their elected officials. We know that. We also know that the Founding Fathers had no clue that politicians would become so ensconced in their offices. But they did leave us a way to fix these things fairly easily. A flexible Constitution. It is time we used it.
Fraudulent Laffer Curve fiscal policy is the largest existential threat to our democratic republic.
The inequality flowing from Conservative economics is a greater danger than Islamic or right wing terrorism.
4
Warms the heart to see you folks Finally uncovering this skullduggery in detail. Lots more work to do though...
3
NYT writers and editors: there is no rationale for the paragraph that reads, "Of course, companies didn’t get everything they wanted... and `No particular taxpayer or group had any undue influence at any time in the process' [said Treasury spokesman]."
The paragraph strives to create 'balance'. But, frankly, it is poor journalism. It creates a false equivalence for the which the Times is increasingly (and rightfully) blamed.
Moreover, the phrasing is cowardly. If not for the Times' insertion of the word 'everything', the quote from Treasury is demonstrably false, based on the content of the article. The Times should point out the falsehood, or put the quote at the end, to show how ridiculous it is.
If NYT writers and editors showed just a bit more backbone, we could right the American ship. Otherwise you're going to help sink it.
3
The "Republican Revolution" declared by Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1994 has devolved into a very illegitimate rape of the economy. The only principles that concern Republicans are the "Principals".
3
Really, and you’re surprised? Trump is THE “Bankruptcy King” of America! How can you be surprised and not expect even worse spending ahead if Trumplicans continue to keep their blinders on and re elect him! The man is toxic! I beg America.......WAKE UP to this con artist!
6
This administration at its swampiest.
4
I said it to my friends who were pro Trump before he got elected that these Corp will not reinvest when they bring their money back. They cry we cant bring our money because taxes are too high even though they knew the law. Plus, these are the same corporations that have taken jobs abroad because of greed. Why make $10 dollar here and support Americans. Lets take the jobs overseas and then cry that China wants to steal our Intellectual property-I have no sympathy
TRUMP DOES NOT CARE care about the working class or the rust belt. He is all about the money and how much he will get in the end
4
Move to NZ or Australia if you want higher incomes and a better future for your families. NZ is always looking for skilled people. Sometimes what they classify as a skill is only labouring jobs so check out the list of occupations they are looking for on the NZ Immigration check list. When on train going to Picton I saw a house in a suburb flying a USA flag. I thought to myself a wise refugee from the USA. (Though I do not approve of people flying other nations flags unless they fly the NZ flag alongside it.) In NZ we do not tip; the government makes laws for minimum wage that is compulsory for all employees to pay.
1
Citizens United and the super charged effectiveness of cash in legislators pocket equates to the unchecked looting of the nations coffers. First thing Democrats have to repeal is this travesty.
5
And now the Republicans can claim the gov has no money for social services. Cuts to food stamps are a beginning.
4
You know, I made a little money in the stock market this year—not a lot because my portfolio (as a retired public school teacher) is small. BUT, I’d gladly (or pretty gladly ; ) give this up for better corporate oversight and fairer wages. No, I won’t send it back—it would just go to the richest folks anyway, but if they restructured corporations to include benefits for workers, not just shareholders, I’d be okay with that.
Why is it the people WITH the MOST MONEY are so incredibly GREEDY????????
6
Something in the pit of my stomach tells me all this festive celebration will come to a crashing end just before the next Democratic President takes office.
Barack, stick around, we will need your help and those in the know.
5
Trump wanted to "drain the swamp" - now it's quicksand. (corruption is much quicker)
4
It’s a global economy. Remember? How do you keep jobs here if you tax companies to death?
2
@Edward Jobs are already gone, and they are not coming back.
@Edward - do you mean those companies when the CEOs make millions or even billions?
This is one reason why the White House visitor logs must be open and available for public scrutiny. This is also why the Citizens United ruling must be overturned and term limits put in place.
6
I’d like to see Obama’s visitor log.
Did Obama keep his secret?
@Edward
Obamawhitehouse.archives.gov
1
I never read anything about how all your new communist party immigrants are affecting your nations future. Immigration is important in shaping the nations future and if your bring people into your nation that are used to using slave labour then whose checking up on them to ensure they are not breaking any employment laws? The way things are going in the USA you'll have a change of culture that incorporates communist slave labour and you seem to be going backwards not forward. I had an young USA tour guide, a girl who'd be about 20 years old, who was my kayak tour guide, and she told me she was from the lakes district and was going to apply for citizenship in 6 months time, so you're loosing your best people to nations that pay liveable wages and better opportunities for your own USA young people.
1
The retirees counting on their social security checks won't stand still while Mitch McConnell robs them of their retirement. Dying in poverty has the same outcome as dying from a bullet from a federal agent. We will go to war against these fascists and the oligarchs supporting them. Perhaps McConnell plans retirement in Russia or China: that's a good idea. He won't be safe here.
5
Same as it ever was...
"Wall Street owns the country.
"It is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, but a government of Wall Street, by Wall Street, and for Wall Street.
"The great common people of this country are slaves, and monopoly is the master."
Mary Elizabeth Lease—1890
3
Just wait until the 62.9 million people who voted for Trump i 2016 see that he is a phony and cares little for them. Those 62.9 million bought the idea that he was "on their side" and he was "similar to" them in attitudes, feelings, ideas. That he would "fight for them." They were naive to think that; he is just another corrupt millionaire who cares only about his own self, his own wealth and his own safety and prospects. He helps the wealthy because they contribute to, and help him. To this very moment he gives them everything they want whether it is a huge military budget, continuing military interventions, and tax breaks galore. I would not doubt that donald trump will die in poverty in some little dark corner of the world; forgotten and not forgiven. He is a vulgar little man; the most corrupt we have ever seen on the national stage. A little minded, ignorant lost soul.
2
They're taking the tax cuts with one hand and building doomsday bunkers in New Zealand with the other hand.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018695996/new-zealand-s-billionaire-doomsday-preppers
1
A budget deficit of $1 Trillion! Yikes ! So, over $5 Trillion spent on the endless middle east wars (which according to recent NY times article, accomplished little or nothing)...Super Yikes.!!! Serious about wasting money? Stop those useless, middle east wars!!
1
Its a disgusting shame that they don’t pay their fair share. Warren and sanders will be all over this. And if trump tries to cut SS next year as he promised, even his zombie followers won’t vote for him.
Of course Trump's base does not care that he is giving them the shaft, even as they struggle to make ends meet.
All they know care about is that Trump hates people of color and that is more than enough reason to re-elect him.
5
So the war on the working people continues. The rich get richer... with the control of the masses through state run media more and more people don’t even realize what and why is happening to them. Trump is just the latest standard bearer of their heart’s desire. Greed is good.
2
This shows yet again why we need Elizabeth Warren. I'm not sure that any other candidate is up to the task of really sorting through this and setting America up for a less corrupt future with as much insight and capacity to understand what the real issues are as she.
2
@AW
Amy Klobuchar
2
It would be interesting to see how much the New York Times saves from these tax cuts.
2
It would also be interesting to see how much Trump has benefited from the tax cuts, wouldn’t it?
19
That doesn’t mean that the Salzburger’s would promote, lobby for, or promote these tax cuts.
Another biz person who scoffs that these cuts is Warren Buffet. Some biz people are rational patriots who know this is a pathway to American decline.
1
@Andreas
Relative to The Trump Organization or similar economic enterprises in the Pay Day Loan sector—the NY Times provides value well beyond any benefit it accrues.
Wait a minute, all these tax breaks have to be approved by Congress right? Last I checked the DEMOCRATS held a 232 seat majority in the House.
3
Last I checked, the first line of the article says the law passed in 2017, when Republicans had full control of Congress and rammed it through without debate.
40
@Russian Bot The Devil is in the details - and all the interpretations and loopholes discussed are written ('detailed') by the Treasury Department. That's Trump's Treasury Department.
3
Trump and GOP satisfied their supporters by borrowing prosperity from the future with the big tax cut for the 1% and big businesses.
The future generations will have to pay for ever bigger national debt, just like they have to face the consequence of Trump’s inaction on climate change.
4
Why do commentators keep connecting the corporate tax cut with the name "Trump"? I know he was president at the time, but so what?
He didn't know what was in it, it didn't contain what he talked about in the campaign, it would have passed whoever was president, and any of the GOP candidates would have signed it.
You could call it the Paul Ryan corporate tax cut, I suppose.
4
@Joe Ryan You are so right. The Trump plan was the Paul Ryan without the tariffs (called BATS) that were built into the Paul Ryan Plan. The Ryan plan couldn't pass with the BATS; so the GOP passed it without the BATS and left it up to Trump to start a trade war to get the tariffs. We'll be paying tariffs for a very long time; all so that the very wealthy and corporate America could have yet another ill-conceived generation busting tax cut to follow the reckless tax cut policies of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.
3
Validate the fears of Americans, give them hate to feel better about themselves, throw them scraps and they’re Trump’s to command... a well played formula used by many authoritarians. Meanwhile, the GOP cowers and falls in line behind a ruler instead of their oath to the country and Constitution - they don’t want to loose power and money.
5
It's clear that the federal government needs revenue. The solution that has been hidden by the corporate media and compromised politicians is easy: Enact legislation and encourage policies that raise wages for working people. Working people can't hide their money the way that corporations can. Reverse and repeal the laws that have let business destroy labor union growth and collective bargaining; raise minimum wages to the intended living wage; repeal the earned income tax credit that shifts the responsibility for paying workers from employers to the government; and, put some real teeth with drastic sanctions into a federal law that gives employees rights when any part of their wages are stolen, delayed, or denied.
1
How can anyone with a pulse be surprised or taken aback from what this article lays out.
It is the latest payment from yet another Republican Administration to those that put them in power.
3
It's normal in our big money politics that big companies win new tax breaks. The mega donors to our elections are given the legal right by our highest court to exert 'free speech' big money influence on politicians.
Our govt is 'regulated' by corporations, for their gain and our loss. Instead of our elected govt regulating big business, so that the public interest is a high priority-- one of the basic components of a modern democracy.
Then voters are warned that to get the universal health care that dozens of other capitalist democracies have as a right for multi millions of citizens, would mean raising taxes of average earners. This scares the voters.
NYT article -- "Raising revenue would require broad tax increases that are likely to be partly borne by the middle class..."
"Likely, and Partly" born by the middle class? Why? Meaning what? How much? What do we get for it?
When do We the People get Representation for Our Taxation? What clout do our average citizens have at all, in the US, once a role model of democracy for other countries?
The big story---some conglomerates pay zero taxes. We the People have to make up the difference for basic services, which is inadequate. While millions are uninsured, and our medical industry is the world's most expensive and most profitable.
This is the big story, neglected on our media.
3
Have we as a nation noticed the highways of urban cities laced with homeless encampments? Encampments with families. Children. The problem of affordable housing in and around cities has been increasing year after year. It comes down to greed. Corporations take any haven to increase their profits for those at the top. The administration follows Trumps guidance avoid paying taxes and hiding the scams with non-disclosure.
5
Why is most of the homeless in Democrat run cities and states? Obama had eight years to fix the problem. He’s being credited by some with the economic boom that occurred after he left office. How about “crediting” him with the continuing homeless problem?
1
It’s just the Golden Rule in action: Those who have the gold, rule.
4
The idea that the Federal government can juice the economy by giving tax breaks to wealthy individual and big corporations, while running up huge deficits, is getting a little shop worn. The number of people working jobs, that fail to enable them to cover all normal living expenses is growing, despite raises in the minimum wage, which serves as a benchmark for other wages. "We the people" are losing ground steadily, with no relief in sight.
12
The “rich” always threaten things as if they were a playground bully: tax me and I’ll take my ball and go home!!
In reality, many HIGHLY profitable businesses (yeah, I’m looking at you Amazon, et al) pay little or NO TAXES.
It would be nice to have one REAL corporate tax—but the next day they’d be spending millions fir loopholes in the new, “fairer” rate.
7
@Babs
Amazon pays millions and millions in payroll, excise, sales, real estate and other taxes.
I’m a CPA in international tax. These articles outlining how corporations are hiding profits overseas are misleading and oversimplified. You’re going after the wrong target, corporations aren’t the enemy.
I’m a Democrat.
3
@Kate Then who are the villains? It sounds to me like you are giving a pass to the corporations because they are simply doing what’s legal. That’s an oversimplification. The corporations are lobbying the politicians writing the laws to keep the loopholes in place. And you as a CPA are profiting. While vital infrastructure like schools, roads, public transportation suffers.
7
Maybe you could explain that. Because the rest of us are paying taxes.
1
Republicans expect Trump to be re-elected by voters grateful for his stewardship of the U.S. economy, with its current low unemployment, low inflation, high stock prices, and maybe even a modest tax cut for some people. But anyone even minimally familiar with finance can understand that an economy has NOT improved, and is NOT strong, when an already-large budget deficit “has jumped more than 50 percent” in less than three (world-war-free) years. C’mon Democrats — do your jobs and explain these things to America!
12
This is the biggest story of the year and in a few days it will be forgotten. The 5 or 6 large corporations that own most of the media have no interest in this story being told.The final outcome of this legal robbery is that intense propaganda will start again about how we have to "cut" Medicare and Social Security in order to "save" it.Will the Democrats hold the line? Not if they elect a "moderate". Mark my words if we elect a corporate friendly president then a "Compromise" will be reached and the cuts will happen and millions of people will be poorer.
9
Wrong - more profitable companies means more profitable employees. Look at corporate tax rates around the world, virtually all of our competitors are in the low to mid 20's, we cannot go back to 35 pct
no company that is operating properly pays 35 percent corporate tax.
I know because I own.
1
It’s ironic (but not humorous) that while corporations are now considers “persons,” they no longer take any pride in being good corporate citizens by paying appropriate taxes.
5
My Social Security benefits got a 0.0125% increase while my Medicare premiums increased 7% for 2020. How's that for fairness? These people are pocketing the gains and laughing at the rest of us. They never had any intention of investing in our country.
We are in our 70's and after working and paying into the Social Security and Medicare funds for 50+years, are being told that the COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment) is based on the low cost of computers and other items. We retirees are put into the pool with everyone else. There is no separate consideration for us. We don't buy new computers or cars or much of anything else. We are just trying to survive. I never thought I would see my government literally toss us overboard. But here we are.
10
Wrong - the problem is that your exposure is to social security which takes our money and is allowed to only invest in US bonds - have you seen what us bonds yield?? Then look at other countries like Canada, Norway, and Japan, plus Singapore and others - they have a sovereign wealth fund that invests in everything m, including stocks - the retirees of the countries will have money while the US does not because politicians use our social security as a slush fund to find their debts -
1
@Carolyn Crandall
a well kept secret that documents when in power there is no better Republican than a Democrat.
Changes made in Consumer Price Index's methodology during the Clinton Administration understated inflation significantly, and, through a cumulative effect with earlier changes that began in the late-Carter and early Reagan Administrations have reduced current social security payments by roughly half from where they would have been otherwise.
That means Social Security checks today would be about double had the various changes not been made.
In like manner, anyone involved in commerce, who relies on receiving payments adjusted for the CPI, has been similarly damaged.
On the other side, if you are making payments based on the CPI (i.e., the federal government), you are making out like a bandit.
Well then vote blue no matter who, and throw the bums out.
1
I find it interesting how Americans obsess so over corporate and businesses taxes that are about the same as those in most EU countries, even Denmark.
For example, Denmark is a great place to live ... all the "free" things Bernie voters could dream for. How do they do it?
They support business, require those who can to work for benefits, gear education to future business & industrial needs. They see business as the source of continuity and quality of life.
Income taxes at 30% to 40% up to salaries of $65k
50% income tax for salaries above $65k
25% value added tax on most goods
This is not "go after the rich" ... It is all participate equally according to their means.
The "rich" and businesses can always move away.
1
@Si Seulement Voltaire
Denmark and the rest of Europe get their defense paid for by the US taxpayer. That's how Europe affords such high spending on social services.
3
Installing Mr Trump as chief lobbyist has paid unimaginable dividends to big businesses such as Apple, Facebook, Google, Amazon, and virtually all the others.
US Steel just announced the closure of their Detroit steel mill and cutting upwards of 2,000 Americans jobs.
The kind of jobs that built much of this country.
Not a peep to tweet from our chief lobbyist.
The about to unemployed shouldn't forget that Mr Trump is cutting food aid to Americans.
He's also proposing cuts to social security.
Big business couldn't care less.
6
No doubt the people at the very top of these big companies benefited the most from this.
5
Oh yeah, and who was lobbying for ordinary, hard working Americans, no one! Who will have to make up for this lack of taxes in the future when our government has no more resources to pay for damage as a result of climate change or anything else like clean water and air, oh yeah, ordinary, hard working Americans.
6
This is more proof of the wisdom of Bernie Sanders' and Elizabeth Warren's insistence that the taxes collected by our government go straight to the middle- and lower-income working people of America for a change. No more trickle-down. Working people need healthcare, childcare, job training and higher education and the 1% has the money to pay for it. If those big corporations can pay for lobbyists, legions of tax lawyers and accountants to work the loopholes, they can pay a little more to help workers stay in the middle class or get into it. There are easier ways to collect more tax from the biggest and wealthiest than the federal income tax code. A small tax on stock trades, higher tax on capital gains and other unearned income, even a tax on luxury goods. The rest of us can't avoid paying sales and gasoline taxes and there are ways to collect tax from the wealthy that they can't avoid either. Time to do it.
8
Sounds like the kind of issue that reasonable swing voters in swing stages might care about. If the democrats could nominate a candidate who isn’t also promising to spend like there is no tomorrow, we could have a new president.
2
It's interesting that since the 80's when republicans are out of power they hammer on the deficit, then they get elected and 'spend like drunken sailors', continually upping the deficit. As in this article, they just 'spend' to benefit their own 'clientele'.
The famous American Individualism: me first.
2
Seems to me the ONLY reason that the stock markets are doing so well is because of Trump's tax gift. The additional profits the 1% was able to keep on hand after the minimal taxes they paid, had to be invested somewhere.
1
President Trump and his 'advisors' should contribute to global tax reform which can cut these false incentives for cheating and avoiding needed taxes from big corporations not only in the original head quarters country but everywhere else. Trade is one thing and internationally has been carefully regulated but the Financial System which is the other side of the medal and it has been left to run loose; why? Essentially because it's made of fluid material called money or currency that are easily manipulated, hidden and morphed into 'values' shown in markets indexes. But, just travel around, visit Europe or Canada and see the how the indexes of wellbeing are distributed... even go to China and you'll be stunned in front of the infrastructures already in place or coming ahead like the huge new protect about health care facilities with inversions numbered in trillions, without forgetting that hundreds of millions have been lifted from painful poverty. What the Trump's country can show in this respect?
I agree with the outrage voiced by many here. I also noted this morsel of information about midway in the article that illustrates the problem so many voters in the Democratic primary have with candidates like Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg: "Michael Caballero, had been a senior Treasury official in the Obama administration." Indeed. That little half-sentence tells us a lot about the so-called moderates in the Democratic party, why so many look at the candidacy of Micheal Bloomberg with such suspicion, and why Bernie Sanders and Elisabeth Warren have such strong support.
1
Since the tax law was passed under false pretenses and won’t meet the $1.5 trillion deficit exploding rule, Democrats should sue to have it revoked. Republicans are suing about the ACA on much weaker legal ground.
3
As a governing party, the GOP has been weak for many years. But their ability to sow division and make greedy rich people seem reasonable and patriotic (Job creators!) has helped them get votes from the downtrodden white middle or lower classes. I spend half of the year in Cape May county. You have the country club Republicans in Cape May and the other rich shore towns who would vote for the family dog if Fido pledged to cut their taxes. (They will say that they're not thrilled with Trump but can't stomach whoever the Democrat candidate is) But much of the county is quite poor. I wonder how they would react to this article if they read it. I suspect that the responses would be: 1) Socialism! 2) It's not true! 3) It's the Mexican's fault 4) The government is the problem and/or 5) What about (fill in the blank)? Things are never going to be better until a lot of people start waking up. But I worry that they never will.
2
This dynamic of corporate greed Trumping fiscal responsiblity or tax fairness is no surprise. It is the result of a process that's been gaining momentum and fiscal impact since the beginning of 20th century--agency or regulatory capture. Treasury is not the only cow the corporate jackals are devoring. We see the "American carnage" Trump cynically used as a campaign meme happening across the entire government, at Departments of Interior and Education (allowing debt collection by defunct sham schools), at the EPA (licensing more pollution by the oil industry), Homeland Security (no-bid contracts for the for-profit prison industry). It's endemic the system and often protected by a Judiciary and Supreme Court that treats corporations (that never die) as citizens with the same rights as you or I. This is what makes Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren so popular with young voters. The best solution would be to raze K Street and ban lobbyists from the Capitol Building and the email and text accounts of our legislators. Another would be to find an AG who might actually enforce the laws already on the books to ban any financial benefit to legislators from lobbyists. I won't hold my breath waitinf for any of that to happen.
I have a funny feeling something really bad is going to happen.. The US economy can't continue on this path .. huge deficits and China holding all the notes.. I see a catastrophic recession and depression on the horizon.
3
Well there is nothing good that will come of this admin.
Corporate taxation is pointless, as companies simply raise prices to consumers to cover their tax bills. The only effective taxes, are those imposed on the final recipient in the value chain (i.e. individuals, in the case of wages, or investors, in the case of dividends or capital gains), and 'point of sale' taxes (i.e. VAT) that cannot be gamed or evaded. The latter is particularly important - for example, European nations all depend on their 20%+ VAT to finance their national healthcare systems.
The corporate drive to avoid paying any taxes at all, if possible, is the same drive to export operations for dirt cheap foreign labor. And what did they do with the majority of that tax cut? .....stock buybacks. Corporate leadership is in the service of profit first, fallout on society second. The Trump administration is loaded with people of that mindset, and it manifests not just in tax cuts, but in other ways like destroying legitimate research or regulation to mitigate harmful commercial processes. The #1 Trump goal: protect profits in “friendly” industries and make the rich richer.
5
And those stock buybacks are what has largely fueled the record market “value”.
1
Well, it's a good thing the GOP and the Tea Party are in power to prevent and keep an eye on budget deficits. Oh wait - that only seems to bother them when there's a Democrat in control (or a black President)!
6
And let us not forget that Candidate Trump suggested, as a "solution" to the national debt, that the creditors of the U.S. might have to settle for less than 100% payback. https://www.newsmax.com/Finance/StreetTalk/donald-trump-national-debt-economy-creditors/2016/05/07/id/727686/ "I am the king of debt. I do love debt. I love debt and I love playing with it". Yeah, he loves debt alright. Especially when someone else is going to have to pay the price.
6
Yep. The big evil companies that provide the vast majority of high paying jobs in the US are just robbing us blind. You know: GE , Apple, Boeing, Intel. Throw them all in jail.
2
re Kent Kraus; as a Trump supporter, you fall into the same trap that most of your compatriots do- putting out a false premise to back up your sarcastically stated position. No one is suggesting that the most profitable corporations should be 'punished'.
The facts are that many of the biggest and most successful corporations were paying very little in taxes prior to the 2017 tax bill. Now, they are paying even less. The amounts of money needed to support the Federal budget have gone up, due mostly to the outrageous and unnecessary increase in military spending.
Since corporations are paying less taxes, the deficit is going through the roof and the have nots are paying more. Because the have nots don't have the money the corporations do, we are headed for trouble.
It always astounds me the way Trump supporters find some way to support the inveterate con man in the WH.
5
@Kent Kraus
They make a lot of money.
Many are paying 0 to 10% in taxes, a lot less than you and me.
They benefit from roads, schools that educate their employees, police and fire protection, the military, etc.
Let them pay their fair share.
That's all anyone is saying.
On the other hand, if you want to pick up their share, help yourself.
2
Everybody has to pay their fair share. And you, Mr trump zombie should be a little bit worried about your social security.
1
Does this really surprise anyone, anyone!
3
Wait. You mean you're interested in real economic facts now? Not jump-on-our-social-injustice-bandwagon-paper-tissue-issues?
When was the last article written about corporate take-overs? About the damage to consumers by monopolies? About how NYTs own advertisers abuse consumer's personal information for profit rather than simply selling them a product, which is what they're supposed to do?
We are a nation of consumers yet The New York Times has transformed itself into a cultural vessel selling a lifestyle message instead of hard news and information portal.
You're turned into a soft-serve ice cream machine for sugar junkies.
1
The last 2 quarters of 2019 were MASSIVE, Corporate shareholder buybacks. The richest families, the 1% & Corporations pocketed the money, (1.2 Trillion wealthier this year with MINIMAL re-investment into employee pay, Benefits OR company investments. It didn’t work with Reagan, or Bush , and it did t work decades later now.
But the people who got scraps “my 401k is biggger,under a Trump, or...”I got an amount of dollar,pay raise under Trump and now they see who’s they have to pay in 2020?)
If you don’t know your past.... you don’t your future, and with history behind this, how does anyone try to negate where we are at in 2020?
256
@Kelly T Shack - Exactly en pointe; the corporate tax cuts juiced the stock market, which is what Impeached 45* trumpets, and what flows to the donor class.
But, the stock market is not 'the economy'; the Federal Treasury-financed stock market sugar high has not brought higher GDP nor capital investment, and does not have a follow-up act, other than Fed rate cuts.
Wonder how many Fed rate cuts, in the face of low unemployment and stock market highs, can be further justified - as an economic excercise?
46
@R. Law
Also, if your 401k increases, so does your tax liability. Is there anyone who lobbies for average Americans?
36
@Kelly T Shack
Yep. And my measly little 401K will eventually be taxed more highly as "income" (when I retire) than their tax-protected capital gains.
51
The ship has sailed I am afraid...
Also don’t forget to vote for the same guys in the next election. You know, the Reagans, Bushes, Clintons, Obamas, Trumps... they always take care of you and your families :)
(Excuse me for the sarcasm but I cannot help it)
3
@Alex
Big difference between Democrats and Republicans.
Deficits went up under Reagan. Actually way up. It is the reason we put the debt clock in Manhattan. And we got 16 Million jobs.
Clinton raised taxes, cut the deficit, actually balanced the budget and got zero deficit. And we got 23 Million jobs, almost 50% more than Reagan.
W Bush took the balanced budget, zero deficit, from Clinton and gave us two "tax cuts for the job creators." He increased the deficit to a whopping $1.4 Trillion (deficit, not debt). And we got 3 Million jobs. Also the worst recession since the Great Depression.
Obama got us through the Great Recession, raised taxes on the "jobs creators" and cut the deficit by almost 2/3 to $550 Billion. And we got 11.6 Million jobs, almost 400% more than W Bush.
And that was with the "jobs killing" Obama-care and 20 Million people got healthcare.
(Note – the Federal budget is from October 1 to September 30 so the first year’s budget of the new president is actually the last year’s budget of the outgoing president.)
Now Republicans have done it again. The deficit is going from $600 Billion to $1 Trillion.
The projected ten-year increase in the debt is $12 Trillion which is $80,000 per taxpayer.
To be paid for by us, our children, and our grandchildren.
Every Republican senator voted for it. Not one Democratic senator voted for it.
I wouldn't mind if Trump voters got fleeced but the rest of the country is getting fleeced, too.
5
Donald Trump is a servant of lobbyists and big companies even though he had the temerity to run as a populist. To add insult to injury, many in the mainstream media repeated that fiction, referring to Trump as a "populist."
2
@Whole Grains
Before you ruin us all by assuming they're all the same, I suggest you read this: http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/12/tulsi-gabbard-impeachment-trump-russia-2020-election.html
"But what brought them to this strange place is their hatred for the center-left, which blots out any sense of proportion of the danger Trump poses. Pay close attention to this sentence, by Samuel Moyn, especially his use of the operative terms equally and biggest risk: “The Ukraine affair shows that the biggest risk to the American people is that centrists link impeachment to a reinstatement of one set of failed prescriptions, while the right repulses the attempt to oust the president and rules under equally dead-end policies.” The right and the center-left are equally doomed, and the biggest risk is that the Establishment prevails over Trump.
"Many leftists can imagine a bigger risk than the Establishment neutralizing Trump before he can bring the system down. Yet somehow, the emergency of his growing authoritarianism has not concentrated every mind, and the election of Trump has not dispelled the fantasy that his destruction of the center and the center-left will lead ultimately to a better world."
You're part of the problem, not part of the solution, if you think you very own private 1% (those in this particular choir). You'll take down Sanders, Warren, and AOC too, while you're at it.
1
Who is going to pay for a better life and future for Americans? The "happiest people in the world" of Copenhagen have high tax rates. What is America becoming? A land of imbalance and selfishness.
6
@Watah
Europe shold be happy. Their defense is paid for by the US taxpayers.
This to the Trump voters: Really, you still support this man and his cronies? Yes, your coffers may have benefitted by hundreds or even a few thousand dollars over the last few years, but that largesse is a mere pittance when you compare what the wealthy, never mind juggernaut companies, have been able to rake in as a result of these measures……… “It is largely the top 1 percent that will disproportionately benefit – the wealthiest people in the world”. In 2017 the US had a population of 325.7 million and 11 million millionaires. In 2019 the US had a population of 329.06 million and 18.6 million millionaires, the highest number in the world. The median income of the 310.46 million of average US citizen increased 0.8 % between 2017 and 2018, to $61.937. It is human nature to strive and achieve, but when your government favors the ‘haves’ you would think people could grasp that the measures the current administration has fostered benefit only POTUS, his family, and the wealthy 5.8% he loves to associate with.
2
Please don’t let us get to brutal Les Miserablé levels in our own country, as we are heading now. FDR was the most beloved president of all time, elected for four terms, for the best of reasons. It is time for our next FDR to finish what was begun in those four terms and set our country back from oligarchy to representative democracy. Bernie2020
"Won Tax Breaks" Tax breaks are won? Like the lottery?
Start by getting the story in a truthful form: dollars spent on which politicians, total dollars spent for the desired results since the Bush tax law change, dollar amount of the tax break per year, names of the primary beneficiaries, interview results with the politicians and beneficiaries about their deservedness.
Never forget those who pay nothing and the dollar
value of nothing?
The additonal unspoken cruelty of this system is that effectively the largest welfare agency for the rich is the Internal Revenue Service. Generaly the payout takes the form of not paying in rather than paying in and then getting a refund.
The Times could have a daily front page piece on the value to this or that special interest in millions of this or that sentence in the tax code. Start with the tax benefits of owning race horses instead of children in honor of McConnel and Paul of KY, old guard family values Republicans.
3
The average Americans go without so many services. They use our money like a slush fund. Our deficits will never get paid off. Our debt will be on our children. They give billions to foreigners. We spend billions on weapons of war. Yet they just cut food stamps for the poorest and most vulnerable among us. Sick people line up in emergency rooms across the country because they can't afford insurance and housing is so expensive even 3 job's doesn't work. If you've ever been in a home who's power has been cut off, you don't ever forget it. Our economy is sick, very sick. A good stock market means nothing to most people. Rich people bring your money home, corporations pay your fair share. Our money is making your businesses successful. Return the favor.
1
This isn't a booming economy. This is a booming crime spree.
10
@PATRICK
Absolutely. You've found a short and clear way to put it, thanks, I'll be stealing your words!
2
"Fiscal responsibility".
1
How else are we to describe the Republican Party today but the party of grifters and charlatans? Through authoritarian religious nationalism, white males have talked the poorest among us to vote for them as they rob them blind. These so called conservatives are driving our country into dangerous debt as we ignore climate change, failing infrastructure and lack of healthcare. Racism and religion are what distract us from their actions.
4
So this is how we have all those multi-million dollars homes being bought and sold as evidenced by The NY Times real estate section. Every Sunday and other days also I ask, “Who are all the people who can afford to buy these incredible homes?
2
Meanwhile, my tax bill went up. Cool cool cool.
3
I hope the average person now knows we should all "swarm" and get rid of Donald Trump as soon as possible and by whatever means we can. He is a typical Republican and has interest only in the business world and the contributions from that world and wealthy elite in general. This maintains the horrid wealth inequality in this country. The usual corruption. Plus the horrid policies which wreck the environment, ignore science, do not even accept the fact of climate change. A famous and very smart man, Noam Chomsky has stated that the Republicans are the most dangerous organization in the world. Capitalism is failing, and they promote it to the hilt. Elections coming up next year folks. You should also demand that your reps in DC remove trump by impeachment. Nancy Pelosi was smart not to send the impeachment articles to the Senate: she now has all kinds of power to play with those impeachment articles,
add to them, wait for new and better witnesses, keep Donald in suspense and anxiety and many other things she no doubt has up her sleeve.
All the data is here for the financial points above.
https://equitablegrowth.org/the-distribution-of-wealth-in-the-united-states-and-implications-for-a-net-worth-tax/
3
Maybe voters should have paid attention to the fact that Trump bankrupted six of his businesses. Now he is bankrupting the United States of America.
9
End Corporate Welfare?
Bernie 2020.
2
I know this all seems extremely bad and senseless now.. but any student of US history knows that it has ALWAYS been like this.
Quietly and systemactically subjegate the working class with debt burden and income constraints, while consistently allowing robber barons to skate free of any real obligation to pay their fair share of tax burden.
It's not going to change, and in reality.. as time passes, fiscal conservatives find new and clever ways to continue to subjegate the working class, while allowing the robber barons to be free to continue to escape fiscal accountability and continue to prey on the working class.
3
GOP: the party of fiscal responsibility no more.
And it's a tragic thing that history will likely reflect that unlimited greed is what has ultimately gutted the United States and led to the declines in education and the health of its citizens and our political polarization, especially those who are only in the orbit of these corporations by being gouged by them.
2
Deficits went up under Reagan. Actually way up. It is the reason we put the debt clock in Manhattan. And we got 16 Million jobs.
Clinton raised taxes, cut the deficit, actually balanced the budget and got zero deficit. And we got 23 Million jobs, almost 50% more than Reagan.
W Bush took the balanced budget, zero deficit, from Clinton and gave us two "tax cuts for the job creators." He increased the deficit to a whopping $1.4 Trillion (deficit, not debt). And we got 3 Million jobs. Also the worst recession since the Great Depression.
Obama got us through the Great Recession, raised taxes on the "jobs creators" and cut the deficit by almost 2/3 to $550 Billion. And we got 11.6 Million jobs, almost 400% more than W Bush.
And that was with the "jobs killing" Obama-care and 20 Million people got healthcare.
(Note – the Federal budget is from October 1 to September 30 so the first year’s budget of the new president is actually the last year’s budget of the outgoing president.)
Now Republicans have done it again. The deficit is going from $600 Billion to $1 Trillion.
The projected ten-year increase in the debt is $12 Trillion which is $80,000 per taxpayer.
To be paid for by us, our children, and our grandchildren.
Every Republican senator voted for it. Not one Democratic senator voted for it.
I wouldn't mind if Trump voters got fleeced but the rest of the country is getting fleeced, too.
10
Re: "... in December 2017, the Trump administration began transforming the tax package into a greater windfall for the world’s largest corporations and their shareholders."
When "the Trump administration" does anything that appears to benefits others, one always must pause to consider whether the benefit to others is intended, or whether it merely is a side effect of something intended to benefit Donald.
2
This article is a bit confusing and incomplete.
If corporations earned income abroad, and paid taxes on that income to other countries, then that tax burden is deductible from their U.S. tax burden.
So, is that what they're talking about? Did they already pay taxes on that income?
As an example, working with a Canadian company, I received a small windfall on exercising some stock options. The Canadian government, up front, took about 30% of those gains, which were then deductible from that same income which I reported on my U.S. taxes. Sloppy research/analysis might say 'you didn't pay taxes on that income', whereas the truth is I didn't pay U.S. taxes on that specific income because it was paid in full in the country (at a higher rate) where it was earned.
Taxing income twice would be an incentive for companies to leave whichever country is doing that.
No sane country wants that ( and, yes, there are insane countries).
2
@dmckj
Insane countries like to he Grand Cayman$?
How much of this tax favor to corporations is flowing back to those who voted for it in the form of campaign contributions and other forms of quid in return for quo?
1
@Gary billions.
Like everything else in the government, Trump's administration has exploded the tax code. It is now abundantly clear that the rule making process is broken. Stacking agencies with corporate shills has the highly predictable consequence of gifting great bonds to corporations, at the expense of us and our children.
When will Congress take back this process by requiring its approval before any rule change implementations? C'mon guys!
3
@Some Dude & for the last few DECADES the world has watch this man & his family run EVERYTHING they touch in the ground and for some reason people think they are not doing the same to America?
3
It seems to me that responsible politicians should remind the multinational corporations of the benefit they receive from the US government including protection of their employees by our military if needed. Not to mention things like air traffic control and customs efforts that facilitate movement of goods around the globe. Corporate responsibility requires that corporations pay their fair share of taxes. If they don’t want to do that, then our government is under no obligation to protect their intellectual property or other assets with the resources that only it can bring to bear. Isn’t that the kind of deal making that President Trump is forcing on NATO and other entities?
@MPS No he’s not....he’s exploiting what you just said as what You and want A POTUS to do. (Get the world off of American reliance and assuming people should rely on us Then spit in our face)
But Trump is just using this as grift & personal issues like he’s done sine the 70s. He and this parry has taken thing like this that I wish this country would handle things HONORABLY and not ILLEGALLY.
This is why we cannot “afford” universal health care and why our young people have to go into debt in order to get an education.
There is plenty of money for many programs to ease human suffering and uplift all Americans if only corporations and the extremely wealthy paid their fair share.
I’m looking at you, Jeff Bezos, as Exhibit A.
11
What these tax cuts have resulted in is more than the tremendous deficit. Trump is offsetting the deficit increase that resulted from the "Christmas Gift" Trump gave the wealthy, with the consumer taxes better known as the Tariffs. We, the middle and lower poverty stricken classes are paying for the services and protection given the wealthy and corporations.
Trump cut taxes on his class then punished us with the bill to pay for it.
8
How can anyone be surprised? Too many Elected Politicians cannot be trusted. They are self-interested and self-enriching!
Elected Politicians must be held individually/personally accountable for knowingly abusing their power for their financial benefit and for that of their contributors (i.e. corporate lobbyists and the wealthy showering them with contributions) at the expense of the economic and national security of our county.
IMHO, D. Trump's tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% have two purposes: one, enrich (and buy) those he considers 'his' people, and two, the systemic de-funding of the government he wants to dismantle. Our deficit is growing rapidly; how many months do we have to bankruptcy, and the purchase of our democracy by hostile powers? Russia or China could pick us up for pennies on the dollar. Trump learned that at his Daddy's knees.
6
There can no longer be any doubt that the prime goal of this administration is to channel even greater sums of money to big companies and the wealthiest people. The daily sideshow of Trump's twitter tantrums, his scripted TV appearances and rallies are a calculated strategy to shift attention from this administration's most cherished mission.
9
This article's bias is astounding. Rather than harming the working class, this tax laws redistribution of the nation's wealth to the owners of our corporations will ensure they have the power to create jobs in the luxury goods industry. Working people can open businesses selling yachts, private jets, artisan chocolates, and diamonds. Others can pursue life long careers as chefs, body guards, doormen, and personal assistants. This surge of liberty in employment will resolve the malaise in our economy. Freedom!!!
6
@Keitr
Well said.
Truly trickle-down.
Back to trickle down, really?!!!
1
@Keitr
Good one!!
1
These hundreds of billions in dollars in capital gains taxes could have been directed to poor people and poor communities who would spend the proceeds, start businesses and engender prosperity. That policy would have had the EXACT impact fiscally- excluding the arguably higher growth multiplier effects.
Why not? Because the political elite heel at the behest of their rich donors / patrons. This bi-partisan program is nothing but an extraordinary direct subsidy to the rich - and concurrently a violent assault on the poor.
I stress bipartisan and elites. Facebook Sean Parker, a gauche caviar liberal billionaire pads the pockets of Senators Booker and Scott. Congress approves. All in spite of decades of failed opportunity zones across America - and that disingenuous moniker- this Jack Kemp dud rerun persists?
It’s all about the money.
3
This article's bias is astounding. Rather than harming the working class, this tax laws redistribution of the nation's wealth to the owners of our corporations will ensure they have the power to create jobs in the luxury goods industry. Working people can open businesses selling yachts, private jets, artisan chocolates, and diamonds. Others can pursue life long careers as chefs, body guards, doormen, and personal assistants. This surge of liberty in employment will resolve the malaise in our economy. Freedom!!!
2
This article's bias is astounding. Rather than harming the working class, this tax laws redistribution of the nation's wealth to the owners of our corporations will ensure they have the power to create jobs in the luxury goods industry. Working people can open businesses selling yachts, private jets, artisan chocolates, and diamonds. Others can pursue life long careers as chefs, body guards, doormen, and personal assistants. This surge of liberty in employment will resolve the malaise in our economy. Freedom!!!
1
@Keitr except it was well-proven that these companies used the extra returns for their own benefit, and in some cases then fired swaths of their employees.
4
@Rachel I’m pretty sure (I’m hoping) @keitr is being facetious.
For those who write about the small tax in foreign corporations pay, two things. First, those corporations pay all the tax, versus the $0 American companies pay.
Secondly, most industrialized countries require by law that companies give ALL their employees paid vacation, most for 4 weeks or more. Even McD's must do this in Europe. Ever see a Conservative mention this "tax"? Never? I wonder why not.
1
What is the real pressure that lobbyists wield, is it a stick or a carrot? If it’s so easy to get a tax break by simply annoying people in Washington then it’s time for a tax break march on Washington and every tax payer should go. If only ten million people shut down the city maybe the rest of us would get a tax reduction too.
Billion, trillion,... No one can visualize these numbers. Make it a bit more vivid by expressing them in millions:
The US population is 340 million.
This year's deficit will be $1,000,000 million.
The total cost of the 2017 tax bill is $5,500,000 million.
Our national debt is now $22,000,000 million.
And so on.
1
I earn less than $100,000 per year and paid slightly more with the tax cut than I did before the tax cut. Living in Rockland County where property taxes are high, I could not deduct more than the first $10,000 of property tax and little of the sales tax. Ah, to be a big corporation earning billions and able to hire lobbyists and top accountants! I would have beat CHEAT and could ignore GILTI--as your article suggests, as there are so many ways to avoid these rules to increase tax revenue--loopholes and exceptions---that these rules did not accomplish their intent and came up about 4 trillion [sic--trillion, not billion] short , raising 1.5 instead of 5.5 trillion. Wow! The rich get really, really richer while everyone else gets mere scraps. If you ever wondered why the very wealthy who generally received a good education and are fairly intelligent were taken in by Trump--it may have been a matter of self-interest as this lopsided 2017 tax cut was so strongly skewed in their favor that they have saved fortunes in tax liabilities,No wonder they tend to be Republican supporters.
10
@shimr
RE: Living in Rockland County where property taxes are high, I could not deduct more than the first $10,000 of property tax
Oh the horror ! Your property taxes are no longer subsidized by deplorables in flyover country.
1
@Reader In Wash, DC
I would like to explain something to you. When certain exemptions or deductions are allowed for a long, long time --decades ---and then they are no longer allowed, just wiped away (justified or not) that is a tax increase. Perhaps you are right in that they should never have been allowed, but people who bought houses had no reason to believe that in effect their real estate bill would escalate so much during Trump's tax cut season. Also, I personally feel that state taxes (part of our government too) should be deducted from federal. As corporations argue, double taxation is unfair. Credit should be given for all taxes paid, as it is for foreign tax payments. Trump seems to be striking out at New York and Calif. two states that do not vote for him. The reason their taxation is much higher than for other states is that they spend more on the poor. They are more compassionate and understanding that hard times can hit anyone and governments should help.
1
@shimr
NY and CA and Wash, DC high taxes are much more a function of the high wages paid to government employees many of them union rather than higher spending on the poor. Trump is actually doing high tax state residents a favor. You can be sure they'll start to examine where the money is going after decades of blindly going along with annual tax inceases. Hopefully there will be more accountabilty for local / state spending.
This is the issue the Democrats need to hammer the Republicans with. And maybe just maybe that hourly wage earning base will start to question what their doing.
8
Our economy is turning into a serfdom.
@Vito : White racism beats money every time.
And when the USA businesses get their tax cuts they'll probably invest in businesses overseas. NZ will probably profit from the tax cuts as read recently some USA company sought approval to buy a huge acreage of land to plant some trees for export to USA. It was the most popular wood in the USA for making decks etc. It shows you that USA businesses will pay livable wages if government makes the laws and will follow our strict environmental laws that our government enforces. The government is the law making legislature and they have to make laws to reign in big business. No one but government is responsible for irresponsible slack laws. That's what they get paid to do; make laws.
3
How?
The Republicans appealed to the baser emotions, ideas and prejudices of the Have Nots to get them to vote for the Haves.
It really is that simple.
6
Sold our presidential elections to the Russians.
Sold our tax policy to multinationals, including many foreign ones.
Our soul?
What's left of it, is not of much value, but taking bids.
14
Please don’t despair. Democracy can still survive if we all vote in our own interests. We can elect a new FDR, the only four term president in our country, because he was so beloved. Join us, unite the world for a just, civil and sustainable country, not just for the oligarchy. Bernie2020
1
"One consequence is that the federal government may collect hundreds of billions of dollars less over the coming decade than previously projected. " This translates into hundreds of dollars per person per year which could be refunded to each person in the U.S. In other words a family of four could expect a $400 or more per year tax deduction,but instead, corporate lobbyists have made sure that they get the money and not the poor stiffs who need the money the most. Trump's low income MAGA supporters must really love the Guy enough to send Trump and his fat cat supporters their hard hard earned money, rather than use it to pay the bills.
13
@Kevin Cummins
The problem is the Trump supporters listen to Fox News and will never hear about these deficit increases to be paid for by them, their children, and grandchildren.
I think the only problem with this article is that there isn't a Part 2 that explains how all this created deficit lands firmly on the shoulders of the lower and middle classes. Because that's where it has always landed and for the near future, always will. Yes, the group that is made up of individuals who fund this country but do not have a go-to battery of tax advisors and attorneys to lobby on their behalf.
And yet colleges that accept federal, state and local monies keep raising tuitions. Healthcare premiums keep rising (mine over $100 starting Jan 1) and so on and so forth.
And maybe someone could be so kind as to give me here an updated list of large company layoffs currently or recently in the US?
9
I'm not as angry with the GOP leadership or lobbyists as much as I am disgusted with the Trumpers, who don't seem to have the follow-the-money skills to realize that they are "have-nots" who worship the lead "have" and are about to vote for him again, making the "haves" richer, them poorer, which doesn't bother me except that I'm a "have not" too and don't want to be in that same, leaky boat. I can at least cast out one Trumper with my vote in November. You?
26
#basedoesn'tcare
Explaining this is fruitless. They are being told on Fox News that corporate tax cuts are making America great again.
15
Get out and talk to people face to face. They will see when enough of us who understand reach out to them and talk about the reality that one can see all around, once one has the Fox ‘wool’ pulled away eyes to see again. Please don’t give up. That’s what they want you to think, that’s it’s hopeless. Don’t do their job at destroying democracy for them. You are not alone.
Right now is a good time to once again point out how much money a "TRILLION" is.
Think of it as 'seconds'.
1,000 seconds is about 17 minutes.
1,000,000 (million) seconds is about 12 days.
1,000,000.000 (billion) seconds is 31.7 years.
And, one trillion seconds is 31,709.8 years.
It looks like this: 1,000,000,000,000.
And, here this article is saying that actually, the "Tax-Cut" came to $5.5 trillion dollars, not $1.5 trillion.
For this there are millions being forced into the street and losing food stamps....?
Really?
17
Glad to read the system is not rigged . . .
8
You can't sugar coat the truth! Those expatriating our economy are not the "Robin Hoods In Reverse". They are the Hoods Robin' America! Stop cowering about them.
7
This is not the sausage making of Washington DC. This is the wholesale disembowelment of the American middle class taxpayer followed by beheading and spiking the head in Mnuchin's front lawn.
The reason we have these foxes in the hen house is because the American voter knows in their heart of hearts that they have been treated unfairly. Along comes a Pied Piper (republican cult) with evil in their hearts who flim-flams their way into power.
Shame on the American people to believe such liars.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Vote these parasites out of office in 2020. Vote against the republican cult and for you own liberty. Vote Democrat.
23
When is Joe Average Trump Voter going to wake up and realize this “great economy” is great for big corporations, but not for him? I’m certainly not paying any less federal or state income tax. Guess I should be a CEO and then watch my bank account grow. Thanks, Mr. Trump, for helping the fat cats, not the little guy, as you promised. Lies, lies and more lies. So, yeah, let’s vote him in for four more years of fat cat gifts.
9
The US corporate tax rate WAS already one of the LOWEST of all major industrialized nations... BEFORE the trump republican corporate and billionaire/multi-millionaire “welfare” tax cuts. The ballooning deficit means NOTHING to republicans EXCEPT when there’s a Democrat in the whit house or in control of both houses of Congress. The Party OVER Country trump republicans ARE monumental HYPOCRITES. They disgust any thinking rational person.
13
#grifterinthewhitehouse, the fleecing of America continues.
9
Some of the largest shareholders are pension funds. Guess the NYT wants lower returns / income for retirees. Guess those retired school teachers, nurses, and secretaries etc...can take one for team so Warren can forgive the college debt of someone who borrowed $250K to get a degree in creative writing.
1
@Reader In Wash, DC
Serious studies like the ones by Thomas Piketty professor at London School of Economics, Emmanuel Saez professor at Berkeley and Gabriel Zucman have shown how this U.S. and international corporation's profit's schemas benefit essentially the 1% and the tax havens, creating in its passage the growing and worrying inequality in the world.
Thank you N.Y. Times. Now repeat the results of these corrupt Tax Cuts weekly.......while reminding readers that Zero Democrats voted for this rip-off of the U.S Treasury.......while our debt increases.
I’ll vote for those you will repeal this “Law”. No one can think this Tax Cut is M.A.G.A!
4
I had my own small manufacturing company with 40 people for 13 years.
The only reason for me to hire more employees was if I had more business.
Tax cuts just went in my pocket for a new BMW and European vacations.
8
@Independent So true! You need export orders not tax cuts and Trump not signing environment treaties that Europe are fussy about just creates bad will. Free trade agreements get lots of export orders for nations as New Zealand exports more than it imports. To get export orders you need a tactful diplomatic leader as well. Diplomacy is very import for a nation to get trade deals.
5
Shifting the tax burden landed hard on us. I've been on disability since my transplant in 2005 and my wife runs a home day care with consistent revenue and expenses for years resulting in consistent tax refunds of $2,000.00 but not this year. Our refund was only $800.00! Again nothing changed in income or expenses over the last five years! Seems someone had to pay for trump's millionaires bailout and a struggling small business earning less than $25,000 was the target.
14
When the discussion of Trump and his policies come up between myself and friends who are lifelong Republicans and Trump supporters, I cannot talk about climate because it “is not science, it is opinion”. I cannot convince them when it comes to immigration policy because, “people are coming here illegally and taking jobs away from real Americans”. I cannot speak to them about the economy despite the growth of our deficit because the stock market is doing “great”.
What I can speak about with authority and personal experience is how much more unfair the tax system is when my federal tax burden has gone up significantly compared to that of Amazon and Facebook. There is NO good reason for this, other than to benefit the richest among us.
We, who are successful in the middle class and living in blue states are paying thousands more, while the Uber rich are paying millions less. The difference is showing up in the growth of our Federal deficit. The middle class cannot and will not bail out the banks and billionaires again.
21
The deficit growth has been perfectly acceptable to most Americans, who care about it little or not at all, in the context of giving big tax breaks to massively profitable corporations. No one bothered asking, How will these tax breaks be paid for?
Now consider spending directed towards people, not corporations. Food stamps are being cut back. Elizabeth Warren's greatest challenge is coming up with a way to "pay for" her Medicare for All, college tuition, and other social spending. Even our national parks are chronically underfunded and in desperate need of maintenance.
The American psyche is apparently very biased towards corporations (and Defense, I might add) so that the question of "how to pay for it" never even gets asked. Conversely, we are biased against our less fortunate fellow citizens, making deficits our main rationale against helping others.
With this mentality, the rich will continue getting richer, and...you know the rest of the story already.
15
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This needs to be renamed as the Tax Cuts for the Wealthy and Big Business Act.
12
So, the bill was "sloppily written,' and Congress was "chaotic," and allowed the bill to be "rushed through." but this is the fault of the Trump Administration. After all, no business interests ever before successfully lobbied any other administration for anything.
Incredible.
Literally.
@HMI
Deficits went up under Reagan. Actually way up. It is the reason we put the debt clock in Manhattan. And we got 16 Million jobs.
Clinton raised taxes, cut the deficit, actually balanced the budget and got zero deficit. And we got 23 Million jobs, almost 50% more than Reagan.
W Bush took the balanced budget, zero deficit, from Clinton and gave us two "tax cuts for the job creators." He increased the deficit to a whopping $1.4 Trillion (deficit, not debt). And we got 3 Million jobs. Also the worst recession since the Great Depression.
Obama got us through the Great Recession, raised taxes on the "jobs creators" and cut the deficit by almost 2/3 to $550 Billion. And we got 11.6 Million jobs, almost 400% more than W Bush.
And that was with the "jobs killing" Obama-care and 20 Million people got healthcare.
Now Republicans have done it again. The deficit is going from $600 Billion to $1 Trillion.
The projected ten-year increase in the debt is $12 Trillion which is $80,000 per taxpayer.
To be paid for by us, our children, and our grandchildren.
Every Republican senator voted for it. Not one Democratic senator voted for it.
I wouldn't mind if Trump voters got fleeced but the rest of the country is getting fleeced, too.
15
@Independent
1) Obama didn't "get us through" the Great Recession. He waited it out while we limped along. His actual contribution: nil. Instead, he signed on to the Republican austerity deal, rejected by most House Democrats. But that deal, to which he was dragged kicking, probably did more that anything he actually would have done had he had free reign.
2) The increase in the deficit is being pushed by interest largely on previous (but also on current) overspending. It grows exponentially and now makes up nearly half that current deficit, supercharged by entitlement programs. So, until Democrats lead the charge for taking an axe to those entitlements (and both parties to bloated subsidy programs), there isn't a snowball's chance in hell that any change of presidential party will make the slightest difference in the level of deficits and the ever-ballooning debt. But to blame this on Trump particularly is simply disingenuous politicking.
@HMI
If Obama had his way, he would have had more spending and less tax cuts for the same deficits. And spending creates a lot more jobs than tax cuts.
And what do you have to say about 3 Million jobs under W Bush?
We will have to agree to disagree on this increase in the deficit.
The deficit going from $600 Billion to $1 Trillion is because of the 2017 tax cuts.
And that's what you would be saying if that was an Obama tax cut.
Likewise, if that had been a Republican that got us through the Great Recession, you and Fox would be thumping your chest.
But look at the numbers. Deficits go up under Republicans and deficits go down under Democrats and Democrats get better jobs than Republicans.
I wouldn't mind if you got fleeced by Republicans, but the rest of us are getting fleeced.
Trump, speaking to Republican donors at Mar a Lago right after the tax legislation passed: “You just got a lot richer!”
21
The more power a government one true monopoly obtains over time, the more incentive to corrupt it, and the rich have the most ability to corrupt politicians. Limited government that preserves our rights rather than limits our lives to some "preferred way" is key. If we are adults and hold our power, corruption is harder because power is diffuse. Only a fool thinks government cares, or that any system they create today that you like won't be changed in horrible ways by some future politicians you don't like.
3
The Tea Party must be up in arms over this!!! Where are all those "true patriots" for whom the budget deficit was their guiding light in opposing any and every Obama Administration/Democratic initiative? Anyone?
Above the din of those crickets you now hear is those same supposed "patriots" shuffling the budget for more money for the useless southern border wall.
Shout if from the mountaintops, 2020 Democratic candidates. The entire Republican party is full of hypocrites of the highest order. If you can't/won't/don't get that message across to voters by November, we are all lost to the whims of the mega-rich forever.
23
Remember the “debt clock” behind the Fox talking heads 24/7? Where is it now?
4
@Bob Loblaw, S Choir
Good morning. You probably already know the answer to your first question. Comparing the list of tea party caucus members to those republican representatives who voted no on the 2017 tax bill I couldn't find any matches. I am left to assume that they all voted yes.
There is very little down side to being a Bait-and-Switch politician. You simply lie big, then once you have power, exercise it to benefit yourself. People who were unthinking enough to vote for you in the first place do not keep track of your congressional record. They re-elect you.
Democrats must appeal to independents. Democrats must get out the vote, every last democrat who is not a regular voter must receive a direct appeal. We cannot appeal to fence sitting (marginal) republican voters by calling them hypocrites and we cannot sway hardcore republicans by appealing to their sense of truth and virtue.
3
@AnEconomicCynic
Good evening. Thanks for your comment.
I should probably reframe many of my comments to specify that by the Republican party I mean those that currently represent the states in Congress and their chosen vessel in the Oval Office. I do not ascribe such notions of hypocrisy on those voters who identify as Republican, particularly those that have simply been duped and continue to believe in some of the purported economic platform of the party. I do not intend to implore Democratic candidates to impugn the portion of the electorate that hems Republican for an economically conservative ideal, but I do feel that those people should realize by now the cost of what they think they are getting right now. It ain't conservatism. But you are quite right that my message cannot be delivered in such a straightforward manner. They have to make a case for that to those marginal republicans over time.
To stop the madness why not give EVERY citizen the right to walk the halls of Congress........not just the privileged few we call "lobbyists."
10
@KF2 I was just in Washington on the day of the impeach vote in the House. I had a meeting with a Congressional staffer at an office building for members of Congress, but I did not need an appointment to enter the building and wander the halls. It seems all I needed was a state-issued photo id and to be unarmed.
This turns my stomach. Warren and Bernie have it exactly right. They aren’t soliciting donations from Wall Street in January like Mayor Pete will or taking money from PACs like Biden does. I want a candidate that the 1 percent fear and scorn. Moderation is for suckers! Time for the rest of us to make the oligarchs pay their fair share.
9
Blame your congressperson that you keep voting for not the president.
5
@James, We did, and that is why Democrats became the majority in 2018.
This is why kitchen table issues need to be pointed out by Democrats until they turn blue. Uber rich have access to whatever medical care they want or need, without worry. Uber rich have a warm, safe place to sleep every night. In fact, they have their choice of several.
They have access to healthy food at all hours of the day and night. Their kids get good educations and do not worry about college debt. Their kids will be the next generation of Uber rich without even working, because under the tax reform of 2017, the money they inherit will not be taxed after hiding in LLC’s and the decrease in estate taxes. They are secure.
The important issue in every election, not just this one, is who benefits from laws that are passed by those who represent all of us, not just the richest and most powerful among us.
6
@Jane K
Yes, the House is blue but I don't see any changes and the loudest Dem candidates are falling over themselves promising free stuff that that we can't afford and will never be passed.
@James Why not blame both? Trump certainly supported this bill and did not exercise his veto power here because of a "sloppily written" bill.
1
Duh. Fooled again. Shame on us for not questioning and protesting the plan that was designed enrich big business and the rich. Now that we know better, who will vote for in 2020?
2
@Dennis : I was not fooled by this any more than I was fooled by Reagan. I am just in the minority.
6
@Dennis, I made multiple phone calls to congresspersons before this bill passed. Not everyone was fooled, as @gratis said.
Kevin Brady from Texas wrote this bill. I spoke with his staffers more than once to explain why taxing workers at a higher rate for working was unfair compared to lowering taxes for corporate fat cats and investors who sit back and watch the money roll in.
A policy of film-flam pushed by the most corrupt, repulsive, lying conman in American history.
5
I am now hoping that, rather than it being the cherry on the cake, this type of malfeasance causes enough of a backlash to claw back a couple trillion USA dollars in taxes.
It is like watching pigs feeding at a trough.
Embarrassing.
5
Do the Trump supporters care about this inequality? Does it jeopardize their belief he is working for them when the “enemy” (bad laws, and big business beneficiaries) is right here at home, rather than some foreign migrant in some foreign land?
3
This is how Dangerous Donald drains the swamp. Good luck with that!
3
trump bankrupted at least four companies.
Now he's bankrupting the US (not just financially!).
It will, as usual, be the democrats who have to clean up this mess.
7
@Mark : The Democrats will never get the chance. Neither Putin nor any of the Red States like Pennsylvania , Iowa or Wisconsin, want any of it.
WE will pay the price as the massive federal deficit increases. Regardless of Fed policy this is going to create increased interest rates for all. This, in turn, leads to less investment.
Wages are essentially based on the productivity of workers. Decreased investment by companies creates less productivity which means that middle-income Americans are going to suffer wage stagnation.
Then there is the increasing government DEBT SERVICE. This is going to make less available for the government to spend and less available for programs that lower-income Americans depend upon.
Americans are already over-extended. Take a look at the Fed's quarterly reports of credit card defaults. Imagine this dynamic as banks continue to raise interest rates. Moreover, we abandoned the Glass-Steagall Act which means that retail banking no longer exists as it did. We have unprecedented increases in interest on debt without corresponding increases on interest on savings.
Trump doesn't care. At least at the moment. He won't until the Fed relents and raises interest rates which will directly affect the orange creature who - presumably - has a great deal of debt with interest based on the prime rate.
Eventually the turds are going to hit the turbines.
4
And the BEAT goes on...
1
“No particular taxpayer or group had any undue influence at any time in the process,” he said. Did he say that with a straight face?
6
The macroeconomic question, especially from a Keynesian perspective, is how large should the federal deficit be to provide full employment? If the current historically-low unemployment rate that has been achieved with minimal inflation is desirable, which it presumably is, then is incurring budget deficits the better part of $1 trillion a year the proper policy to pursue?
Neither political party has offered a coherent fiscal policy, one that defines what is the proper size of the budget deficit and when the budget should be balanced. This is the policy discussion worth having, not simply declaring that the deficit is too big.
Macroeconomics conveniently ignores questions of fairness in tax policy and in base wages needed for people to live a healthy decent life. Unemployment calculations should report how many jobs provide a living wage. And fairness should be paramount in tax policy discussions. Without evidence I don’t buy for a second that giving big companies a pass because they are ‘job creators’ is justified. Its pretty obvious that the two parties have very different stands on these fiscal policy matters.
3
I sometimes think there isn't too much difference between communism and USA democracy when you hear about some states on paying a minimum wage of $5 an hour. USA seems to be moving more towards communist policies than being a truly democratic nation like Australia and New Zealand. In Australia the first $20,000 of income is tax free, and their minimum wage across all the nation is $20 an hour. New Zealand minimum wage across the whole nation has to be approx. $20 an hour or you get fined by the Labour Department and have to repay all the wages you didn't pay.
1
@CK : Don't forget the 4 weeks paid vacation by law, versus zero in the USA.
Just repeating the facts is damning. Not only did the White House and Congressional Republicans, on a nonpartisan basis, give corporations and the richest Americans a giant tax cut. Through rules and regulations they have also given those same corporations billions of dollars in loopholes and legal tax cheats that essentially "gut" their own new law. Consequently, contrary to what the Republicans promised, and budget reconciliation process requires, the government is collecting tens of billions less in corporate taxes, and the annual deficit has exploded by 50 percent during the Trump administration, largely due to the tax cut and the subsequent rule and regulation corrupt Republican shenanigans.
485
@Robert
One important typo, sorry:
Just repeating the facts is damning. Not only did the White House and Congressional Republicans, on a PARTISAN basis, ...
33
@Robert : Boo hoo. The GOP will win back the House, the Senate and the POTUS, demonstrating how Americans love our system as it is now.
1
@gratis
So you are an advocate for massive debt? Just like W's mess the next administration will need to clean up this disaster.
53
Look at the working and middle class. The goals of redistributing wealth through infrastructures, better education, better healthcare, better assistance to sick, invalid and aging people without enough resources is sacrificed to the New Golden Beast.
3
This article is about all the banks of lawyers who are arguing about corporate tax structures and how they can structure it so that they can be circumnavigated. But nothing here is said about the CEOs and major shareholders who also have banks of lawyers of their own to circumnavigate their own taxes. Meanwhile, we, the 99.9 percent, have no recourse but to pay what the tax man tells us that we owe. We have no lawyers, lobbyists, no off-shore tax havens. We just struggle to make the payments year after year. Figures don't lie but liars sure can figure! Especially when they have the unlimited help of their lawyers and lobbyists and the politicians they buy. The boondoggle of capitalism can't last forever. We humans (the overwhelming majority of us) will win out in the end—we will have to if we are to save the future for our children.
10
@Bonnie Weinstein : The GOP is happily destroying the environment for profit. Why would any Conservative care about their kids?
1
Every reason in the world to conclude that the Trump tax cut was a bait and switch of epic proportions that lavished huge tax breaks on corporations and the most wealthy.
The GOP controlled Congress and then the US Treasury were the obvious and willing lackeys of corporate America aided by their extraordinary access and massive lobbying efforts.
This while the average American goes utterly unheard and grossly powerless by comparison.
Between Trump and Mnuchin this was probably the greatest sham and ripoff of the decade.
The US Treasury is clearly the unfettered and lavish playground of those who have so obscenely profited from the federal government’s corrupt tax policy.
9
Someone should seek to nullify the law a la ACA in the Fifth Circuit, because as implemented, it far surpasses the $1.5 Trillion limit.
5
Part of the intention of these republican policies is to use the resultant deficits as an excuse to further weaken the government with program reductions that help people, communities of the environment. That is, deficits only matter to them for that purpose and are quite intentional. Then they weaken the government and corrupt it by appointing more "swamp creatures" from the regulated industries, classic fox guarding the chicken coop as in this article, and cry that government is ineffective and corrupt.
We need to take back our democracy, kick out these republicans and weak-kneed and complicit democrats (there are many of them too) and stop being fooled by empty, cynical, and self-serving rhetoric from the right.
7
The NY Times blames big corporation lobbying. It ought to look underneath it, to see the economic reality of a global economy
Econ 101
In a global economy, corporations - and with them jobs - move to where they are taxed least.
Take a look at the corporate tax rate of the NORDIC states of Europe
Sweden
Sweden legislated a decrease in its corporate tax rate, from 22 percent in 2018 to 21.4 percent in 2019. A further reduction to 20.6 percent is scheduled for 2021.
Norway
Norway reduced its corporate tax rate from 24 percent in 2017 to 23 percent in 2018 and 22 percent in 2019.
Both (socialist) Nations have a lower rate than the US, being more exposed to global competition
Second, corporations per se , do NOT pay taxes, they pass on taxes
Taxes on corporations are paid by
1. Share holders in form of lower dividends
2. Workers in form of lower wages
3. Consumers in form of higher prices
Of those, economists agree, the highest fraction is paid by US workers in form of lower wages, because they are the one of the fewest options to avoid the tax
Investors can and do move to corporations in countries with lower corporate taxes .
Consumers can and doswitch to buy more products from China and Mexico.
But American workers can not move. And when they complain about stagnant wages they are told: If you
do not like for the wages we offer, we will move the company to Mexico.
Thus US workers wind up paying most of the "corporate" tax
3
@Woof : In Sweden and Norway, corporations actually pay those rates, versus the US companies that pay near zero. regardless of what the law says. And the people pay about 50% of their wages.
And ALL Corporations in the entire world pass taxes along to their customers. You make it sound like only American companies pay that.
3
The key word used throughout the article is "lobbyist". This country is run by lobbyists. They fund candidates who will do their bidding, they write the legislation congress will approve, and they cycle employees in and out of government at every critical juncture.
At the state and local level, they leverage the property tax base to reduce their payments. Look at the Amazon deal in NYC to learn how perverted representative government has become.
Trump is a liar and a con man. As a New Yorker whose observed Trump in the news over the last 40 years, I expected every dastardly deed and anticipated all of the lies. But I am horrified that the same people who made the mistake in 2016 will repeat their mistake in 2020.
We have one chance left to preserve democracy, reverse these terrible lobbyist caused trends, and address Climate Change and that solution is Bernie. I sincerely wish all of the democrats running for office would recognize our desperate situation and close ranks behind Bernie right now. Planet Earth cannot afford democratic infighting which could propel Trump into a second term.
5
Whenever you hear Republicans, resurrect those elected to office, day "we are committed to fiscal responsibility," what that translates to is "we are committed to lying."
5
Gosh! The budget deficit is ballooning under Republicans? Wow! Hey, does anyone else remember how that happened under George W Bush? Wasn't he the last Republican in the White House?Given a budget surplus when he walked into office. Then gave the rich and corporations a ton of tax breaks? Hmmmm. Oh yeah, and he started a war we're now discovering was never going to be won. Oh yeah, and it was under W that the stock market zoomed up...and then crashed right before a Democrat had to come in and clean up.
6
Another 4 years and Trump can declare bankruptcy again...just like all his other enterprises.
7
So how come the Democrats aren't discuss this and making it a major campaign issue?
Because they're committing political malpractice, as usual....
Democrats wake up!
You can win 2020 if you say enough is enough and are willing to put workers before billionaires
Is any candidate is willing to ostracize the 1%?
Crickets? Please. Please. Please.
1
Add this to Trump’s reckless increase of the national debt and you’ve got a financial disaster that will last long after he’s gone and that will be passed along to future generations, with a heated planet to boot.
Trump has given the country a gift with his impeachable crimes and it’s up to the Senate to convict him for it and save us. Literally.
3
Clearly fake news. The Republican party is the party against national debt and deficits, therefore the national debt must have been cut in half (at least!) since Trump came to town.
One has to be clever enough to decipher fact from fiction. :)
1
Yawn. Only one issue pending: 4 more years of GOP Senate and Trump (and even House if Trump landslide) or not. Nothing else matters. Existential election.
It's amazing that the victims of trickle-up keep on voting for these predators.
It's trickle-up. The media industrial complex doesn't care; wealth serves itself.
Ignoring the need for stewardship and heart, voters seem to think "god" won't let the planet tell the story of reality to us all, despite abundant evidence. They think "god" will make them rich, and just in case (unlikely) they get wealthy themselves, after tithing to the likes of Oily Osteen, they don't want government to interfere with the natural order of sociopathy in charge.
Jesus was very hot on forgiveness and mercy. It would be nice if the wealthy whited sepulchers, moneychangers in the temple, casters of first stones, etc., were too.
"Christian" voters appear to have infinite value for the unborn, but blame victims - children and their families and communities - for being alive and needing a living wage, proper health care, and protection for hate and violence.
5
OK...what we got is right now.
SO....what would Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobacher or Mayor Pete do?
Everybody spouts off CHANGE but have never really dealt with corporate behemoths nose to nose-- and everyone elected on the hill usually owes them, and wants to keep their job.
We have crooks running the country, people like trump, mnuchin, ross etc. cannot be trusted, they are in it to enrich themselves...sad state of affairs.
4
So much for draining the proverbial “swamp.” We should expect a similar economic crash as we saw in 2009 now that we’ve let the coyotes back in the chicken coup.
1
This so called President has done nothing good for us. Ever. And will never.
3
No particular taxpayer or group...had more influence...Lol. Amazing. So they got swarmed, by similar demands, and in the noise they mostly all got what they wanted. Any pack of hungry children knows how that works. Overwhelm the adults. pizza and ice cream soon follow.
The pitchforks are coming for the rich. No doubt about it. The Republicans are just setting the stage. Go Liz and Bernie.
3
A "sloppily written" bill, swarming lobbyists, greedy corporations, and a "budget deficit [that] has jumped more than 50 percent since Mr. Trump took office" . . . sounds about right for a Republican administration.
4
I remember talking to a British-born businessman on a train a couple of years ago and I specifically remember his awe with the US business model. "How do you all do it?" he asked me. You build it on the backs of the citizens, but throw a few hundred dollars their way come January.
306
@matt harding …..'you build it on the backs of citizens' and then tell citizens this protects 'American Freedom from Big Govt'. This flatters their ego, while they're being fleeced. And while millions cannot afford our high-profit health care, or go into debt for it.
Ask the British guy on the train about their national health care for all since the 1940s, that we can't get in 2019. How do they do it? How do dozens of countries? Awesome.
In Britain, even Tory Boris Johnson doesn't aim to dismantle their National Health Service.
42
@matt harding
One might actually conclude that the average American is simply not that smart.
15
We are in a period of unprecedented prosperity. All levels of society are experiencing it. When taxes are low, people spend more money and, as a result, government reaps increased tax revenue. The problem of deficits comes not from lower taxes, but from unrestrained spending by Congress. We need a department by department, program by program audit that identifies duplication and waste so that we spend more wisely than we do. Then get Congress onto a budget so that deficit spending is curtailed or even stopped. Balance the budget or get the heck out of office. Building bridges to nowhere has to stop.
Pretty soon we’ll have no bridges at all!
@Betsy B That is true, but not because we didn't pay enough in taxes. Remember those high gas taxes we paid all those years of high price gas? They were supposed to go toward infrastructure repairs and improvements. Where did that $$ go? It was all spent and what have we to show for it? Our roads, especially in NY, are a mess, our airports ditto. The $$ went Into general coffers and our Congress spent it. Ask them why it didn't go toward bridges & roads.
This is exactly why we need Warren for the presidency, and exactly why the wealthy and corporations are opposed to her.
4
What's interesting in this article is that Dems and Repubs share blame is the country's misery. The solution is quite simple; eliminate all taxes save those on land value. Have everyone's income tax at 0%, no business taxes, no sales taxes. Tax only that which is unearned. Sounds like a moral principle.
The manipulation of tax policy by the wealthy and corporations through political contributions to primarily Republican pockets have lead to this point. What was once a 'fiscally conservative' party has now become nothing more than a foot servant for the the wealthy who want all the benefits the U.S. has to offer without helping to finance them. The worst part of it is they have duped the very people they are hurting the most into supporting them with divisive and hate filled rhetoric. This single issue may in fact be our undoing.
2
Should big businesses have to pay Insurance to the USA government to protect the nation from having to take on more debt if there is a stock market crash and the USA government has to bail them out? then the USA government debt wouldn't keep on climbing everytime USA uses corporate welfare to bail out businesses. In NZ we have ACC and EQC. The only company in the past that the NZ government has bailed out is the BNZ because they had shares in some overseas investment. All businesses that get bailed out by government should have to repay the money in better prosperous times or the government debt will just keep going over the cliff.
1
Economist Picketty found that in most societies, the wealthiest citizens gamed their governments to increase wealth disparities more and more -- until a cataclysm wrecked their society, prompting a much more equal distribution of resources. Then the process started over again.
Those cataclysms included market collapse, revolution, famine, invasion, world war, and epidemics.
America's wealthiest should be notified that we're well on our way. Or maybe they just don't care.
3
Probably don’t care. Plus, humans never learn from the past.
After all these years, the supposedly fiscally responsible Republicans still don't get it. when the government spends tax money, businesses need to employ people to get those profits. when the government gives a tax break, the businesses put it in their pocket. Why employ someone if they aren't needed to make money?
The ultra wealthy and large corporation simply play by a wildly different set of rules than the rest of America. And there is a lack of collective imagination in assessing the danger that extreme income and wealth inequality pose to any nation.
Just made another donation to the Warren campaign. Thanks, NYT.
4
And what about affordable healthcare for citizens in this country? What about the plight of human beings here? Was there even a thought or consideration for anything or anyone outside of greed?
6
Some perspective. First of all, the previous tax regime of 35% applied to global corporate profits was not working and would never work. It was much higher than companies pay in other countries which served as a catalyst for US companies to move overseas or sell out to foreign companies -- both happening. Foreign earnings weren't taxed until the money came back to the US. It didn't come back. It never would.
The tax reform was an attempt to bring US taxes into closer alignment with the rest of the world, not only in the level, but the approach.
And every NYT writer and reader should be familiar with the immortal words of Judge Learned Hand because they certainly live by them in their own tax payments:
"Over and over again courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging one's affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich or poor; and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands: taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions. To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant."
1
@Kurfco
I would agree if I got to make the tax changes that affect my taxes, but I don't have an army of lawyers helping write legislation, so most of us are at a distinct disadvantage to corporations.
11
And how are thinking the “poor” are going to influence tax legislation? The rich just made new limits on food stamps. I guess the poor aren’t hiring good lobbyists and lawyers.
That really explains how it’s fair.
2
@Kurfco
The difference is between the tax rate and real taxes actually paid. That can reach from 35% to ZERO, not bad I would say.
Judge Learned Hand must not have learned much in school or life, his thinking must have been very limited.
1
The Republican Party was never the party of "fiscal responsibility."
They are and always have been the party of "raw power," that used the deficit as a tool when it served their needs to attain and retain power.
11
Do Federal government subcontractors benefit substantially from the corporate tax breaks and since we pay their contracts with our tax dollars is that double dipping?
1
If a google search is correct, in the 50s corporations contributed ~30% of federal tax receipts. It's now down to <10%. Yet they are making enough to pay ceos 100s of times what workers get, have eliminated pension plans, are now "people" who can buy candidates/elections and buy stock back. If we're going to give them tax cuts (republicans) and we're not going to take them back when in power (democrats, 2009) we should at the least, MAKE them invest some of this extra $ in hiring new people or increase benefits for workers or upgrades in equipment. I pay the top rate. I resent it being used to subsidize tax cuts for corporations and the really rich.
4
@Al
This data is skewed by an incredibly important -- and not widely understood -- fact: in the 1950's, the only type of entity was a "C" corporation, what you think of as a "corporation". Later on, the laws changed to create "S" corporations and "LLC's" that confer many of the same benefits as "C" corporations. These companies report income like an individual, not a corporation. Many giant companies you would think are "C" corporations are actually "S" corporations of "LLC's". Their tax payments don't show up as payments by corporations.
2
@Kurfco
Ok. I think I understand your point. But I also see that 60 Fortune 500 companies paid no federal taxes in 2018 on ~80 billion in profits and, in fact got 4.3 billion in rebates. To regular tax payer, and I may be mistaken, this still sounds pretty rotten.
3
Where are all of the Republicans who denounce debt and excessive government spending? Have they lost their voices or have they renounced their convictions.They must speak now or forever “hold their peace”. That means that they are at peace with what is happening now-they cannot discover debt two years from now and act as though Democrats were responsible for it.If we do not hear from them now we know that they are fine with incurring debt to help business and wealth-if debt is incurred for the health and well being of average citizens they are fierce about cutting it.
2
Oddly enough, the most successful societies in the world ( were one to define "success" as passing a better country to the next generation than the one they received ), are the highest taxed countries (assuming EVERYONE pays taxes, not just the rate on paper). Scandinavian Countries, Happiest Countries on Earth.
USA, about #20.
4
@gratis
Be careful of what you say, that can't be true, Scandinavian countries are Social Democracies. The USA is better than any Social Democracy.
It seems to me a giant fix for America is based on a needed infrastructure renovation. Increasing low level service job opportunities, as is underway, will not fix our crumbling infrastructure.
What is needed for that is obviously, a bit of government tax surplus.
With Trump adding 50% to the deficit, infrastructure spending is all but fiscally dead.
GOP based mis-spending began with the Iraqi war invasion alongside ill-advised tax cuts. Every other war in American history involved increased taxation to support it.
It seems the loss of forwarding infrastructure overhaul is being squashed by trumpeting the rise of the Dow.
3
As corporations make money and now pay less taxes less corporation tax, the shareholder benefits from higher dividends and higher stock prices and in the end the owners must pay income taxes at a higher rate than they would have done had the corporations paid more taxes instead.
What the article lacks is a sense of double entry bookkeeping, where overall tax policy is not mentioned. In the end, the individual pays the corp tax.
In Canada, The GST applies at the retail level (the taxes are shared between the federal and provincial governments) and taxes, inter alia, the underground economy. Consumption taxes are far more efficient in terms of encouraging individuals to earn money versus confiscatory personal income taxes.
By contrast, the US lacks a federal consumption tax which could garner billions of dollars for the Treasury and place the onus of taxation on the individual, while not acting as a disincentive to earning more income. Of course this would be far less popular than hitting the big corps as the article’s authors would clearly prefer, but it is clear that the government needs the money and that a consumption tax would help make the economy more competitive against foreign rivals. By strengthening US multinationals as the tax cuts have done and as the stock market attests.
Maybe Mr. Trump could read this and put Death by China aside for ten minutes. We await his Second Coming here in Ottawa with anticipation.
2
@Howard Stollery Great idea, a consumption tax so that those of us who have lower incomes can shoulder more of the tax burden and the fat casts can pay less.
Are you aware that the tax rate on dividend income is lower than on earned income? Does that seem right to you?
And you appear to have missed the part about the deficit. the soaring deficit shows that your talk of double entry bookkeeping is just so much clap trap.
@Howard Stollery
A tax is a tax is a tax, call it what you will, in the end, it is being paid by the working middle-class people. Employers consider wages to be another form of burden too, wages are also included in the price of the product, would they lower the price if we all worked for nothing? Without wages, we can't buy our own products, without taxes we can't maintain an infrastructure to do business. To expect the biggest beneficiaries to pay their fair share is not asking too much. How much money is enough for these greedy people? They are choking on the $$$ bills and still don't have enough, just look at Trump and family.
Why is this a surprise? Trump declared bankruptcy six times. I fully expected he would bankrupt the country as well.
6
"the law slashed taxes for big companies, part of an effort to coax them to invest more in the United States and to discourage them from stashing profits in overseas tax havens"
The tax cuts had zero intention of getting anybody to invest in America more. We have offered republicans enough free ink over the decades to dress up their financial shell games with terms that their marketing departments dreamed up. The intention of each of these tax cuts has nothing about the good of the country in mind-it is merely a way for wealthy to hoard more cash-full stop.
When a fox tells us it is planning to secure the henhouse, the media has an obligation to inform the public of the truth, not just repeating the fox's claims.
6
Amazingly enough, considering Republicans, the short title of the act, "Tax Cut and Jobs Act" may have been half true. There were huge tax cuts.
But the way it was sold and enacted with a rigged process was and still is truly shameful. Was there a legit economist anywhere in the world who didn't call out "trickle down" and "increased business investment" and "making U.S. companies more competitive internationally" as the lies they were? What a huge gift to the richest in our society this boondoggle has proven to be.
3
@Dennis
Have you seen the unemployment rate lately? It WAS the "Tax Cut and JOBS Act".
1
@Kurfco Yeah, right. The U.S. Bureau of Labor stats would disagree. The number of new jobs added per month is pretty much a flat line for 8 years (since Jan. 2011).
@Dennis
The US economy is already employing more people than previously thought possible. The current unemployment rate is the lowest ever recorded. The number of new job added can't grow month over month over month because the workforce isn't there.
https://www.statista.com/chart/14962/seasonally-adjusted-non-farm-job-creation-in-the-us/
There are now 7.3 million unfilled jobs.
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.nr0.htm
In summary, the BLS would absolutely agree with what I posted. You may hate Trump, you may not give him any credit. Fine. But at least acknowledge the reality that the labor market is on fire. And finally, because it is tight, workers are beginning to see higher pay.
1
Dems need to get much smarter about tax reform. Warren's blunt instrument will flunk badly, but sensible corporate tax reforms are attainable that address offshore profits, stock buybacks, and restore the average corp tax rate to the 27 percent G7 average.
Then we also need to limit the giveaway QBID (profit passthrough) deduction loophole for privately owned businesses to incomes below $100K.
See my book, Enlightened Public Finance, for details.
1
“No particular taxpayer or group had any undue influence at any time in the process.” -- Treasury spokesman Alfred E. Neuman
Here's the problem: many Americans, particularly those who would excuse all things Trump, will believe such hype from an administration so desperate for a political victory.
5
More than anything else, this article reflects the current lack of care in drafting legislation. The provisions for BEAT and GILTI were validly attached by businesses that were negatively affected by them while they carried out functions demanded of them by other legislative/regulatory provisions. In the rush to impress the political base, legislators did not do adequate homework.
Legislation (and regulatory drafting) is hard work that needs exceptional care, and we are not getting this from Congress. People who prepare regulations - and post for public notice and review - are keenly aware of this, and bear the burden of criticism unfairly. Provisions to implement tax policy need much better treatment by those we elect to office, and their political approach is what should receive the blame for the deficit mess, not businesses or regulatory draftsmen.
1
@Jim Bennett Taking Congress to task generically is pure hokum. This was a Republican bill, put together in secret and sprung on the members at the last minute.
If the Republican rank and file had had a shred of integrity they would have balked and said slow down, hold some hearings, do it right.
But they have zero integrity. They understood that stealth tactics were being used so a giant giveaway to the rich could pass before there was a chance for a public outcry.
You really need to pay more attention.
3
I pay a 24% effective tax rate so Amazon can pay a 0 % tax rate.
9
not only do corporations pay nearly zero tax rate but they pay peanuts to most employees so they in turn have to reach out to the government for handouts.
7
@Pat
Amazon pays millions and millions in payroll, sales, excise, real estate, etc taxes. How many millions do you pay? The unit of measure for taxes is dollars no percentages.
@Kelvin G. : It is what Americans vote for, election after election.
Republicans have successfully divided the working class along race, religion and culture.
The ones left voting Democratic are now in turn divided in a progressive and centrist side.
This is how we lose.
Divided and conquered. We are okay with the rich shareholder class shifting a trillion a year from us to them (these debts will have to be paid), but we’d hate to see our neighbor get something we didn’t get. Food stamps, tuition free college, healthcare student loan forgiveness, etc.
7
Where is the Republican outrage over deficit spending? Those people actually fare much better under a Democrat administration.
5
Brian Morgenstern, the Treasury spokesman says it all: "no particular taxpayer or group had any undue influence at any time in the process". Note the key word of this quote: "undue". He's clearly indicating that they were influenced, but only by people who were "due" influence. This means people with money.
In another quote later in the piece he is really explicit about it: "we were responsive to job creators". We all know that the phrase "job creator" is just Republicans' way to cloak rich people in an air of moral superiority.
8
I do not understand how people can opine about “the good old days” and not recognize that it was a well funded government that provided infrastructure improvements, affordable education, research and development for the technology that undergirds our modern life, assistance to the needy, etc.
9
@William Ignorance? Various grievance and hatreds which the Republicans know how to exploit.
1
A replay of Bush II. The market was at an 'all-time high' during his term as well. The deficit that the Trump administration is amassing is not sustainable. Looks nice to cut taxes, but in the end, somebody ends up paying for it. Won't be the rich. Won't be corporations. It'll be you.
9
Is some portion of the federal deficit attributable to programs and spending proposed and supported by Democrats, or is the deficit attributable only to defense spending? What proportion of the federal tax revenues, including both the employee and the employer portion of federal employment taxes, is paid by the top one percent? The top 5%? The bottom 50%? What proportion of the federal tax gap is attributable to large corporations? To small business? What portion is attributable to noncompliance by individuals in the top 1%, the top 5%, the bottom 50%? These might be useful data before we decide to get even with the productive sector of the economy. These data are readily available from the IRS and other governmental sources but perhaps were hard for the authors to fit into the narrative.
1
@RHD We started having major deficits under Reagan: tax cuts. We achieved three consecutive surpluses under Clinton: tax increase. We got back to deficits under Bush: tax cuts. The deficit at first was soaring under Obama: a major recession. The deficit began falling under Obama: he let some of the Bush tax cuts expire. The deficit is now exploding under Trump: tax cut.
This really, really ain't rocket science. You don't understand because you don't want to understand.
1
Meanwhile .... this “tax reform” bill has done absolutely nothing for most Americans and the only “reform” seems from down here is just more money for the rich and their powerful, lobbyist friends.
Infuriating and predictable. Let’s see how long it will take until we awake up from this nightmare of greed and disregard for human decency and fairness.
2
The deficit is easy to fix! Just get rid of Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, public schools, public libraries, public roads, public bridges, the police and fire departments, food inspectors, the EPA, etc, etc, etc. It's a Republican dream come true! After all, nightmares are what they do best.
26
@Chicago Guy
Schools and roads and such are necessary. SS is a ponzi scheme that needs radical fixing. The retirement age needs to jump to 70 or 75 to match current life expectancy.
@Chicago Guy
I went to Roatan, Honduras last year. You just decribed Hondurus, a Libertarian / Ayn Rand Utopia !
1
That is pretty funny. People over 50 can’t actually get hired. It took me 12 years to get a full time job when I lost the one I had at 50. People who complain about the unsustainable generosity of Social Security haven’t seen the mobs with pitchforks coming for them yet.
4
Remember when Republicans used to be the more fiscally responsible party? No longer. How do these men and women live with themselves? No sense saying the major corporations should also be ashamed. Most CEOs and staff have had no souls for decades. I worked for GE and while they brought many excellent products to market, I was always amazed how the paid zero in federal income tax. That simply should not be possible. But Congress is also the blame. The president cannot delegate power to an executive branch to give these perks away. That can only come from Congress in the authorizing legislation. Basically Congress is too lazy too do their job, so they turn it back the the executive branch and no one is watching the store. Welcome to the Trump Swamp....on steroids.
5
There are 3 primary ways wealth redistribution occurs, listing the least painful first:
1) Primary household earners receive a wage allowing home ownership, healthcare and education of family unit members WITHOUT government assistance/subsidies, WITH standard array of tax considerations. (AKA REAL Capitalism)
2) Corporations/wealthy taxed at historically higher rates allowing the government to provide for national infrastructure construction and maintenance as well as some of needs above that have become unaffordable. (AKA REAL Capitalism/Social Democracy mix)
3) Just take it with all the ramification it implies. (AKA REAL Socialism)
@HANK Higher rates are just figures,not the real rates they ended up in paying after using all the tax loopholes they used both @ corporate as well as individual tax filers.
The best solution is 5% business/corporate tax rate on gross receipts before any deductions & 10,20,30% rates on incomes above increased Standard Deductions,say 40 to 50 grands with automatic adjustments for inflation rate every year.
Such bold approach can obsolete every lobbying groups influence os US’s legislative branch and our political processes too resulting into least election costs.
2
Respectfully disagree, Sir. FDR was the most beloved president of all time, elected for four terms, for the best of reasons. It is time for our next FDR to finish what was begun in those four terms and set our country back from oligarchy to representative democracy. Bernie2020
3
What a disaster. I’d hoped that the tax law would reward companies for doing the right thing by make tax exempt: full time employee wages (non management), r and d, new product development, new office/ plant/storefront locations, innovation for environmental and safety protection, new equipment and materials, money spent on environmental management and any recycling issues for the products , money in untouchable pension funds, money given to community development and local transportation systems. But I guess not!
The other thing that jumped out at me was all the meetings with company reps and not a single meeting with ‘John and Jane Doe’.
Everything is broken and with the eventual stock recession, low interest rates and massive deficient, what tools will we have to steady the economy?
It does sound like a few things in the regulations will make it to court since their creation sounds more than a little suspect.
2
How, do we suppose, corporations get congress to act?
This situation, like most others, is the direct result of money in politics. It's an addiction. Billions of dollars in lobbying and campaign donations urge our elected representatives to continue feeding the beast. Perennial campaigns -- remember, Donald began his 2020 campaign on his first day in office -- establish an election-industrial complex, where running a campaign is a full-time career.
The media promotes this grotesque practice because they get a cut of the money by selling ad space and because they have a hand in the entertainment value of "debates."
Four smart people could fix this in 20 minutes were it not for the immoral suasion of filthy lucre. It needn't be this way.
1
@ Occupy Government
Was it not 9 presumably smart people, SCOTUS, who wiffed on fixing the money in politics problem.
1
If our betters can eat more than one mouthful at a time, live in one room at a time, and provide the rest of us with reason to envy and despise them, then they'd be us, and not our betters at all. What would be the point of life if we didn't have our betters to best us?
1
@Max And Max
The game has become rigged and skewed. It's not a matter have have one's betters having more, it's the amount of greed they are displaying. When middle class wages have stagnated over the last 30 years something is clearly wrong.
If you can't see the injustice of the Amazon's CEO being the richest man in America while his warehouse employee make $15.00 an hour and are forced to urinate in garbage cans to keep their productivity up or lose their jobs, there is something wrong with you.
1
@Carl
Imbalances in income and for the overly rich to get more have nothing to do with the injustices anymore than Cain was justified in killing Abel because of an imbalance in the distribution of praise by God.
Americans don't approve of all manner of cruelty. For example, how would they react (or vote) if free public schools were replaced by free "get your own education," programs?
Americans are fine with your cruel example of the "warehouse employee make $15.00 an hour and are forced to urinate in garbage cans to keep their productivity up or lose their jobs." If they weren't it wouldn't be approved of when they vote certain kinds of politicians into office and certain kinds of laws to prevent universal healthcare, for instance.
Americans are fine being kicked in the teeth, so long as it's done by their "betters" and not by their equals. Equality, in America, is a degrading insult one reserves for those who are trying to prove they are better.
No. We want our betters to make us martyrs so we can feel blessed for it, rather than do the winning thing, which is to balance income opportunity and to punish the glutton. Bear baiting the poor is good sport, here. It would be unseemly to antagonize the wealthy by threatening them with having to live our beggar existence.
2
The tax cut was supposed to bring all the offshoring of taxes back to the US. This was never the case. The tax cut has turned into a huge pay out to the richest. The Congress wrote a sloppy slip shod law which the Trump administration is abusing even worse. The tax benefits for investing in poor neighborhoods has been abused as tax cuts were given to rich folks who abuse the tax code that benefits only the rich sources. The corporatist plutocratic abuse of the tax laws should be a major issue held against the GOP. A massive greedy effort to enrich the rich. So the income inequality is far more dangerous to the vast majority of Americans. On top of this you have this years defense dept. funding at 730 billion dollars. A vast waste of money that is another place for corporate grabbing of money.
8
@ c harris. Really. Do you not suppose creating a “slip shod” tax reform bill was not intended from day 1. The better for all us peons to be duped after hearing or reading the headline “tax reform” , meanwhile allowing for future backroom conniving by the republican congress that passed it. Why do you suppose that the first years of a decrease in federal income taxes for the middle class (to be followed by subsequent years of net increases)
were also in the bill - because that could become the headline and what low life shmucks living in fly-over America read the NYT articles with graphs and facts that outlined that stinking little truth.
We could get away from all this game playing of where profits are made by changing the corporate tax rates as follows:
1.) If 100% of your employees (and independent contractors) are located in the USA, your rate is 20%.
2.) If 50% of your employees and contractors are located in the USA, your rate is 30%.
3.) If None of your employees and contractors are located in the USA, your rate is 40%.
This is just an example but by using this approach we would make USA workers more valuable to corporations. Are you listening Joe, Bernie, Elizabeth, Mike etc?
9
Giant multinationals and their wealthier shareholders have once again enacted a huge redistribution of wealth from the poor and middle classes to the wealthiest. I’m tired of socialism for the rich and austerity for everyone else. Stop buying the hype about so-called “free market capitalism” - at this point, it’s “cartel capitalism” and that has no resemblance to freedom of any kind for anyone but a relatively few oligarchs.
15
This is rampant corruption in the United States government. We seem to be incapable of passing any legislation without private interests flooding in and perverting its implementation into something unrecognizable.
This is the reason I have no hope for healthcare reform, be it Medicare for All or the ACA: no matter what Congress implements, it will be mangled by lobbyists into something rotten. I have similar thoughts on other reforms being proposed by candidates.
Some feel that corrupt regimes only happen in dictatorships in Africa, which makes us oblivious to the fact that it has happened here. I am disheartened by the fact that there are almost no examples of governments returning to being honest public stewards once they've crossed that Rubicon.
3
I never want to hear again that Republicans are “deficit hawks.” They only care about deficits when a Democrat is in the White House. Then they scream about cutting social programs to keep their tax cuts for the rich. So much for “fiscal conservatism.” Please. It’s branding gone bad.
9
No surprises here. That's how things work when the self-serving business class owns the political process. Our once unique democracy long ago morphed into a venal oligarchy, which, under Trump has now morphed into a brazen kleptocracy in the image of Putin's criminal regime in Russia. And Republicans seem perfectly comfortable with all of it.
5
Rooting out this kind of corruption and inequality is Elizabeth Warren’s entire platform, and why I’ll vote for her in the primary.
6
This is the continued strip-mining of what’s left of the middle class to the creation of the American oligarchy. Just like every other oligarchy in the world, we will have two classes, the Miserablé poor and having to sell teeth to feed their child and the obscenely dynastic wealth of the point zero one percent. We need another FDR. Bernie2020
5
If you don't believe in the Social Contract. i.e. the police, the fire department, public schools, public hospitals, roads, bridges, libraries, food inspectors, helping the poor and disadvantaged, etc, etc, etc., then you'd applaud the GOP position on tax breaks for the wealthy because reckless tax cuts, like the ones the GOP always favor, and pass when given the chance, result in under funded police and fire departments, overcrowded and under performing schools, pot hole riddled roads, crumbling bridges, library closings, contaminated food, greater hunger and poverty, etc, etc, etc.
Now, if you're rich, selfish, and greedy, and you only care about yourself, then the GOP position on taxes make perfect sense. However, if you care about anyone other than yourself, if you care about your fellow citizens, then you'd see those tax cuts for exactly what they are - moral and social penury writ large.
9
Let's face it, folks.
We have been brainwashed by big billionaires propaganda into electing "Representatives", not of the People, but of the billionaires club.
And we have gotten so used to it, like slaves to masters, or hostages with Stockholm Syndrome, that the "Republican" half of us us apparently happy with this situation.
And unless we collectively wake up in 2020, "Four more years" of this will bring even worse.
3
The Grover Norquist, Dick Cheney school of thought, “starve the beast” has won. We have a trillion dollar deficit and when the next recession and/or financial crisis comes the GOP and its enablers on Wall Street and in Pharma will scream that you can’t raise taxes in a recession. Trump wins in the governance by news cycle game by creating endless distractions from real issues, most notably corruption, legal and illegal. Ironically Trump is himself a tool of the right wing Federalist Society (et. al) agenda distracting Americans from the lasting damage imposed by GOP ideologues and crony capitalism.
5
Welcome to upside down world where the rich are the victims, the poor are the problem, the immoral tout doing God's work, the working stiff just wants health care but is seen as "greedy" for wanting it. We can't fund any of the Dem's programs if the Republicans steal all the money and put us so far into debt that we can't have state or local governments. Such greed.
9
As Morgenstern put it, they were "responsive to the job creators". Aka the uber-rich.
Not news to those of us opposed to the GOP, but what in the world did the Trump put in the Kool-Aid of he serves his loyal base that makes them think this is good for them? A scoop of fear, followed by a scoop of hate?
1
The most painful reality about this continued theft under the GOP is the Democrats inability to effectively counterattack and unmask the GOP.
4
Reason enough to be rid of the pestilence and embarrassment that is destroying democracy and creating international chaos.
2
“signature legislative achievement” Achievement? Is it really an achievement?
2
Shortly after he was elected, Trump and his family dined at the swanky 21 Club. There, he told the affluent patrons, “We’ll get your taxes down — don’t worry about it.” True to his word, the 21 Club/Mar-a-lago crowd got their tax cut. The rest of us will be paying for it for generations to come.
4
I wish someone would have written an article like this when the law was in debate. Please note that Paul Ryan received a $500,000 contribution from the Koch brothers when the law was signed and a job after he left the House. Please consider further articles on the tax loop holes created by the bill. The impact of the loop holes was evident even in 2018 and that impact will be quadrupled in 2019.
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@Ray The "debate" was rather short. This bill was put together in secret without a single Congressional hearing. The Republican leadership knew they were up to no good and were worried that having hearings and a debate might doom their tax cut scam.
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The CBO reported last week that tax revenue from corporations was upon ‘18, and up sharply in ‘19. The other point Leftists fail to consider is corporation tax revenue is minor when compared to the two big ones, personal income and payroll taxes. Both of which depend upon corporations in the private sector
The US corporate was no longer competitive as compared to th3 rest of the world. The Obama Admin kept telling us this, but failed to do anything.
The jest of this piece is that tax policy was set by lobbyists from big business. True. So was Obamacare, written by the healthcare lobbyists.
But the point the authors miss, the biggest benefactors of the new tax law are small businesses whom are all income pass throughs and are the heart and soul of economic drivers. They may not have gotten the 21% rate, but the acceleration of capital expensing is a Godsend. Feed the guppies and the whales will come
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@hawk Obamacare was not written by lobbyists, that's just another lie.
There were many Congressional hearings about it. There was input from lobbyists but it was written by administration experts who were determined to expand access to medical insurance and they certainly succeeded to a great extent. The refusal of many Republican state governments to expand Medicaid was a major setback.
Trump's tax scam was put together in secret and there was not one single Congressional hearing on it. That fact alone pretty much tells the story if one wants to understand.
The corporate tax used to raise a significant amount of revenue but the government failed to respond to all the schemes devised by corporations to evade their taxes.
What evidence can you cite as to the supposed non-competitiveness of US corporations?
Did you complain about deficits when Obama was president?
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Call me simplistic but, why is it so hard to understand the logic of when you cut revenue so drastically, you end up with more debt.
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@Heidi
Call me simplistic but be wary of people who candycoat taxes as "revenue."
@Reader In Wash, DC OK. Do you understand that when you cut taxes so much you end up with more debt?
Happened after Reagan's cuts, Bush's cuts & now Trump's cut.
After Clinton's tax increase we ended up with three consecutive surpluses. Am I the only person who remembers this?
Under Obama the deficit rose at first during the recession then began to fall after some of the Bush cuts expired, i.e. after taxes went up.
And here we are again with the deficit exploding. During an economic expansion. What do you think will happen when the next recession occurs? Do you think?
trump has to be stopped before he destroys everything our country has worked hard to achieve (Medicare, Social Security, etc.) That's OUR money and the only group that I see that seems to understand that and fights for us, are the democrats. The republicans give the wealthy and corporations whatever they want and rob from us to make that effective. This article runs true to form.
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When big businesses’ greed causes the average person to be unable to afford what they sell, what then - corporate America? Will your 100’ yachts put my children to work? When (not if) we go bankrupt, the upcoming crash will be much harder on people than what our country saw in 1932.
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Large government budget deficits may be warranted at times when the economy is in a downturn, like during the Great Recession that began in 2008, in order to stimulate spending and mitigate economic weakness. But large deficits that occur when the economy is at or near its full-capacity raise concerns of increasing costs of borrowing, reduced private capital formation, and potential financial and economic destabilization. Deficits can shrink with strong economic growth, but the combination of likely policies and plausible GDP growth rates for the United States point towards rising deficits over the next decade. The size of the difference between the Administration’s assumption about economic growth and that of the CBO is unprecedented, which has implications for the Administration’s claim that its policies will balance the budget by 2027.
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This is diligent and well-written, the type of information that used to create a bit of momentum, with follow-up questions to people like Trump and Mnuchin regarding the reasons the law was interpreted to the advantage of corporations of various stripes. Formerly, some clamor would arise from both other press outlets and from Congress, the entity in charge of managing the public's money.
But such additional exposure and a patient willingness to follow the truth is no longer respected in an increasingly large number of political groups and cynical individuals. "They all are on the side of corporations", "the system is rigged no matter what party is in power", "corporations are the job creators and need to be incentivized to help Americans", "the economy is doing great", "this is fake news from the corrupt left-wing media", "the details of this story are too boring and hard to follow" - all possible responses. Since much of the media knows that Americans are likely to respond in such ways, few journalistic entities will diligently follow-up - fulfilling the trend toward a lack of respect for the journalistic process. All symptoms of the corruption of the American citizenry, of the lack of understanding that a democracy is owned by the people, who must value truth, not self-satisfying simplicity and demagoguery.
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I have always been amused by the Republicans when they show a 10 foot stack of "tax regs" and say we have to simplify the tax code.. The amusement comes from the fact that stack is that high because corporations and the rich have always paid lobbyists to get the tax breaks they want.. You and I dont have anyone that lobbies for us directly. Oh yes, groups like realtors lobby to keep the mortgage interest deduction because it in their best interest,
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If you’re concerned about the deficit, write your Dem Congressional representatives and ask why they voted FOR Trumps bloated defense spending request.
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Not only is it a big shock for folks to discover how much is lost to the government by corporate/oligarch tax avoidance, but also shocking is what many corporations are doing when they hold back money for wage increases/employment because it’s not profitable for them to hire employees at decent wages. They lend their now tax free money to the United States government to fund deficits. When the U.S. government refuses to tax corporations and the rich and instead borrows from them, it runs a deficit by spending more than it takes in, due to not taxing them. Ironically, our government turns around to the same people it didn’t tax, corporations and the rich, paying them high interest on the borrowed money.
Our system is designed so that the 99% can never free themselves from debt to the 1%. Currently, the richest 1% hold about 38% of all privately held wealth in the U.S., while the bottom 90% hold about 73% of all debt. The richest 1 % in the U.S. now own more wealth than the bottom 90%. The 1% wealthy impose the intrinsic instability of their system on the entire population, and then get the government to respond with deficits that even further benefit and reward the greed of the very same 1% oligarchs and corporations.
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We do need a complete overhall of government officials and strict conflict of interest rules that apply to everyone; not just the few honest people. We clearly are a pay to play society where the wealthy people and corporations make the rules. We need honest politicians who's priority is to make life better for the poor and middle class instead of catering to whomever is lining their pockets. Trickle down doesn't, never did, and never will work because the 1% at the top keep 99% of the profits and the remaining 1% trickles down to the remaining 99% who need the money.
We should not vote business owners into office. While they claim that they will bring profits to the government the way they did their business, their main goal is to figure out ways to pay lower taxes and increase their income. A business person should have to reveal how they pay their employees and how ethical they are with their profits.
The GOP wants everyone to believe that the wealthy are suffering. Those poor souls pay high taxes and everyone suffers. They want us to believe that if they pay lower taxes, they will hire more people, pay more in salaries, benefits, etc., but the only ones who benefit from lower taxes are the executives and shareholders. They want the poor and middle class to look and feel as if unemployment, welfare, medicare, health benefits, and any other offerings to help the poor and middle class are 'entitlements' and unworthy of being offered by the government.
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So true about the conflict of interest when rich businessmen are in government, or running it - examples are Corzine ($180 in NJ pension money given to Lehman Bros.), Bloomberg, and Murphy (Goldman Sachs) - ironically, all Democrats, which shows that this isn't just a one-party problem.
There was a term created many years ago by the right wing. It was, "Starve the Beast". That meant tax breaks big enough to drive up the deficit which, in turn, wuld force reduced spending on "entitlements" in order to reduce the ballooning deficit. "Dark Ages #2" will be awful days in America.
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This. And yet still, millions of poor and working class will still vote for him (especially here in Northeast PA).
People vote against their own self-interests all of the time.
We get the government we deserve.
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This issue may not be as big as you are thinking. Yes, the Repubs have stacked the treasury with corporate lobbyists and given 100’s of billions of dollars in taxes away which has made the budget deficit bigger. However, the deficit is financed by borrowing mostly from big corporations and wealthy investors. Get where I’m going with this. Trump once said that the debt can be shrunk by smart bargaining with debt holders.
And do you really think he will punish any who default? We’ll probably only get partially repaid, with “pardons” (excuse me, negotiations) galore.
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@lester ostroy brilliant!
The tax code encourages a culture of winners and losers , a most uneven playing field which distorts the fundamentals of a free enterprise system.
My solutions are very simple
Flat tax of 21 percent on all Corporations , no exceptions.
Corporations must declare their full global profits the profit in the USA will be deemed to be the percentage of the total equal to the percentage of sales in the USA. Eg if Apple sells 60 percent of its products in the USA their taxable income will be deemed to be 60 percent of their global profits.
Dividends will be taxed at the same level as earned income.
Simple , effective will yield billions of tax revenue that can be used to reduce FICA for low income families.
No tax rate increases just fairness and simplicity and usurping of the power of the lobbyists
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@Carsafrica But if the tax code were simplified the American people could better understand the process and it would be far more difficult to create corporate loopholes.
What this means is that U.S. middle class taxpayers will be picking up the tab for this corporate binge the government is hosting. Suddenly, Republicans and "libertarians" will be insisting on cuts in Social security, Medicare and Medicaid along with any other social program they can assault. Money is pouring our of worker's pockets and into the vaults of the wealthy.
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Yes, I got a $3700 pay cut (more than a month's pay) under Obama, and huge tax increase under Trump, so I sure know what it's like to pay, and try to imagine how much worse it must be for people who are really poor and living on the streets or in their cars, even when they are working.
Exactly!
Corporations are stockpiling cash thanks to a tax law that's created a huge deficit. Meanwhile, I never saw the promised increase in pay or bonus. I do, however, pay more in tax. Nice job, GOP. No wonder Paul Ryan made a hasty exit.
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Warren and Sanders are right we need a major tax overhaul. We can be sure that Republicans will be screaming about deficits as soon as a Democrat becomes president.
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The tax laws are just another blatant con by the Republicans and Trump. They never did care about fiscal responsibility as long as they could line their pockets with coins. Next up on their agenda, gaslight Americans about how bad the deficit is and start cutting Medicare and Social Security.
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As being said many times before, Donald J. Trump of the Republican party, Robin Hood of the Super Rich in the world, is stealing tax money of the American poor and give to the rich , not just the American rich as the article pointed out. Trump stole Americans' tax money for the foreigners, the outside rich people as well by ripping off Americans to pay and enrich foreigners is Russian-elected Donald Trump's political financial scam: Making Americans Poor Again!
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@Tom
The poor don't have any money. And the Dems want to increase their ranks with open borders. Then the 3rd world's poor have to be supported US taxpayers making them poor as well. That's the Dems' idea of income equity. The whole world has turned away from socialism but Bernie and Liz are 50 years behind the times.
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Anyone ever see Trevor Noah's skit about his school for dictators trying to steal its country's coffers. He's teaching them how to do it, American style...He writes bribe on the blackboard....and then erases it, as he coaches his students, "Don't say 'bribe', just say "lobbying." Funny but true, sorry to say.
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The truth is, as long as lobbyist (along with fortune 500 companies) are allowed to purchase our paid for government employees, nothing will change. Our government process is corrupt and needs to be overhauled.
Maybe America needs to vote every single person currently serving in Congress and the Senate out of office. Fear of unemployment is the only message politicians understand.
And we need to pass laws where lobbyist can no longer seduce members of our government with bribes and back door party favors for doing their bidding. If lobbyist need to address our government, they can do what every other tax payer has to do - email, write or call their representative. No private meetings allowed.
The American people have the power to change the dynamics of our government, but we have blindly put our faith in our elected politicians to do our bidding. The only bidding our elected officials are doing is to line their pocket books with kick backs.
Ever met a poor politician in Washington?
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@Valerie
"Ever met a poor politician in Washington?"
Funny you should ask, I often ask myself how do they go in as normal folk with some money in their accounts but always end up retiring or resigning as millionaires?
Now we know.
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Good luck USA. Your votes count. You did this to yourselves. Now what are you going to do about it?! You have an election coming up.. which way will you go?
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Good luck to US, because our votes do Not count.
My vote didn't count in the presidential election.
@b.quinn I say get rid of the Electoral College so ALL votes count and not just a few small states.. All the candidates piling into them and trying to sway them is ridiculous. And can we talk about the enormous amounts of money to do it!! You are kinda right. Your vote was counted but by the time they came to California it was already over. Ridiculous since so many people in this country is over here!!
My New Year's wish is to have to listen to Biden, Warren, Sanders, Buttigieg and the rest of the pack harping endlessly about the deficit. When that gets to be too much, I want to hear them harping sanctimoniously about patriotism. Then I want to hear them harping loudly about the lack of morality in the White House.
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And your point is that Democrats pointing the hypocrisy and lies of republicans is hard to listen to? Let us all know how you feel when your children suffer the consequences
If only there was a way (is there a way?) to put the brakes on each and every consumer dollar going into these grifters’ pockets:
“... Anheuser-Busch, Credit Suisse, General Electric, United Technologies, Barclays, Coca-Cola, Bank of America, UBS, IBM, Kraft Heinz, Kimberly-Clark, News Corporation, Chubb, ConocoPhillips, HSBC and the American International Group.”
Just a fantasy, but a nice interlude, nonetheless.
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Lobbying effort!! You mean bribes, payoffs and kickbacks. This has to stop, or we no longer have,”We the people.”
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