4 Reasons You Should Be Disgusted by the GOP's Immoral Tax Plan

[steve2470]

I normally don't post links from Cosmopolitan magazine for obvious reasons, but I think it's significant that a magazine like this would run this article. Maybe some apathetic and uninformed people will actually read this.

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a14472733/gop-tax-plan-immoral/

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously said of America, “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.” By this moral standard, the Republican Party has grossly failed our country with the passage of their tax bill. By providing a giant tax cut for the rich and corporations (and making those permanent) and giving modest tax cuts for individuals (and making those temporary), by ballooning the deficit by $1.5 trillion, and by repealing the Obamacare mandate, it takes from those who need it most – everyday Americans, the poor, the sick, the disabled – to give to those who have more than enough. In short, it’s a sort of reverse-Robin Hood.

With language like “deductions” and “loopholes,” it’s easy to gloss over the debate over taxes. However, tax policy affects every single American, so it’s important to know the good, the bad, and the ugly. Unfortunately, this tax bill is mostly ugly.

In the bill just passed by Congress, the tax rate for top earners drops from 39.6 percent to 37 percent. This cut is actually bigger than what was in the individual House and Senate bills, and it goes back on a promise that President Trump and his administration made that any cuts made to taxes wouldn’t benefit top earners, particularly the president himself. It turns out, that was a huge, blatant lie. And while the top bracket previously started at $470,000 for married couples, now it starts at $600,000, with those still quite wealthy people making between $470,000 and $600,000 being taxed at an even lower rate of 35 percent. The plan also doubles the threshold for the estate tax – meaning that the super rich can pass down up to $22 million per married couple to their heirs, tax-free. How nice.

The biggest benefit in the bill, however, goes to corporations. It’s the biggest cut in our nation’s history, dropping the rate from 35 percent to a mere 21 percent. The GOP argument here is that cutting the corporate rate significantly puts more money in the pockets of businesses to reinvest, grow their businesses, provide wage increases, and create jobs. But economists aren’t sure that’s entirely true, given that corporate after-tax profits are currently at a historic high. This means corporations already have the cash to spend on reinvestment and higher wages – they’re just choosing not to. So, the link between cutting the corporate tax rate and increasing jobs and wages is dubious, with many economists saying it’s not likely at all.

Hopefully this article will contribute to us taking back both houses of Congress, the Presidency and state governorships as well. One can hope.

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. Steve, guess what

I cant find it at the moment, was on Rachel or Lawrence last night, now that the rest of the world has brought their rates to the same as ours, the cut here will have ZERO impact on new jobs and will ONLY put more money in the hands of the billionaires and investors.

Average person with 401K looks to make $10 maybe. Average rich person hundreds of millions.

This is a war against working people.

[steve2470]

2. it's definitely not for ordinary working people, that's for sure

Temporary tax cuts + caps on deductions + Obamacare mandate repeal + cuts to Medicare (eventually) = long-term pain for anyone but the wealthy

[Eliot Rosewater]

3. The argument, the lie was lowering corp tax rates was needed to compete with other countries

those other countries and ours now have similar rates, they knew that, they are lying of course.

I wish people would use their fucking brains, like thinking a one time check for $1000 means ANYTHING? god dammit

[steve2470]

4. they will just keep using the Big Lie technique that the Nazis loved....

and too many will believe them. Very sad.