Sen. Susan Collins: New tax law will benefit hardworking Mainers, not Washington elites

[jpak]

http://www.pressherald.com/2017/12/27/sen-susan-collins-new-tax-law-will-benefit-hardworking-mainers-not-washington-elites/

have heard a number of conspiracy theories from pundits, political operatives and columnists about why I supported the tax cut plan that just became law. I thought that the best way to respond would be just to tell you directly.

I supported this legislation because it will help lower-income and middle-income families keep more of their hard-earned money, boost the economy and encourage businesses, both small and large, to grow and create jobs here in Maine and around the country.

The 72 percent of Mainers who use the standard deduction will pay lower taxes. The law nearly doubles the standard deduction to $12,000 for single filers and $24,000 for joint filers. The child tax credit will also be doubled from $1,000 to $2,000, and with my strong support, up to $1,400 of that tax credit will now be refundable, benefiting low-income families who do not owe taxes.

A family with $24,000 in income will pay no income tax to the federal government. A single mother of one child who earns $35,000 will see her taxes drop by nearly 4,000 percent. Instead of paying income taxes to Washington, she will be getting back nearly $1,100 to help her make ends meet.

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read the comments - Collins is toast

[Frustratedlady]

1. And, this will be when? 20 years from now?

You're losing it, Susan. How much did you benefit from the present tax fiasco?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

11. In 7-8 years

those middle-class tax cuts will be gone but the corporate tax cuts will go on indefinitely. How does she defend THAT? Or how she voted to eliminate the Individual ACA mandate despite voting against the same ACA plan last summer (i.e. "Skinny Repeal" )?

[louis-t]

18. Oh, that's easy! By that time, the middle class will be

doing so well that they won't need the tax cut any more and will be able to afford a tax increase. Or some such shit.

[DFW]

2. Was that a typo, or just Collins writing in Republicanese

How does someone's taxes fall by 4000 per cent?

[dembotoz]

3. Home school?

[DFW]

6. Ah, there's a possibility I hadn't considered n/t

[Terry_M]

9. Don't worry, Betsy will make sure public education teaches the same kind of math

[Fred Sanders]

22. I also laughed when I read that bit of Orwellian speak. 4000% is simply 40x.

If you paid taxes of $1000 and now you pah $25 you pay 4000% less but the cut is three dollars a day.

Meanwhile the rich make off with millions and corporations and shareholders with billions.

Collins is misleading, to me the same as lying.

[Blues Heron]

23. that would be a reduction of 97.5% wouldn't it?

if you got back 39,000 dollars instead of paying $1000 dollars, then yeah your taxes fell by 4000% but that's not really going to happen.

[n2doc]

47. The lobbyist who wrote it for her made a mistake

Happens to everyone....

[DFW]

50. That's rather a glaring mistake

It's a little too big to be a mere typo. I hope the lobbyist increases his own contributions to charitable causes by 4000%. Of course, being a lobbyist, we're probably talking forty times zero.

[rzemanfl]

4. Susan, you (insert SNL reference here), a family with an income of $24,000 probably starved

or froze to death by now.

[shenmue]

5. She is either a liar or dumber than I thought

[maxsolomon]

12. the former. she is a republican

they've realized there is no standard of truth left. president fat ass trampled it flat.

[mythology]

40. I wouldn't be so hasty to judge. They could be both a liar and stupid. Please see Trump, Donald

[Freethinker65]

7. And McConnell personally assured her everyone in Maine would never ever believe anything she said

[Cicada]

8. Borrowing money from China to lower current tax may not be wise

[TheFrenchRazor]

21. what the heck, china already owns us, lock, stock, and barrel; the rich traitors don't care. nt

[Cicada]

39. Trump is actually making China great again

From the time of Christ China had the biggest economy in the world until America took over in the 20th century. This century will see the return of China. Unless India spurts ahead later this century.

With his nutty foreign policy Trump is driving countries into the Chinese orbit. They are investing hugely in infrastructure abroad, the belt and road which will magnify and speed Chinese trade with Europe and everyone in between.

[gratuitous]

10. Wait; I thought the poors didn't pay income tax?

So how can their taxes be cut? Has Mitt Romney been informed?

[W_HAMILTON]

13. Doubling the standard deduction while eliminating personal exemptions is damn near zero benefit...

...to a significant portion of filers, including myself (a single filer that claims the standard deduction).

[SoCalMusicLover]

33. Shhh....Don't Confuse Her With FACTS

"The Standard Deduction Is Doubled!!!"

BULLSHIT! Take into account the $4,050 Personal Exemption that is disappearing.

Fucking LIARS!

[handmade34]

37. right- this is a bad bill

[airplaneman]

38. And remember in 7-8 years the 24 goes back to 12 and you still loose the personal exemptions n/t.

[stopbush]

14. Always be suspicious of the markers Rs use to sell their shit.

“A family of 4 earning $24,000 a year.”

What family would that be? A full time minimum wage earner grosses $15,000 a year. So if both parents are minimum wage earners working full time, they gross $30,000.

So what we must have here is a family of 4 where one parent works a fulltime minimum wage job while the other works only part time, earning $9000 a year. Of course, those jobs don’t offer health insurance, and with the Rs destroying Obamacare and R states not expanding Medicaid, that family of four has no health insurance.

They rent their housing, so they are paying at minimum $6000 a year in rent...which brings their gross income down to $18,000 a year. That gives them $1500 a month in gross income to pay for everything else: food, transportation, utilities, etc.

Yep, that $92 a month they’re getting from Collins equals the difference between eating Kal Kan or Alpo every month.

[IluvPitties]

15. Pure BS, and Mainers won't forget.

[louis-t]

16. Every reporter should ask her "Why do you lie?"

"Why do you feel you have to lie?" How does someone's taxes go down by "4,000 percent"?

[NastyRiffraff]

17. How do you live with yourself, Susan?

You KNOW what you've done. I hope the voters in Maine know it, too.

[DBoon]

19. "Hard Working" has become a codeword for white rural no college men

Implies that only manual labor is "hard work", the rest of us just sip lattes all day

[2naSalit]

28. +1

[Volaris]

43. '..no - college men..'

There will come a time in the next 50 years when a majority of us forgot that we put a fucking human being on the moon...because that would be just impossible.
There's already an ignorant minority who believes that nonsense.

[TheFrenchRazor]

20. um, Sue, the last 4 decades prove that trickle down doesn't work, you ain't fooling anybody. nt

[Angry Dragon]

24. This is the letter I received from Rep tom emmer, he doesn't bother using income numbers

Happy Holidays and thank you for taking the time to contact me with your concerns regarding H.R. 1, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

It has been more than three decades since our tax code was last overhauled to make our country more competitive, and put more money back into the pockets of taxpayers in every corner of the United States. On December 20, 2017, after 40 public hearings and countless hours of debate on the House and Senate floor, the House of Representatives passed, and I supported, the conference agreement for H.R. 1, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

The benefits of this important legislation will be felt for generations to come. The final version of the bill is projected to create 6,789 new jobs in Minnesota and return thousands to hard working Minnesotans in every congressional district. In Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District, a family of four with a median household income can expect to see a tax cut of $2,467, while a single filer with a median household income will see a cut of $2,191.

In addition, H.R.1 is projected to put our economy on a path of increased growth and success. Over the next decade, GDP is expected to increase by 1.7 percent, add 399,000 full-time jobs, and boost wages by 1.5 percent. In fact, companies have already started to reinvest in their people and their businesses while others are looking to expand and grow their operations right here in the United States instead of overseas. It is time that America once again becomes a place where hard working Americans are able to keep more of what they earn, providing more prosperous lives for their families, and a desirable place for businesses to thrive. That’s exactly what the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will do.

You can learn more about the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act by visiting waysandmeans.house.gov.

I want what is best for the great State of Minnesota. Therefore, your opinions and thoughts on this process are greatly valued, and your input is vital to assist me in carrying out my duties as your Congressman. If I may be of further assistance to you on this or any other issue, please do not hesitate to contact the staff in my Otsego district office at [phone] or my Washington, D.C. office at [phone].

Sincerely,

Tom Emmer
Member of Congress

[dhol82]

26. 40 hours of public hearings? Why did we never hear about those?

Countless hours of debate? Perhaps done behind closed doors with only republicans attending?
What is the median household income?
How much will that family lose in health care?
Liars. Every one of them.

[Angry Dragon]

31. those were also my thoughts

[Volaris]

42. Aren't House and Senate resolutions numbered I'm order?

Does this mean that this HR 1 trash is only the first piece of proposed legislation to actually leave the House and it's FUCKING DECEMBER???

This isn't bad government. This is NONgovernment by intention, and that makes it worse.

[Angry Dragon]

44. Not sure why it has #1

[OhioBlue]

45. wages boosted by 1.5% over 10 years??

He is actually using this as a selling point for adding 1.5 trillion in debt to the US? Inflation, lost benefits and trickle down tax burden (local levies and tax hikes) will bury that 1.5%.

Even without raising the minimum wage or other worker favorable legislation, we would have been better off to ride the Obama economy and let competition force wages higher without adding to the deficit which will lead to offset cuts in the safety net and inflation.

[Angry Dragon]

46. don't want the people making too much

[handmade34]

25. what Susan Collins says

Last edited Wed Dec 27, 2017, 09:35 PM - Edit history (1)

in not untrue... we all need to understand what this tax bill does and what it means... the implications that are dangerous to our Country are bigger than the small tax break lower-middle income earners get...

lowering the estate tax... larger tax breaks to the ultra wealthy... ending the mandate... the ensuing large deficit and many small inserts that change what we cannot deduct all add up make this a very bad bill for us...

"I’ve heard liberal activists and commentators in Washington counter those facts by saying “that just isn’t much money.” I could tell you they don’t get it, but why don’t I just let them speak for themselves? One of the better Washington quotes, from Roll Call columnist Walter Shapiro, was “good luck taking your entire family to the south of France on vacation” with a $1,000 tax cut. See? They just don’t get it. Working Mainers aren’t looking for a trip to the French Riviera – but they would like to be able to keep some of their hard-earned money to go snowmobiling in Greenville, or to the high school basketball tournament in Bangor – or to pay for an unexpected car repair..."

despite what Susan Collins thinks... many of us do get it... those few dollars we may get in our paycheck or back from our 2018 taxes IS NOT enough to make this right... it is not enough pay to know our country will be a trillion dollars additional in debt... it is not enough pay to compensate for all the additional fees and monies we will pay after many current programs are cut... that $100 or $1000 may pay a bill or take the family out to eat a couple of times but the price we will pay in the long run is too high!



this is Forbes.com's take on this....

The poor technically aren't losers under this bill; in truth, they're not really impacted at all. That's because the bill never intended to provide additional benefits to the poorest taxpayers. To illustrate: to soften the blow of lost personal exemptions, the child tax credit increases from $1,000 to $2,000. In addition, the income limits where the credit phases out are increased as well, from $75,000 (if single, $110,000 if married filing jointly) to $250,000 and $500,000. Oddly enough, however, the additional credit is in no part refundable, meaning that if you have no tax liability at all, it's not going to help. This gives rise to a strange result: Someone making minimum wage with two kids won't benefit at all from the additional $1,000 child tax credit, but someone making $495,000 with two kids will. What a world.
So if the poor are breaking even, why do I have them listed as a loser? Because the Senate bill repeals the individual insurance mandate, which requires a taxpayer to pay a penalty to the IRS if he or she doesn't obtain "minimum essential healthcare coverage." And while not paying a penalty sounds like a good thing, by eliminating the financial penalty for not carrying insurance, millions of young, healthy individuals are expected to flee the insurance markets, raising premiums on those who remain behind. Thus, while the tax bill may not directly harm the poorest part of the population, rising premium costs will likely more than offset any minimal cuts they receive as part of HR 1.

[Caliman73]

34. Agreed. The bill is a sleight of hand.

There are short term "give backs" that Republicans put into the bill to mask the real problems. The middle class may be getting a cut here and there, but what will be taken out of the social safety net and the Commons, will more than offset any temporary gain from the front loaded bill. The reality is that the economy in a capitalist society only work in "trickle up mode". Capitalism is by definition a top down structure. Those who own the capital get the biggest rewards. Regulations in the tax code are always meant to keep the cycle moving freely. Laborers earn money, then spend it on products. The money spent goes to the Capitalists who own the means of production. They ALWAYS end up getting the money. Taxes were a way to get the Capitalists to invest their money back into the system by expanding production, increasing salaries (for tax savings) or lose it to the government who puts it back into the society by virtue of public works, or public programs. Obviously the Capitalists are always looking for ways to spend less of their money and more of other people's. They have succeeded over the last 35 years in buying enough politicians to have a free hand once again, like in the 1900's-1920's.

[quartz007]

27. Susan Collins, stay off too much Tom Collins!

[oasis]

29. "And if you say I was duped, you're playing the 'sexist card'"

So there.

Thanks Susan.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

30. Can they finally be done and vote that piece of shit fraud out?! nt

[pnwmom]

32. She betrayed her state when she voted YES even though they failed to address the health care

issues she said were key to her support.

[demigoddess]

35. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

She meant that as sarcasm, right??

[guillaumeb]

36. I see 2 possibilities:

Collins is an idiot, or,

she feels that her voters are idiots.

[Skittles]

41. she has become a Trump humper

only idiots can believe this kind of utter bullshit

[spanone]

48. hey susie, how's that kool-aid taste?

[shraby]

49. Is she a sandwich shy of a picnic?

[Pachamama]

51. Bye-Bye Susan

Hope you don’t enjoy your retirement

[Faux pas]

52. She's

playing the rethug the lying-sack-of-shit game. Buh bye susie.

[janterry]

53. Can she be defeated?

She's such a known quantity - I just can't imagine her being voted out of office

(though it would sure make me happy. It's long overdue!)

[bdamomma]

54. boy she must be

really desperate to think that some/all Americans are not stupid, and we see what is going on. Say goodbye Senator Collins to your seat!!

Will she be saying that when Social Security goes which is NOT an entitlement programme.

[Historic NY]

55. Companies will invest in becoming more efficient...

by replacing humans with machines. In this case robotics, they don't need breaks, can go 24/7 w/o complaining, no vacations, holidays, o/t pay, or benefits.