Focused Read in 2-3 minutes
“Five Reasons to Hate
the Republican Tax Plan
… To prepare for the
fights that will almost inevitably break out as Republicans try to
reconcile their scattered positions after the Thanksgiving break,
here’s a quick rundown of the five most controversial elements of
the current House and Senate bills. These are far from the only
arguments taking place in DC over taxes, but they are probably the
most important:
ONE
Cutting State and Local
Tax (SALT) Deductions
Republicans are paying for
their tax cuts in large part by slashing deductions people can take
on their taxes...that will leave most in roughly the same shape as they are now,
albeit with a simpler tax form. But if you rely on these deductions
you will likely end up worse off, especially when it comes to SALT. …
“
(SALT
deductions allow property tax and state
income taxes (or state sales taxes, whichever is higher), if one
itemizes one's deductions.)
TWO
“Killing the
Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Individual Mandate
… However those savings come because
millions will likely drop or lose their coverage if the mandate is
axed, reducing the amount the government pays in subsidies. It
will also likely lead to thousands of preventable deaths per
year
and an increase in premiums as those will opt to drop their
coverage will probably be the young and healthy, leaving the
remaining pool sicker, older, and costlier. ...”
THREE
Cutting Taxes on
“Pass-Through” Businesses
Republicans sell
pass-through cuts as a break for small businesses, said T.J.
Helmstetter of Americans for Tax Fairness, because we think of them
as sole proprietors like handymen or tiny mom and pop shops. But
pass-throughs include firms like hedge funds, law offices, and
real estate companies. Actual small businesses already pay
lower-than-corporate income tax rates, Helmstetter argued; critics on
the other end of the spectrum also make the case that most
pass-through cuts just benefit the wealthy.
Most observers also agree
that special pass-through cuts can be abused. The wealthy may try to
“reclassify themselves as pass through entities to lower their
individual tax rate,” said Helmstetter. … “
FOUR
Peeling Back the
Alternative Minimum and Estate Taxes
The estate tax takes
a one-sixth cut out of an individual’s wealth after they die—but
only if they have over $5.49 million in assets The alternative
minimum tax (AMT) prevents people making over $130,000 a year from
using tax engineering to cut their rates to next to nothing. Neither
makes up a huge chunk of federal revenue, and there are cases to
be made against both taxes. But cutting them benefits, by definition,
only the wealthy, which Donald Trump and his legislative allies
have promised their tax plan would not do.
FIVE
Raising the Tax Burden
on Students
For decades, tuition
waivers have not been taxed as income. Though you may not think
about them if you aren’t a grad student, these waivers allow many
to pursue otherwise unaffordable degrees in research-heavy fields,
particularly science, technology, engineering, and math. Waived
tuition can be in the tens of thousands of dollars, and were it taxed
as income a lot of grad students simply couldn’t afford to stay in
their fields.
You can read more detail
on each reason here
( Courtesy of Vice )
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The Democratic Party Website
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C-SPAN (a good place for speeches & hearings direct source (s))
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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ US Intelligence | Author | Navy Senior Chief | NBC/MSNBC
⭐⭐⭐ Federal Government Operations | Vanity Fair | Newsweek | MSNBC Contributor | Author
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Voting Rights/Voter Suppression | Author | Mother Jones
→ Some of the most credible media -- at the moment:
📰📰📰 Mother Jones
→ Some of the most credible Talking Heads -- at the moment -- and their Twitter handles:
( ⬆⬆⬆ Wallace is new to the job but for right now
her work on Trump GOP has been credible, IMO)
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