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Panich52

(5,829 posts) Fri Jul 10, 2015, 02:43 PM Jul 2015

Battle over highway bill continues (gas tax & corporate giveaways major skirmishes)

MORNING MESSAGE

Isaiah J. Poole
Schumer Takes the Low Road to Fund a Transportation Bill

Key Democrats in the Senate on Thursday worked to ratchet up the pressure on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, calling for him in a letter to move forward with a long-term transportation bill before federal authorization for the program expires at the end of the month ... Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), has poisoned the effort by adding to the debate a corporate tax giveaway plan that would leave behind crumbs for these desperately needed transportation investments.

http://ourfuture.org/20150710/schumer-takes-the-low-road-to-fund-a-transportation-bill?utm_source=progressive_breakfast&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pbreak

HIGHWAY REVENUE DIVIDES GOP

Top Republicans split over how to fund highway bill.

The Hill:
“An extension of just a few months, (Rep. Paul Ryan and other House Republicans) contend, would allow a bipartisan group of lawmakers to pursue a deal to revamp the U.S.’s international tax system. Their proposal involves using revenue from offshore corporate profits for infrastructure funding … But (Sen. Mitch) McConnell and his allies, facing a difficult 2016 map for the Senate, are focused on finding enough highway funding to get the trust fund past next year’s election … (Sen. Chuck) Schumer also pointedly said that Democrats wouldn’t agree to another short-term extension of highway projects if Republicans like McConnell don’t agree to at least consider the idea of pairing tax reform and highways.”

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/247458-mcconnell-reid-at-odds-over-highway-fix

Leading mayor slams GOP rejection of gas tax hike.

The Hill:
“(Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph) Becker said … his conservative home state of Utah’s decision to increase its own gas tax earlier this year showed Republicans in Congress should be able to support a national hike. ‘Regardless of how conservative a place we live in, we still deal with the reality that people have to get around and it takes funding to make the improvements,’ said Becker, who is also president of the National League of Cities.”

http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/247411-dem-mayor-resistance-to-gas-tax-hike-borders-on-digest

Even Reagan raised the gas tax, reminds Joshua Schank and Jeff Davis in W. Post oped:

“…Reagan raised federal taxes on motor fuels by 125 percent … He gave speeches to interest groups, delivered a national radio address, made dozens of telephone calls and held meetings with members of Congress to raise support for the tax increase and for the public infrastructure spending the proceeds would support.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/follow-reagans-example-and-fill-the-highway-fund-tank/2015/07/09/43c77fea-24e3-11e5-b77f-eb13a215f593_story.html

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Battle over highway bill continues (gas tax & corporate giveaways major skirmishes) (Original Post) Panich52 Jul 2015 OP

As this POS is written, Wellstone ruled Jul 2015 #1

gas taxes are just regressive taxes Angry Dragon Jul 2015 #2

From your first link ... Schumer's idea of tax reform is pretty close to Ryan's hedda_foil Jul 2015 #3

Wellstone ruled

(34,661 posts)

1. As this POS is written,

Reply to Panich52 (Original post)

Fri Jul 10, 2015, 02:47 PM

Jul 2015

the 1%ers skate again,just another wealth transfer. Let's do a real transportation budget,this is what true deficit spending is really about not Wars or Wall Street Bailouts.

Angry Dragon

(36,693 posts)

2. gas taxes are just regressive taxes

Reply to Panich52 (Original post)

Fri Jul 10, 2015, 03:12 PM

Jul 2015

you need to go where the most money is

hedda_foil

(16,375 posts)

3. From your first link ... Schumer's idea of tax reform is pretty close to Ryan's

Reply to Panich52 (Original post)

Fri Jul 10, 2015, 03:37 PM

Jul 2015

Schumer Takes the Low Road to Fund a Transportation Bill
JULY 10, 2015
Isaiah J. Poole
Key Democrats in the Senate on Thursday worked to ratchet up the pressure on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, calling for him in a letter to move forward with a long-term transportation bill before federal authorization for the program expires at the end of the month.

But one of the signatories to the letter to McConnell, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), has poisoned the effort by adding to the debate a corporate tax giveaway plan that would leave behind crumbs for these desperately needed transportation investments. He is winning the applause of conservatives like Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and is looking to move a sweeping plan to slash corporate taxes through Congress. From the progressive movement, it should be receiving loud expressions of scorn and an uprising to block it.

Schumer released his “Bipartisan Framework for International Tax Reform” earlier this week along with Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio). Their plan proposes to tax the estimated $2 trillion in profits that American corporations have sheltered offshore to avoid paying taxes on those profits, and use the proceeds for the Highway Trust Fund the federal government uses to support surface transportation projects.

The problem is that, as the Schumer-Portman framework makes explicit, that tax would be “a one-time transition toll charge at a rate significantly lower than the statutory corporate rate” of 35 percent. It is, in effect, a reward to multinational corporations for using schemes to shunt the profits from U.S. sales through overseas subsidiaries that are often little more than a post-office box in a low-tax country. Plus, the “transition toll” is a transition to a more permanent lowering of corporate tax rates – at a time when the federal taxes corporations pay as a share of the national economy is already at a historic low.

http://ourfuture.org/20150710/schumer-takes-the-low-road-to-fund-a-transportation-bill?utm_source=progressive_breakfast&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pbreak

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