Mad dash to pass a tax bill will have consequences
Of all the follies of 2017, the most tawdry may be the GOPs headlong rush to pass a tax bill that even its proponents dont understand. Whats especially sad is that otherwise sensible Republicans seem to be capitulating to the tax-cut frenzy.
Political desperation is the mother of this legislation. Despite Republican control of both houses of Congress, the Trump administration has failed in its first year to enact legislation that deals with major problems, such as health care and immigration. So at year end, we have the spectacle of Trump & Co. bellowing a populist message about lower taxes, even as special-interest lobbyists drive the legislation toward a chaotic conference and final passage.
The tax bill is a Rubiks Cube of potential problems, but the difficulties begin with the fact that it has been pushed through Congress in two months without hearings or careful analysis. The provisions were crafted in secret and passed on party-line votes, without a chance for assessment or analysis.
This haste guarantees confusion later. Without a clear legislative history, tax lawyers at the Internal Revenue Service wont have adequate guidance when they try to write regulations implementing the law. Courts wont have a record of congressional intent, other than press conferences, tweets and hurried floor and committee statements.
The centerpiece of the legislation is a big cut in corporate taxes, down from 35 percent to roughly 20 percent. The theory is that this will encourage companies to invest in job-creating plants and equipment. But theres little evidence to support this assumption, and lots to challenge it. Companies may instead use the windfall to buy back their own stock, boosting stock prices and inflating executives personal compensation, as Steve Clifford explains in his recent book, The CEO Pay Machine.
The premise is that by stimulating growth, the tax cuts will pay for themselves. But theres no good evidence for this claim, either. Congress bookkeeper, the Joint Committee on Taxation, predicts that over 10 years, the tax law would balloon the deficit by roughly $1 trillion, even assuming that it stimulates new growth. An even more pessimistic estimate was issued Tuesday by the Wharton School, which President Trump is always bragging about having attended.
http://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/ignatius-mad-dash-to-pass-a-tax-bill-will-have-consequences/?utm_source=DAILY+HERALD&utm_campaign=dc3e82e2af-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d81d073bb4-dc3e82e2af-228635337
pwb
(11,276 posts)Regular order be damned. Republicans are serpents.
Igel
(35,320 posts)Which was the kludge to get the ACA into law.
The Senate version of the ACA would not pass the House. So the House passed the Senate version of the ACA when there was no supermajority in the Senate, just so they could use reconciliation to get follow-up measure to make the ACA acceptable to both chambers of Congress.
"The ACA passed under reconciliation" isn't quite right. But "the ACA became law under regular order" is really deceptive.
In both cases, half a truth is worse than a lie.
pwb
(11,276 posts)Passing this tax bill only takes 50 vote under reconciliation.
Angry Dragon
(36,693 posts)BigmanPigman
(51,609 posts)Add to that the fact that over 30% of that income is for my health insur with the ACA, with subsidies no less. I have been calling the fucking GOP (the Red states' reps even though I am in a Blue one...I work around the BS about being a constituent) for two weeks. It is getting harder to reach a real staffer so that IS good.
IT IS NOT OVER YET! KEEP CALLING NON STOP!!!!! (202)225-3121 THANKS!
https://www.trumptaxscam.org/what-now
https://notonepenny.org/take-action/?p2asource=20171204tmemail