Tax bill passed and sent to Trump

Republicans finally approved their massive scam of a tax code revision that transfers wealth from the middle in order to give tax cuts to corporations and to the very wealthy.   They had to detour the bill back to the House to vote again on several things that had to be changed because they violated Senate rules for what can be in a tax bill.   Supposedly now it passes the parliamentarian's scrutiny -- even if it does not meet the smell test of the American people.

Here's some of what it does, as reported by the Washington Post:

1.  Permanently cuts the corporate tax from 35% to 21%.

2.  Temporarily cuts individual household taxes by token amounts which will expire in seven years.  After that a large part of the middle class would then be paying more.   [Does that sound like "bait and switch" to you, too?]    A Republican suggestion that future Congresses can fix that rings rather hollow.

3  Trump could sign the bill now, but they're considering waiting until January, which would avoid triggering the "pay-as-you-go" law that requires spending cuts to Medicare and other programs if the bill adds to the deficit.  [Which it will to the tune of over $1 trillion, according to multiple tax analysts.]   Signing it in January will give more time to gather support for a waiver to the spending cuts requirement.

4.  Republicans are defiant in insisting that the tax cuts will lead to increased growth and thus more tax revenue -- despite nearly universal estimates from non-partisan economic analysts that it will not happen.

5.  They also insist that businesses will put the money saved in taxes into hiring more workers and into higher wages.   They also claim that lower corporate taxes will lure many corporations back to the U.S., with greater manufacturing locally and more competition with foreign goods.

     This is despite the fact that, when asked, many CEOs say that they will use the money to buy back stock and to boost shareholder's dividends.  In other words, the savings would go to investors, not workers.  Others do say that they will hire more -- but it is far from a majority who say the latter.

6.  Even if it does stimulate some growth, almost no one -- except the most partisan proponents of the bill -- claims that the deficit will not increase, at least some.  The most respected analytic agencies, like the Tax Policy Center, put that figure at $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion.

7.   The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found that, in 2018, taxpayers earning less than $25,000 -- the ones most likely to spend it -- will get a tax cut of $60.   Those earning between $49,000 and $80,000 would get an average cut of about $900.   Those earning more than $733,000 would get an average cut of $51,000.  Over the ten years this covers, that's over half a million dollars saved.

8.  The bill also raises the threshhold for estate taxes, so that a couple can pass on up to $22 million in assets without any taxes.  And it eliminates the alternate minimum tax, which had required rich people to pay some tax, even if loopholes gave them enough exemptions to owe none.

9.  It also eliminates the Individual Mandate on the Affordable Care Act, which is the main incentive to get young and health people to buy health insurance.   The effect is expected to raise premiums, yet again, by at least 10% and thus price more people out of the market, thus destabilizing the exchanges and resulting in another 13 million without insurance.  This of course is the Republicans' motive.   President Trump is already tweeting that he has effectively repealed Obamacare.

10.  Mitch McConnell supposedly promised Sen. Susan Collins that there would be something to offset this -- but then of course it didn't wind up in the final version, because the House wouldn't have approved it.   She voted for it anyway, despite being scammed by her own party.

That's just one example of the side "deals" to gain votes.    They bought Sen. Murkowski's vote by approving drilling for oil in the Arctic tundra -- an unnecessary and devastating environmental destruction.  And then there is the very special deal that benefits real estate developers, like Sen. Bob Corker, who came on board.   Guess what other big real estate developer will personally benefit (by the millions) -- but who claims the opposite, that the bill is going to cost him a ton of money.

Who knows what all else they'll find that did and didn't make it into the bill, when people finally have a chance to read a bill that is this important -- but got passed without a single hearing -- not one single hearing -- not one -- to hear from experts or opponents with points to make.

Here's how MSNBC's Chris Matthews described the bill the Republicans passed:  "The largest transplant of money in the history of the Republic.   Trillions of dollars shoved up to the top, the joint where most of it already sits."

Translation:   It was the billionaire donors that demanded this.   They put out the word:   give us our tax cuts, or no more campaign contributions.

Here's something else these Republicans left town for the holidays without accomplishing -- renewing the CHIP program that provides health care for millions of children whose families fall between Medicaid eligibility and ability to afford private insurance.

If the Democrats can't make use of all this to defeat Republicans in the 2018 elections, then we're doing something very wrong.

Ralph