That’s a good point, and I remember being frustrated with Obama for not getting the politics right. So many people believed Obama actually raised taxes, when for years that wasn’t true at all and then it ultimately became true only for a very small percentage of the population. It’s hard to understand how George W. Bush could do it right (politically) in 2001 but the Democrats in 2009 and now the Republicans in 2017 don’t know better.
If I can enjoy my tax cut, and at the same time Republicans get zero credit, I will consider that a win-win.
The drumbeat response to any Republican talk of “cuts” should be “Naaaah; we can pay for everything just fine with the yuuuuge economic growth spurt from your new tax plan”. Make them either shut up or admit they don’t believe their own bullshit.
Which is precisely the rationale of Republican voters, and their leadership, when they try to sell tax cuts. Who cares about the debt, the people who will be harmed by the inevitable cuts to public aid, the health of the country, or the massive benefits the super-wealthy get, or the continued support for corporate welfare? I got my tax break, so it’s all good.
These assholes keep finding new ways to shock and disgust me. Apparently, Scott Pruitt, who was obviously appointed to cripple the EPA, managed to have a superfund task force consisting of over 100 people meet for two months and produce no artifacts except for their final report. No agendas, no minutes, no reference documents. The guy who chaired the task force was a buddy of Pruitt’s, a disgraced banker.
Trump is going to inflict decades worth of damage - and perhaps permanent damage - on the federal government. The plutocrats and religious fundamentalists who’ve hijacked this government have longed for the opportunity to destroy, and now that opportunity is upon them. Certain people were brought into to bring an axe to the federal bureaucracy, and Pruitt’s chopping the EPA to pieces. In the end, it’ll be the people in red state America who suffer because people in blue states will insist on keeping their state regulations.
It’s power. More money gets taken away from the public sector and pooled into a slim segment of the private sector. They’re destroying the public sector economy so that they can increase their power and replace public institutions with those that turn the rest of us into serfs.
They are also destroying their economies. The only reason I ever visit redder states than Ohio is because they do have nice places to go visit. I like to go camping and hiking in areas that do not have obvious human footprints on them.
If they go ahead and get rid of those natural areas, make them no longer a place to go out of your way to visit, how much money do red states lose due to dwindling tourism?
The estimates I ahve been hearing, even from the bills supporters don’t indicate that you would get nearly that much. For 50K you are probably looking at about $1,200. Enough to take the family out to dinner at a cheap place once a week, but not enought to cover the increase in health insurance premiums you can expect.
But i don’t think you’re factoring in the expanded child tax credit, which is not simply a deduction on your taxable income, but an actual reduction in your tax obligation. Also, because some of the tax credit is actually refundable, you can get some of it even after your income tax burden drops to zero.
With an income of $55K, and assuming his four dependent children are under 18, SlackerInc will probably benefit considerably more than the average $55K taxpayer. I did some quick and dirty calculations on paper, and came out at a benefit of around $2500 for a family like his under the current plan, assuming i’m interpreting the child tax credit rules correctly (i’ve never had to deal with this part of the tax system myself).
And on preview, i see that jasg has found a calculator, and its results seem pretty close to my calculations.
I admit that I’m not up on the final iteration of the bill, but from what I’ve followed, it’s entirely possible that the tax bill isn’t noticeably objectionable in the first year or two of implementation. At minimum, taxes for the working class would probably remain the same or even decrease - what’s not to like about that, right?
The problem I see - and what I suspect the Paul Krugmans of the world also see - is that this is a stealth bill with a much larger agenda and impact in the years ahead. We’re not talking about whether to impose a 2 or 3 year tax rebate gimmick that gradually increases the deficit; we’re talking about major changes to the system. And the system is now saying, the extreme wealth holders desperately need more tax relief than the working poor.
And so it goes: The wealthiest are the ones who get the relief! And we know that when intellectual economists and right wing think tanks start reaching a consensus that something needs to be done about the growing national debt, two radically different solutions will be proposed: the economists who actually study this stuff will say that the donor class need to have their taxes raised; the donor class and their propaganda machine will say it’s time that the poor and elderly stop sucking off the government teat. And by then their grip on congress might well be stronger than it is even now.
America Democracy as we’ve known it for the past 100 years is sliding backward into the 19th Century, back to the days of the Frick and the Pinkertons.
I wonder if we could start a thing where rich people would wear their tax returns on their shirts, and when we saw someone like that we’d say “thank you for your service”. Or maybe if you pay more than a million dollars in taxes the IRS sends you a green star to hang in your window, like we do for the poor and working-class families who give up their children’s lives for the country.
NY Times had an online calculator to estimate the bill’s impact on your taxes. For my situation – income, filing status, the fact that I itemize (mortgage deduction) and live in a high-tax state-- the impact: $0.
The same calculator shows that I might be expected to get a tax cut of about $800. Nice, but definitely not worth the well-reported problems this bill will cause.
My wife and I are just over the line into the top 1% of American household income. According to the NY Times calculator, we will see a cut of between $13,000 and $19,000. And we will definitely use that money to create jobs!!
Nah, just foolin’! We’ll put it in our retirement investments and kids’ college funds. Sorry, Trump voters, almost none of my savings will trickle down to you. That stuff you feel trickling on your head and down your back? It ain’t money.
FTR, I hate Trump, I hate the Republican Party, and I hate this tax bill. I support higher taxes and more social safety net programs. Sure, I’ll enjoy the extra money, but I’d prefer living in a more just and sustainable economy.
