Tag: GOP tax cut for donors

‘Hot potato’ shows why workers won’t benefit from Trump’s corporate tax cut

The following article by Prof. Steven Pressman of the Economics Department at Colorado State University was posted on the Conversation website November 17, 2017:

Many children have played hot potato, a game in which they pass a spud to other children quickly so they don’t get stuck with it when the music stops.

Taxes are like that potato. No one likes paying them; everyone tries to pass them to others. The game of hot potato sheds some light on the debate over Republican tax cutting plans, particularly when it comes to companies.

The House just passed its tax cut bill. It would give about two-thirds of roughly US$1.5 trillion in net tax cuts over the next decade to businesses, mainly by lowering the corporate income tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent. That puts a lot of money on the table. About $100 billion in U.S. corporate profits would be retained by companies rather than paid to the government each year. Continue reading “‘Hot potato’ shows why workers won’t benefit from Trump’s corporate tax cut”

In towns and cities nationwide, fears of trickle-down effects of federal tax legislation

The following article by Renae Merle and Peter Jamison was posted on the Washington Post website November 17, 2017:

The Trump administration says its tax plan will help ordinary Americans, but some GOP figures have acknowledged big business and political donors will benefit. (Taylor Turner/The Washington Post)

It took the city of Pataskala, Ohio, nine ballot measures before its 15,000 residents agreed to a new 1 percent tax to pay for repairs to its crumbling roads and to buy new police cruisers. The mostly rural community was finally won over by a century-old hallmark of the tax code: The $5 million local levy could be deducted from their federal taxes.

“There is a severe sensitivity to more taxes here,” said James M. Nicholson, the city’s finance director. “At the end of the day, you get a tax break was the thing that convinced people.” Continue reading “In towns and cities nationwide, fears of trickle-down effects of federal tax legislation”

House Tax Bill: 5 key ways the newly passed plan would affect your money

The following article by James Dennin was posted on the mic.com website November 16, 2017:

The House of Representatives passed its version of a tax overhaul on Thursday by a 227-205 vote. The passage represents a major hurdle cleared for the GOP, but it’s still not clear whether the bill can survive a vote in the Senate — expected soon, following approval by the Senate Finance Committee Thursday night — and become law.

The bill, rolled out two weeks ago, has been criticized for purporting to help average Americans, while eliminating many middle-class benefits. Indeed, the biggest beneficiaries of reform seem instead to be corporations, said Jacob Leibenluft, a senior adviser for the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. Continue reading “House Tax Bill: 5 key ways the newly passed plan would affect your money”

Not in a Million Years: The House’s Proposed Windfall for Donors

The following article by Galen Hendricks and Sam Berger was posted on the Center for American Progress website November 13, 2017:

The Capitol is seen at dawn on October 30, 2017, in Washington. Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

Congressional proponents of the House Republicans’ tax plan, called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, claim that it will benefit the middle class. But in reality, it is a huge giveaway to the donor class—including a handful of top donors who have bankrolled the campaigns of Republican leaders in Congress. In fact, just the bill’s estate tax cuts alone would allow the families of 11 prominent donors, listed below, to pocket up to $67.5 billion. The typical U.S. family couldn’t earn that much in a million years.

That’s not a figure of speech: The typical American family would have to work for 1,144,020 years to make the same amount of money as congressional majority leaders want to give away to the heirs of just these 11 wealthy individuals who helped them get elected. Continue reading “Not in a Million Years: The House’s Proposed Windfall for Donors”