Tag: tax cuts for the rich

How tax cuts for the wealthy became Republican orthodoxy

The following article by Vanessa Williamson was posted on the Washington Post website December 21, 2017:

Congressional Republicans on Dec. 20 passed a massive tax overhaul, sending the bill to President Trump for him to sign it into law. (Jenny Starrs, Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

The Republican Congress has passed a tax plan in which more than four-fifths of the long-term tax cuts are steered to the extremely wealthy, and are offset by future tax increases for a significant fraction of the party’s own voting base. Republicans plan substantial cuts to government services that those voters use and like.

This kind of “reverse Robin Hood” upward distribution has become the unifying goal of the Republican Party. The current GOP’s tax plan is the latest iteration of a decades-long rightward trajectory. Continue reading “How tax cuts for the wealthy became Republican orthodoxy”

A White House Story Reveals Shifting Stance on Tax Cuts for the Rich

The following article by Jim Tankersley was posted on the Washington Post website October 30, 2017:

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivers remarks to the press on October 30, 2017, inside the James S. Brady Briefing Room. Credit Tom Brenner/The New York Times

On Monday, as news about the indictment of President Trump’s former campaign manager dominated the headlines, the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, took to the podium to tell a story about journalists, bar tabs and discount beer.

The story, told at the White House press briefing, was meant to illustrate the realities of America’s progressive tax system. Instead, Ms. Sanders’ tale appears to conflict with another story that President Trump likes to tell: the one about how he’s not interested in cutting taxes for the rich.

Earlier this month, in a meeting with members of the Senate Finance Committee, Mr. Trump repeated his oft-told anecdote of a chat he had with his good friend Robert Kraft, the wealthy owner of the New England Patriots, in which Mr. Kraft implored him to cut taxes for the middle class but not the rich. Mr. Trump agreed with that notion, Democrats who attended the meeting said, and declared that his coming tax bill would be focused on the middle class and not on rich people like Mr. Trump. Continue reading “A White House Story Reveals Shifting Stance on Tax Cuts for the Rich”

Limit on 401(k) Savings? It’s About Paying for Tax Cuts

The following article by Patricia Cohen was posted on the New York Times website October 28, 2017:

Three out of four Americans say they worry about having enough money to get through retirement, and 45 percent have not saved anything for it. Credit Alex Wroblewski/The New York Times

When the benefits adviser Ted Benna first thought up a new type of employee savings plan in 1980, the client he created it for rejected the idea as too risky. After all, no one had previously used the unremarkable section of the tax code called 401(k) to defer paying taxes on money that rank-and-file workers set aside for retirement.

So Mr. Benna decided to try it out at his own workplace, Johnson Companies, a small consulting firm outside Philadelphia.

Without intending to, Mr. Benna set off a revolution. Nearly 40 years later, 401(k) accounts are the most common employer-sponsored retirement plans and a raft on which millions of Americans hope to float through retirement.

Suddenly, though, they are also at the center of a battle around the tax overhaul promised by President Trump and Republican leaders in Congress. A proposal to slash the amount of money workers can put in tax-deferred retirement accounts set off alarms among savers and members of the financial services industry, who contend that limiting the tax break would discourage contributions to 401(k) plans. Continue reading “Limit on 401(k) Savings? It’s About Paying for Tax Cuts”

Republicans Once Railed Against Deficits. Now President Trump’s Tax Plan Piles On More Than $2 Trillion In Red Ink

The following article by Lisa Mascaro with the Tribune Content Agency’s Washington Bureau was posted on the National Memo website October 6, 2017:

President Trump spoke about his administration’s tax reform plan in Indianapolis on Wednesday. Credit Tom Brenner/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Not long ago, Paul D. Ryan stood before charts and graphs as the House Budget Committee chairman like a new Ross Perot, promoting an austerity plan that slashed taxes and spending, and warning of the dangers of deficits.

“The facts are very, very clear: The United States is heading toward a debt crisis,” he said then. “We face a crushing burden of debt which will take down our economy, which will lower our living standards.” Continue reading “Republicans Once Railed Against Deficits. Now President Trump’s Tax Plan Piles On More Than $2 Trillion In Red Ink”

Trump’s plutocracy problem complicates push for tax cuts

The following article by James Hohmann with Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve was posted on the Washington Post website September 26, 2017:

Here are key moments from the speech President Trump gave on tax policy proposals in Mandan, N.D., Sept. 6. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

THE BIG IDEA: Two in three Americans believe that large corporations pay too little in taxes. Only 11 percent of U.S. adults think these businesses pay too much, while 17 percent think they pay their fair share. Even half of Republicans believe big businesses pay too little in taxes, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Overwhelmingly, across party lines, people feel that the current tax system is rigged in favor of the wealthy. Over 7 in 10 Americans think the tax system favors the rich. Just five percent think the current code favors the middle class. Continue reading “Trump’s plutocracy problem complicates push for tax cuts”