Yes, there really is more news then Al Franken today.
âTax overhaulâ? I keep thinking that TPM editors have a better command of the English language than to keep using soft, comfortable words but nooooâŚ
I was afraid nobody would like it. But the Associated Press will win us all over. Except those few of us who arenât going to get a big tax break. Like a Christmas present, really.
The House version repeals the Johnson Amendment, right? So, theyâve added sweeping new methods for dark money to continue/exacerbate the corruption of our elections while destroying any remaining trust people might have in religious institutions in the US.
I guess Josh wasnât comfortable with calling it the Death to America Tax Act.
In policy terms, though, it clearly is âDeath to Americans.â In the short term, it is death by loss of access to affordable healthcare. In the longer term, it is death by strangulation of social welfare programs.
A lot of the important tax breaks for individuals end after 8 years, which means that the GOP will be back then to explain to everyone that social programs are creating huge deficits, and that the tax breaks canât be renewed without cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.
so⌠will they follow the health care precedent and bus all the Republican lawmakers to the White House for a âmission accomplishedâ party? I understand that Trump has been warming up his superlative collection and will be tossing them out in random order.
Rohrabacher voted no. Comstock voted yes.
I watched all 4 days of the Senate Finance Committee mark-up and some of todayâs House debate. It is truly sad - very sad- to see the complete delusion and ignorance of these Republicans. No matter how many times it has been debunked, the âpunishingâ 35% corporate tax rate is STILL cited - over and over. VERY FEW if any corporations pay this - it has been reported ad nauseum that with deductions and other adjustments, that the rate they ACTUALLY pay is far less.
Also, the same discredited arguments that corporations are starved for money, unable to invest, etc due to high taxes, that they will pass on increases in revenue to employees, and the ârepatriationâ scam - all these are repeated over and ove and over. (See Daily Kos today for a brilliant post by an actual CEO (and comments by others) on how they ACTUALLY make hiring , investment, and compensation decisions - hereâs a hint: TAX RATES figure NOWHERE in their decisions. The sheer ignorance displayed by Republicans and their FOX News sheep is staggering - and ultimately the doom of our country.
Do we get to witness the kegger party this time on the white house lawn?
A bill with 20 something percent approval should be little comfort to those that voted to raise taxes on their constituents.
"Passing this bill is the single biggest thing we can do to grow the economy, to restore opportunity and help those middle income families who are struggling,â said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.
If we didnât already know it before (which of course we all do), Paul Ryan saying it would make all of this untrue.
Itâs an AP article. I donât think Josh has any control over the word choices.
Now that is an impressive example of intestinal fortitude.
âAw, whaddaya worried about? The Senate will bail us out like last timeâ - Rep. Paul Ryan (R - Eddie Munster)
âHe told us that we have this once-in-a lifetime opportunity to do something really bold, and he reminded us that is why we seek these offices,â Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas said of Trumpâs closed-door pep rally.
You sought out your office so you could screw over lower and middle class families?
Hereâs the thing: if we were in a situation where corporations were starved for capital, where demand exceeded supply, where investment capital had dried up, where corporations couldnât expand or retool, then something like this might well be warranted.
But we arenât in that situation; we havenât been in that situation for decades. The big corporations are sitting on billions of dollars of capital, supply is exceeding demand, there is literally too much investment capital floating around, which is one of the reasons weâve had so many bubbles of late (the latest one, believe it or not, is in restaurant franchises).
This bill tilts almost exclusively to the one-percent. Itâs a virtual certainty that we will get little benefit from that, just as was the case the last few times we saw similar tax cuts (e.g., the Bush era tax cuts which were the most expensive and least effective economic âstimulusâ ever passed).
If you want to boost the economy, put your resources into the demand side; put the money into the hands of those who will spend it, on a new television, a new car, a kitchen remodel, a vacation, a new phone. Itâs the âtrickle upâ theory. With that growth in spending, everyone benefits, including the 1%.
This isnât that difficult: raise the minimum wage, put money into health care, child care, and those other areas that currently block anyone who isnât wealthy, make it easier to join a union, to give more people more bargaining power.
This bill buys us nothing.
Even Trumpâs own supporters either donât like this bill or couldnât care less about it (the tax part, at least). I simply donât understand the political calculus here ⌠especially with the mandate repeal. They are usually much smarter and more devious. This seems like a completely losing proposition for them. Are the Kochs really going to support Democrats if this POS isnât passed? Give me a break.
Not Dems. other Republicans in primaries.
House Rs who voted no on this abomination, most were predicted.
From Calif.: Darrell Issa, Tom McClintock, Dana Rohrabacher
From New Jersey: Rodney Frelinghuysen, Leonard Lance, Frank LoBiondo, Chris Smith
From New York: Dan Donovan, John Faso, Pete King, Elise Stefanik, Lee Zeldin