TAX REFORM

[HairOfTheDog]

By most accounts this tax bill is a baldfaced stripmining by the wealthy and corporate donors at the expense of the working class and elderly. No wonder Wall Street loves these guys. They're fully paid for.

I read it was a big kiss to the donor class.

There is no doubt that the tax reform legislation will benefit the richest people (including the donor class, which threatened to back away from the GOP if this legislation isn't passed), for at least a generation. The permanent tax cuts go to the rich. The time-limited cuts go to most everyone else; we ultimately pay for all those big tax breaks to corporations, billionaire donors, and their heirs.

The GOP leaders argue that the temporary tax cuts for everyone else will ultimately be extended, claiming that they only made those cuts 'temporary' in order to stay under $1.5 trillion in additional deficits over the next 10 years (as required by the Byrd rule).

They also assert that whomever runs for office in 2024 will be under pressure to extend the 2018 cut-rates to avoid voter backlash. And, they claim there won't REALLY be additional deficit by that time anyway since GDP growth will pay for the deficit. However, they can't quantify or back up that claim.

What they're telling us is to ignore Congress's own non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) analysis and score and instead bank on wishful thinking.

The JCT analysis and score was finished just before the Senate vote was taken. It disputes the GOP Senate's claims that the tax cuts will pay for themselves via GDP growth. The JCT issued a 'dynamic score', meaning it took into account economic stimulus and growth..............and still, the tax cuts result in a net $1 trillion in deficit in the federal budget over the next 10 years.

Unemployment has been low for several years now. Corporate profits have been healthy for several years now. The tax code is complex, but it could have been simplified without increasing the deficit through massive tax cuts. This is a tax cut bill, not a tax reform bill.

There is no reason that this legislation is being passed now aside from partisan political gain and securing GOP donor contributions, in my opinion.