Mad dash to pass a tax bill will have consequences

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Of all the follies of 2017, the most tawdry may be the GOP’s headlong rush to pass a tax bill that even its proponents don’t understand. What’s especially sad is that otherwise sensible Republicans seem to be capitulating to the tax-cut frenzy.

Political desperation is the mother of this legislation. Despite Republican control of both houses of Congress, the Trump administration has failed in its first year to enact legislation that deals with major problems, such as health care and immigration. So at year end, we have the spectacle of Trump & Co. bellowing a populist message about lower taxes, even as special-interest lobbyists drive the legislation toward a chaotic conference and final passage.

The tax bill is a Rubik’s Cube of potential problems, but the difficulties begin with the fact that it has been pushed through Congress in two months without hearings or careful analysis. The provisions were crafted in secret and passed on party-line votes, without a chance for assessment or analysis.

This haste guarantees confusion later. Without a clear legislative history, tax lawyers at the Internal Revenue Service won’t have adequate guidance when they try to write regulations implementing the law. Courts won’t have a record of congressional intent, other than press conferences, tweets and hurried floor and committee statements.

The centerpiece of the legislation is a big cut in corporate taxes, down from 35 percent to roughly 20 percent. The theory is that this will encourage companies to invest in job-creating plants and equipment. But there’s little evidence to support this assumption, and lots to challenge it. Companies may instead use the windfall to buy back their own stock, boosting stock prices and inflating executives’ personal compensation, as Steve Clifford explains in his recent book, “The CEO Pay Machine.”

The premise is that by stimulating growth, the tax cuts will pay for themselves. But there’s no good evidence for this claim, either. Congress’ bookkeeper, the Joint Committee on Taxation, predicts that over 10 years, the tax law would balloon the deficit by roughly $1 trillion, even assuming that it stimulates new growth. An even more pessimistic estimate was issued Tuesday by the Wharton School, which President Trump is always bragging about having attended.

http://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/ignatius-mad-dash-to-pass-a-tax-bill-will-have-consequences/?utm_source=DAILY+HERALD&utm_campaign=dc3e82e2af-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d81d073bb4-dc3e82e2af-228635337

[pwb]

1. Reconciliation is the cowards way.

Regular order be damned. Republicans are serpents.

[Igel]

4. It's how the HCERA act was passed.

Which was the kludge to get the ACA into law.

The Senate version of the ACA would not pass the House. So the House passed the Senate version of the ACA when there was no supermajority in the Senate, just so they could use reconciliation to get follow-up measure to make the ACA acceptable to both chambers of Congress.

"The ACA passed under reconciliation" isn't quite right. But "the ACA became law under regular order" is really deceptive.

In both cases, half a truth is worse than a lie.

[pwb]

5. No the senate passed the aca 60 to 39 that is regular order.

Passing this tax bill only takes 50 vote under reconciliation.

[Angry Dragon]

2. A single person making $30,000 would save $2.47/week

[BigmanPigman]

3. Yep, that's me unfortunately. And the cost of living inCA is high.

Add to that the fact that over 30% of that income is for my health insur with the ACA, with subsidies no less. I have been calling the fucking GOP (the Red states' reps even though I am in a Blue one...I work around the BS about being a constituent) for two weeks. It is getting harder to reach a real staffer so that IS good.

IT IS NOT OVER YET! KEEP CALLING NON STOP!!!!! [phone] THANKS!
https://www.trumptaxscam.org/what-now
https://notonepenny.org/take-action/?p2asource=20171204tmemail