How Trump Turned Tax Day Into a Giveaway for the 1 Percent

The president says the new tax plan is a great deal for everyone but himself and his wealthy pals. That’s rich.


When he was selling the new tax law last fall, President Donald Trump insisted it “is going to cost me a fortune.” In fact, any way you count it, he and his cronies will undoubtedly save a bundle. The plan reduces income taxes for top earners, slashes the rate for corporations like his, and includes a generous cut for owners of pass-through companies—of which he has about 500.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin claimed “there will be no absolute tax cut for the upper class.” In fact, the top 5 percent of taxpayers get more than 40 percent of the benefits of this year’s income tax cuts. And the law slashes the corporate tax rate by 40 percent—a gift to the top 1 percent, who pay around a third of all corporate taxes.

Like his father-in-law, Jared Kushner is tied up in dozens of real estate pass-throughs. He stands to save at least $4 million annually. About 70 percent of pass-through income goes to the top 1 percent.

The pass-through cut also helps Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., Education Secretary Betsy DeVos (who could save at least $2 million), and wealthy members of Congress such as tax-bill waffler Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.).

Housing Secretary Ben Carson offered a prayer at a Cabinet meeting thanking God for the tax bill’s passage. The plan undercuts tax credits for building affordable housing—which could mean more than 200,000 fewer units over the next decade.

The tax cuts will add at least $1 trillion to the federal deficit by 2027. Just before Trump signed them into law, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) started talking up the urgent need for “entitlement reform, which is how you tackle the debt and the deficit.”





https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/04/how-trump-turned-tax-day-into-a-giveaway-for-the-1-percent/

MIB

Not an expert, but if the FBI raids your longtime lawyer's office, is that bad?

polecat wrote:MIB

Not an expert, but if the FBI raids your longtime lawyer's office, is that bad?

34 things you need to know about the incoming tax law

http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/20/news/economy/republican-tax-reform-everything-you-need-to-know/index.html

It's pure theft. There's no longer a deduction for uniforms, for God's sake, but Drumpf can still write off his private plane.

Floridatexan wrote:
34 things you need to know about the incoming tax law

http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/20/news/economy/republican-tax-reform-everything-you-need-to-know/index.html

It's pure theft.  There's no longer a deduction for uniforms, for God's sake, but Drumpf can still write off his private plane.

Yeah but, but, but at least Trump isn't Hillary.

h/t Polecat

polecat wrote:

Reminds me of an old joke:

Two Republicans are walking down the beach, and they see a beautiful girl lying on a beach towel, sunbathing.

The first Republican says, "Boy, I'd sure like to fuck her!"

The second says, "Out of what?"

Paul Ryan is getting out because all those years of talking trickle down....he knew it was lies, and now they are discovering how big this tax break for the rich is going to become......liars and shills for the 1%.

It's even worse:

TRUMP TAX PLAN: 80 PERCENT OF ECONOMIC GAINS WILL END UP GOING TO FOREIGNERS, CBO SAYS

"President Donald Trump touted the economic growth triggered by his tax cuts in a speech Thursday afternoon, pointing out the projected growth of gross domestic product (GDP) over the next 10 years had increased because of the plan.

But 80 percent of the economic growth generated by the Republican tax cuts will eventually go abroad and benefit foreigners, according to a new report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The report found significant differences between projected GDP, which measures the level of production in the U.S., and gross national product, which measures the income earned by all Americans. If the economic impact from GDP is higher than GNP, the difference between the two is income generated in the United States but going to foreigners. According to the CBO, on average 34 percent of income from the economic activity driven by the tax cuts is flowing out of the country, and in 2028, when the full effects of the tax cuts are in place, that number will increase to 80 percent.

“We heard statement after statement about how this tax plan would be great for American workers but the analysis is clear,” Senator Chris Van Hollen told Newsweek. “When this thing kicks in, 80 cents of every dollar [gained from the tax plan] will go to foreigners and not American workers. That’s a stunning number.”

Nearly one-third of the U.S. stock market is owned by foreign investors, which means they’re benefiting from the $238 billion increase in stock buyback authorizations since the tax law passed. An analysis of Fortune 500 companies found that corporations have spent 37 times more on stock buybacks than on American workers’ bonuses and wages. “Republicans had fair warning that a huge chunk of this economic boost would flow to foreigners,” said Van Hollen. “The bottom line is that foreigners own a large chunk of U.S. corporations and will get a big windfall.”

At the same time, U.S. deficits are projected to balloon because of the decrease in revenue being collected under the tax cuts. The CBO projects that federal spending will exceed revenues by $804 billion in fiscal year 2018, up from $665 billion in 2017. The national debt is now on track to be 100 percent of GDP by 2028. That means the U.S. will have to borrow money to make up for its shortfalls, and much of that money will come from abroad. The small gains to GDP will be offset by increased interest payments abroad.

“That’s the effect of the tax law, it provides some boost to GDP but that boost is financed by a lot of borrowing,” said Chad Stone, chief economist at the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “Each year’s borrowing produces more income for foreigners and by the time you get to 2028 there’s a fair amount of income for foreigners being generated.”

Republicans have “clearly abandoned any claims of fiscal responsibility,” said Van Hollen. “You’re borrowing close to $2 trillion from our kids and grandkids and then you’re giving it to corporations and others and at the end of the day 80 percent of the benefits of additional economic activity are going to foreigners.”

http://www.newsweek.com/republican-tax-plan-donald-trump-cbo-884129

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Show this to a Trumper. America First my a**.