Kansas Republicans claim tax bill will be good for the middle class. It won’t be

The Kansas City Star ^ | 24 Nov 17 | Steve Rose

[SkyPilot]

If you are a Bob Dole Republican, as I generally am, it is oh-so-difficult to be gung ho about where the GOP is headed these days, which seems like straight to hell. The party all too often has abandoned traditional Republican principles.

The gargantuan tax bill, touted by President Donald Trump and passed by the House of Representatives, is being debated in the Senate. Only one aspect of the bill personifies Republican principles, and that is a pro-business tilt, which I can embrace, but only to a point. When the result is higher taxes on the middle class, they lose me. To sell this massive tax cut for businesses and the wealthy as a boon to the middle class is an outright distortion. And to claim the bill is not a trillion-dollar-plus budget buster is either a bald-faced lie, or those who support it are living in the same fairy tale as Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback.

One of the key components of the proposed tax bill is the elimination of the deduction for state and local taxes (SALT). The loudest screams about SALT are from taxpayers in high-tax states, where those deductions are huge. But the damage is not limited there.

Many middle-income taxpayers here will be significantly impacted. Case in point is Johnson County.

The population of Johnson County is almost 600,000, and the number of households is approximately 200,000. Of those households, half claim the SALT deduction, according to the National Association of Counties. And how much does each household deduct? In 2015, the average SALT deduction was $12, 281. And here’s the kicker: More than 80 percent of middle-income taxpayers in Johnson County benefit from this deduction.

[SkyPilot]

From the article:

Ronald Reagan is famous for confessing that the new debt caused by the tax cuts he championed in his first time was the greatest disappointment of his presidency. J. Scott Applewhite - AP

They all claim this bill will be good for the middle class. But that is not true, and to shift the tax burden to these hard-working citizens by eliminating that deduction to offset the impact of slashed corporate tax rates is immoral. To brag that this bill helps the middle class is downright depraved.

The tax bills (both the House and Senate version) are polling at a 25% approval rating - and these are very complex bills. That shows that the more people realize what it is in them, the more they realize how awful they truly are.

Republicans in Congress are desperate for a victory. But this House-passed tax bill — unless it is rewritten by the Senate — is a big loser for most Americans. If it passes, this tax plan will go down in history as a monumental misjudgment by Republicans.

If the GOPe rams this monstrosity through, we will lose the House in 2018, and perhaps much, much more.

[Mr. K]

Thanks, liberals! We know you always have great advice. You liked Obamacare too, didn’t you?

[SkyPilot]

Tax Bill ping.

Related: (from Bloomberg)

Steve Mnuchin Says the Darnedest Things - The Treasury secretary doesn't let credibility get in his way, especially on taxes.

Damaging his own credibility, though, seems to be a Mnuchin specialty. "I can tell you that virtually everybody in the middle class will get a tax cut, and will get a significant tax cut," he told a dubious Bill Hemmer on Fox News Channel last week. According to the Tax Policy Center's distributional analysis of the House bill, though, about 9.8 percent of taxpayers in the middle income quintile (those making between $48,600 and $86,100 a year) and 11.4 percent of those in the fourth quintile ($86,100 to $149,400) would see a tax increase in 2018 under the House bill. By 2027 that would be 30 percent and 27.3 percent, respectively. Under the Senate bill it would be 10.8 and 16 percent in 2019, 1 and 65.6 percent and 58.9 percent in 2027. So it's simply not true that "virtually everybody in the middle class will get a tax cut," unless you have a really weird definition of "virtually."

[jmaroneps37]

Liberal bile - go away ash holes.

[NobleFree]

If you are a Bob Dole Republican

Then you are the enemy - another tax collector for the welfare state.

[SkyPilot]

It's not just "liberals" who hate this abortion of a "tax cut bill." It is many Conservatives, Trump supporters, and patriots.

It used to be that opposing out of control Federal tax increases was a Conservative position.

We are living in Upside Down Land if people think this tax bill is "Conservative."

[KC_Lion]

Topeka just needs to freaking do with less!

[SkyPilot]

Would you prefer the National Review?

The GOP’s Tax Plan: Paving the Way to a Democratic Majority

[mcjordansc]

This tax bill is horrible, being pushed for a win only. It will raise taxes on millions in the $100K to $200K income range. Many do not care, but it will haunt republicans in November 2018.

[SkyPilot]

Topeka just needs to freaking do with less!

Under this tax bill (both the House and Senate versions), millions of middle class Americans will just have to "do with less" - because the Feds are going to confiscate their money through higher taxes.

[jdsteel]

In before the ZOT.

Reagan NEVER spoke the lie that debt was the result of his tax cuts. The economic activity that resulted from Reaganomics doubled the income to the Treasury. Congress, led by Tip O’Neill (in the House) created the debt by increasing spending exponentially.

The final tax bill isn’t finished yet and the Senate version hasn’t even been passed yet...let alone worked out in the reconciliation process. So the situation described in the article is nothing but pure conjecture. Even if the elimination of the State tax deduction happened the vast majority of middle income Americans in those few high tax states would still come out ahead from the doubled personal exemption and lower rates at higher incomes.

Take your lies someplace else.

[Michael.SF.]

Those complaining the loudest:

•New Jersey at 11.8% of income
•New York at 11.7%
•Connecticut at 11.1%
•Maryland at 10.8%
•California at 9.3%

Tough

[Brilliant]

This article is pure B.S. Half claim SALT? I doubt that. 80% percent “benefit”? Since he admits that only half claim it he must mean that the other 30% benefit from the high government spending it encourages.

[VeniVidiVici]

This tax bill is horrible, being pushed for a win only. It will raise taxes on millions in the $100K to $200K income range. Many do not care, but it will haunt republicans in November 2018.

As someone who can't itemize, quit whining and show me the numbers. Then maybe I'll care.

[Rome2000]

This is the GOP at its worse, screwing over MILLIONS of middle class taxpayers and calling it a tax cut.

Cut the corporate tax rate to 20%, but leave our deductions ALONE.

The 250-300 billion hit on revenue can be offset by spending cuts and increased receipts from accelerated corporate activity.

There is an ulterior motive for eliminating these deductions, the BANKSTERS want all W-2 employees to have maximum exposure, but keep THEIR own deductions.

Notice how the 15% investment tax isn’t being touched, but millions of middle class taxpayers writ families that actually PAY TAXES NOW are going to be hit with an increase and no way to mitigate their tax exposure.

[grey_whiskers]

That's the idea.

They'll ramrod through the deductions for the donor class on the backs of US citizens (the Third-world imports will find ways around it, such as unemployment).

The GOP will get voted down to minority status.

The Dems will impeach and remove Trump, and the GOPe will go back to being highly paid minorities.

And finally, the Dems will import enough Third Worlders to complete the fundamental transformation begun by Ted Kennedy's 1965 bill, and Barack Obama, and the White Genocide project will be complete.

(That's what they *think*. They forget about the North Korean, Chinese, and Iranian nukes.)

[SkyPilot]

This article is pure B.S. Half claim SALT? I doubt that.

In certain counties and regions of states? Absolutely.

In fact, you can find the AVERAGE SALT percentage claimed for filers, and the dollar amounts for each state here:

States ranked by claims for state and local tax deductions

I am going to take away or cap almost every deduction you have - forever! I will have to raise rates later, but hey - most Americans are too stupid to know that! Isn't this postcard that my staff made up using PowerPoint and Excel great! It makes it look like I am simplifying your life - when I am really robbing you blind.

[SkyPilot]

quit whining and show me the numbers. Then maybe I'll care.

I have found it amazing that on many of these tax bill threads, the Freepers who accuse others of "whining" are the ones whining.

[Architect of Avalon]

The biggest corporations, which routinely promote social liberalism, would get a decrease in taxes.

Most individuals, unfortunately, would get an increase in taxes to pay for that.

My tax plan is simple:

Raise the standard deduction to $24,000 per individual, leave SALT deductions alone, end the estate tax, set corporate and pass-through at 25%, adjust other brackets as needed to make the math work, and make it all retroactive by one year.

[Sequoyah101]

That picture was another incredibly bad decision by another of Trump’s smug, fat cat self-promoting camp followers.