Free Republic

In one of its most controversial decisions, the Supreme Court in 2012 upheld the constitutionality of a provision in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandating individuals purchase qualifying health insurance or else pay a fine, with Chief Justice John Roberts casting the deciding vote in favor of the law. However, nearly six years later, a provision included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, passed mostly along party lines in December 2017, may soon force Roberts to reevaluate his decision, potentially ending the health care law without a single vote being cast in Congress.In Roberts’ majority opinion, which saved the...

On December 22, 2017, President Trump signed a massive tax cut and reform bill crafted by Republicans without the help of one Democrat vote. One of the bill’s more controversial measures was the limitation of the state and local tax (SALT) deduction to $10,000 through 2026. According to the CPA Journal, taxpayers in California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the District of Columbia lose the most by the limitation of the SALT deduction. That said, most taxpayers will see their federal taxes reduced, even in high-tax states. Tax laws, as with the regulatory compliance burden and lawsuit...

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks said that the GOP tax bill is working better than he thought it would and the evidence “seems to be that what the Trump people told us would happen is happening, that companies are reinvesting the money.” Brooks stated, “I was against the Trump tax cuts. But the early evidence is that they’re working better than I thought. And so, in the first quarter, among S&P companies, capital expenditures are up 39 percent. That’s a seven-year high. That’s far higher than a lot of us thought. Stock buybacks, which is...

That headline arrives via email from a money manager in northern New Jersey. The Garden State already has the third largest overall tax burden and the country’s highest property tax collections per capita. Now that federal reform has limited the deduction for state and local taxes, the price of government is surging again among high-income earners in New Jersey and other blue states. Taxpayers are searching for the exits. In the financial industry of course it’s not just the clients who are looking for greener pastures. One hedge fund manager moving his office to a southern state reports that his...

In a recent interview with The Economist, entitled “Marco’s makeover” in the U.S. print edition, senator Marco Rubio demonstrated that he doesn’t understand how tax cuts work. Here is one example from the interview: There is still a lot of thinking on the right that if big corporations are happy, they’re going to take the money they’re saving and reinvest it in American workers. . . . In fact they bought back shares, a few gave out bonuses; there’s no evidence whatsoever that the money’s been massively poured back into the American worker. Sorry, what? You expect this type of...

Tax Fairness: The most frequently repeated complaint about the Republican tax cuts is that they are a massive "giveaway" to the rich. New evidence shows that this claim, like almost every other attack on the tax bill, is false. In the run-up to the passage of the tax reform plan, which President Trump signed into law on Dec. 22, critics attacked it on several fronts. They said there was no way the tax cuts would spur extra economic or job growth. But after the tax cuts went into effect, several economists sharply increased their growth forecasts for 2018. They said...

The Congressional Budget Office’s budget and economic outlook released this month projects that real Gross Domestic Product will grow by 3.3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2017 to the fourth quarter of 2018. That would mark a 15-year high. “In CBO’s projections, real GDP expands by 3.3 percent this year and by 2.4 percent in 2019,” says the CBO report. “It grew by 2.6 percent last year.” The last time real GDP grew by more than 3.3 percent from the fourth quarter of one year to the fourth quarter of the next was in 2003, when it grew by...

There's a growing disconnect between the economic benefits spinning off the Republican tax cuts and the poll numbers. Is the public going sour of them? Or is this just more wishful thinking on the part of Democrats and the liberal press? Just the past week saw three more examples of the tax cuts' benefits. Item 1: Kroger announced that it was accelerating wage hikes, increasing the company's 401(k) match, enhancing benefits, and expanding employee discounts. All, it said, thanks to the Republican tax reforms. Kroger joins more than 500 other companies who've extended bonuses, wage hikes, or improved benefits to...

A Poll by "The Hill" says most are not seeing change in paychecks due to tax cuts. True if you don't have overtime (12% instead of 15%) True if you don't take advantage of the Greater Standard Deduction and/or increased Child Credits by adjusting your W4. The Democrats are on Thin Ice.

President Trump again brings up a "phase two" of tax cuts. The GOP law passed in December permanently chops taxes for corporations and temporarily reduces the tax rate for most individuals. Trump wants a 'phase two' of tax cuts Trump wants a 'phase two' of tax cuts 18 Hours Ago | 00:44 President Donald Trump said again Monday he wants a "phase two" of tax cuts on top of the law Republicans passed in December. Speaking as the World Series champion Houston Astros visited the White House, Trump asked Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, whether he planned to cut taxes further....

Nancy Pelosi hasn't exactly been in clover since she disdainfully sniffed that $1,000 worker bonuses were just " crumbs " following the Republican passage of tax cuts. She was so against those that she screeched that " people are going to die !" if the tax cuts dared pass in Congress. After the tax cuts did, just as in Aesop's tale of the fox and the grapes, she called the resulting unexpected bonuses "crumbs." Apparently, the fallout has been so bad on that she's backtracked on her remarks, putting out this tweet, which was noticed by Fox News: Certainly we...

Employees complain of ‘jelly of the month club’ profit-sharing. Be extra nice to that United Airlines employee the next time you plan to “Fly the Friendly Skies.” There’s a good chance they’re smiling on the outside, and fuming on the inside after a memo leaked late last week from the airline’s president, Scott Kirby, said the company will be canceling its quarterly bonus program, and replacing it with a drawing for prizes.

HALF OF AMERICANS AGREE with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's comments that corporations are giving their workers "crumbs" as a result of the tax bill, according to a poll released Friday by a group aligned with President Donald Trump. America First Priorities, found 49 percent of respondents agreed with the California Democrat, whose remarks pointed out the disparity in the windfall companies received in December with the passage of a major tax cut compared to the comparatively small bonuses they're handing out to their employees. "In terms of the bonus that corporate America received versus the crumbs that they are...

It turns out it’s tough to give teachers raises when you slash taxes for a decade. Striking teachers and other public employees in West Virginia have shut down schools across the state for more than a week, flooding the capitol in Charleston each day to rebuke their lawmakers. The workers are demanding significant raises to their stagnant pay and a clear plan to curb rising premiums in the state employee health care program.

How out of touch is the Democratic Party? This out of touch: The Washington Post reports that Democrats expected the Trump tax cut to be unpopular and are surprised to find that voters like seeing more money in their pay checks. Post reporter Erica Warner writes: Democrats predicted a political backlash for ­Republicans in December when the GOP pushed through a deeply unpopular tax cut that added more than $1 trillion to the federal deficit and disproportionately helped the wealthy. But at the outset of the 2018 campaign season, Democrats’ early optimism appears less well founded here [in Indiana], where...

Starting in late 2017, Boeing executives discussed plans to conceal employee bonuses or cancel them altogether in order to keep President Trump from getting credit, following the passage of the Republican tax-reform bill. On a series of conference calls led by Boeing’s Senior Vice President of Communications Phil Musser, Musser proposed and lobbied for canceling bonuses out of fear that the company may contribute to President Trump’s rising approval rating. Before Musser worked as a high level Boeing’s communications staffer in Washington, his employment history included public and media relations work for Mitt Romney’s 2012 Presidential Campaign and The Freedom...

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) — Employees of F&M Bank were surprised on Tuesday to learn they would receive a bonus, which the institution attributes to additional earnings expected as a result of the GOP tax plan. "This is an opportunity we haven't seen during my career, as far as cuts in corporate tax rates," said Executive Vice President Neil Hayslett. "Rather than just banking all that, so to speak, we wanted to share it with the employees." The GOP tax plan cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. Those who work more than 30 hours a week...

(Image via J.M. Smucker Company) The J.R. Smucker company announced last week that 5000 employees will be receiving $1000 bonuses as a result of the Republican tax plan. They also plan to add $20 million to the employee pension program and donate an additional $1 million to charity. "We had a strong third quarter, with sales growth for key brands in every business and strong earnings per share growth fueled by the benefits of U.S. income tax reform and ongoing cost discipline," said Mark Smucker, chief executive officer, in a press release. "These results reflect our commitment to delivering...

The Treasury Department and IRS will seek to prevent hedge funds from exploiting the new tax law to cut their taxes through carried interest, Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday in congressional testimony. Mnuchin was responding to the news reported earlier in the morning by Bloomberg that hedge funds are setting up Delaware LLCs in large numbers to try to avoid the law's limitation on carried interest.

A Republican lawmaker is set to unveil legislation that would make most bonuses given out as a result of President Trump's tax reform plan tax-free -- and took a jab at House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi with the bill's name. Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Ind., has dubbed his bill the "Creating Relief and Useful Middle-Class Benefits and Savings" -- or "CRUMBS" Act. Pelosi, D-Calif., famously referred to the bonuses as "crumbs" in criticizing the tax plan last month. "Americans are receiving thousands of dollars in bonuses and more money in their paychecks thanks to President Trump's tax reform, but out-of-touch Democratic...