Posted on 11/20/2017 10:35:00 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
Republicans have long been known as "the stupid party." They do stupid things, such as waiting until mid-November to push a must-pass tax cut that should have been done by April.
But in recent weeks the GOP is finally showing some brains and some backbone on taxes. They are using their majorities in Congress to roll back and roll over the left, and it's about time. In a more rational world, tax reform could have been bipartisan. But once Democrats declared they would be unified obstructionists on tax reform, there was no reason to throw a bone to the "resistance movement." Playing nice with Chuck Schumer won't buy any votes, so why bother?
It's hard not to be impressed with how Republicans have instead suddenly gotten very smart on the "pay fors" in their tax bill. Three of these revenue raisers are welcome policy changes, and they help defund the left.
Start with the elimination of the state and local tax deduction. Congress shouldn't subsidize flabby and inefficient state and local services and bankrupt public pension programs. Just as one would predict, the states with the highest taxes are Democrat-controlled states. There is no evidence that higher taxes in these states lead to better schools or safer streets. New York spends around $7,500 per person on state and local government, while New Hampshire spends less than $4,500. Yet public services are better in New Hampshire than in New York.
The big blue states must cut their taxes and costs, or the stampede of high-income residents from these states will accelerate. The big losers here are the public employee unions -- the mortal enemies of Republicans. This all works out nicely. Next is the decision by Republicans to offset the cost of the tax cut by eliminating the individual mandate tax imposed mostly on moderate-income Americans. About three of four people who pay the tax earn less than $50,000 a year. The purpose of the tax is to force low-income Americans to purchase insurance they either don't want or can't afford.
Isn't it amazing that Obamacare provides subsidies to Americans if they buy the insurance and imposes penalties if they don't, yet at least 13 million Americans still refuse to buy it? What a great product this must be.
Eliminating the individual mandate will allow poorer and younger Americans to buy less expensive forms of coverage, such as health savings accounts. These additional options will lead to the slow death of Obamacare. Smart.
Finally, there is the proposed tax on college endowments. These are massive storehouses of wealth: Harvard and Yale combined sit on a nest egg of almost $60 billion, enough to give every student free tuition at these schools from now until forever. Instead, these university endowments act like giant financial trading dynasties, with very little of the largesse going to help students pay tuition. The GOP plan would put a small tax on the unspent money in the endowments if they don't start spending the money down. My only complaint is that the tax is way too low. But the first shot against the university-industrial complex has finally been fired.
The productivity of American universities, as Richard Vedder of Ohio University has documented, continues to decline. Vedder also found that university tuitions don't go down when these schools have bigger endowments. They go up. These endowments subsidize the six- and seven-figure salaries of pompous, tired, and tenured professors (who teach four or five hours a week) and administrators. Bravo to Republicans for starting to turn off the spigot.
The best indication that this is all working is the rise of what I call the "tax-bill crybaby caucus." This group consists of health insurance companies, Obamacare supporters, public employee unions, state and local officials, the welfare lobby, municipal bond traders, lobbyists and, most of all, the liberal politicians who are funded by all of the above.
Not only are we getting pro-growth tax policy but also Donald Trump and the GOP are finally draining the swamp. It doesn't get any better than this.
Curious how this ends given McCain, Corkhead, Collins, and the two or three others enjoying all the camera attention.
And state and local taxes. Taxing money that I paid in taxes is double taxation. That money is gone, why is the federal government taxing money that I already paid in taxes?
That's a chicken and egg statement. As in:
That money is gone, why is the state government taxing money that I already paid in taxes to the feds? Both want your money, but the feds get first dibs across the nation. States jumped on the bandwagon to steal more from you.
The term “entitlements” in reference to taxes is liberal code speak for the belief that any money returned to the tax payer always belonged to the Government because they know how best to use that money
Wrong! The feds should have no say in my paycheck but yet they do. Some here would rather the Fed leviathan continue to grow through the continued theft of my paycheck vs. more direct control at the state level. Why do we have socialist tax brackets to begin with? How about we work to FURTHER reduce the Fed tax to almost nothing, and kill their spending and let the electors at the state level decide what should be paid locally?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVogLdbfOfQ
How about working in your own state to reduce the tax burden? Get them to cut spending instead. You have a lot more control over that and this new tax bill gives you an incentive to do something about it.
The Feds tax income. Your state taxes property, which you pay from your income. Sounds like neither is double taxing you or both are depending on who you choose to blame.
Curious how "revenue neutral" applies *only* to tax relief. So if Peter gets a cut, Paul gets an increase....
Such rank hypocrisy! If revenue neutrality were really a concern, then the whole concept of base-line budgeting (automatic annual spending increases in government programs) would be out the window.
No wonder why Congress has an approval rating lower than even the MSM. What a bunch of *******!
My bet is that the Senate will never take a vote on tax cuts/reform. Given the personal animosity in the Senate against the President and Yertle’s foot dragging, I do not see a path to 51 votes.
My state isnt at all bad. In fact it’s chum food compared to the fedzilla. However taking away from me just this small deduction is yet another way that we the US taxpayer gets bent over and continues to feed the Fed piggy. When was the last time anyone heard, “you know what we spend too damn much and steal too damn much from the taxpayers.”
Because of the crippling fed tax policy I look for any legal way possible to steal back my money from Uncle Sam. States are not the problem, the problem is with the feds and anyone thinking the elimination of a “tax entitlement” is akin to a voluntary mutually beneficial monetary transaction for the greater good.
No, not wrong. It's still a chicken and egg argument. If you truly believe the public can decide how our tax dollars are spent, I have a bridge to sell you. I live in California, and have a nutty governor and state legislators who steal my tax dollars and spend on many things I disagree on. In California, many of us have no direct control over state spending. What we all need is a flat tax, and none of these stupid games of shuffling funds around and continually raising the combined tax load on workers.
I’m with you on flat tax all the way!!
Sorry about your luck in Kalifornia my friend. There is no hope in that state and truly that does suck badly
So your state isn’t bad. Some states are horrible. So why wouldn’t someone who lives in a state that only gets to claim a small deduction on their Federal taxes be upset that someone else gets to take a much larger deduction when it’s all coming from the same pot, your income? If the deduction is eliminated isn’t that an equalizer when it comes to Federal taxes?
Nonsense.
Your greedy State is double taxing you.
States do not need 13% of your income.
You need a State tax revolt or move.
Will my new proposed tax bracket compensate for the loss of this write-off?
Where are the government cuts?
The Federal Government gets to tax your income because of the 16th amendment to the Constitution:
“The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.”
I tire of article’s about Republican leadership where they’re labeled as “weak kneed”,”not holding to their principals”, “loser party”. When the fact is they’re SOCIALISTS, all of them and support most of what Democrats want.
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