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Wealthy Lobbyists Have Already Slashed Biden’s Tax Reform by Three-Quarters - Moderate Democrats have quietly knifed the president’s legacy bill
https://nymag.com ^ | Aug 30, 2021

Posted on 08/30/2021 2:35:52 PM PDT by 11th_VA

The Hill, a newspaper covering Congress, reports that business lobbyists are pleased that they have watered down President Biden’s proposed tax increases on corporations and wealthy individuals. One source, identified as “a lobbyist with ties to Senate Democrats,” tells The Hill, “The business community has made progress with certain Democrats on legitimate policy concerns with some of these proposals and their implications on the economy and international competitiveness.”

What are those policy concerns that have successfully swayed moderate Democrats? The article does not specify…

Biden campaigned on a proposal to increase taxes on the wealthy by roughly $3.5 trillion over a decade. Nobody in Washington currently believes he will sign a tax hike anywhere close to that magnitude. The current predictions floating around — Politico’s tax newsletter is one publication that has used this estimate — peg the total at around a trillion, give or take.

Since budget rules require any permanent costs be paid for, and Biden doesn’t want to increase taxes on households earning less than $400,000 a year, the size of his domestic policy legacy will be determined by how much new taxes on the rich he can get through Congress. His proposal is perfectly ample to finance a historic legacy. A handful of moderate Democrats are starving that legacy very, very quietly...

(Excerpt) Read more at nymag.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: biden; bidenomics
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I’m not convinced AOC will go along … it could all collapse
1 posted on 08/30/2021 2:35:52 PM PDT by 11th_VA
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To: 11th_VA

“Tax reform” — AKA, send your taxes to the stratosphere.

The criminal class always hides behind the word “reform” and their definition of that word has no bearing in reality.


2 posted on 08/30/2021 2:40:14 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (“Criminal democrats kill babies. Do you think anything else is a problem for them?”)
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To: 11th_VA

Eliminating the step-up in basis on inherited property is a staggeringly bad idea that would be a tax nightmare for most people who inherit real estate. Let’s say Grandpa bought the family ranch, farm, or even a house 50 years ago. How do you figure out what he paid for it to determine the basis to calculate the capital gains?

Biden’s plan goes even further and would make the capital gains tax due upon death, whether the property is sold at that time or not. Most people would end up having to sell the property just to pay the tax.


3 posted on 08/30/2021 2:49:15 PM PDT by Bubba_Leroy (Dementia Joe is Not My President!)
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To: Bubba_Leroy

In the article, it is suggested the ‘step up basis’ changes are dead


4 posted on 08/30/2021 2:59:04 PM PDT by 11th_VA (Stolen elections have consequences.)
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To: 11th_VA

The article also more than suggests that defeating the step-up in basis changes is terrible and only benefits the evil rich.


5 posted on 08/30/2021 3:02:38 PM PDT by Bubba_Leroy (Dementia Joe is Not My President!)
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To: Bubba_Leroy

I get that the article is slanted to the far left, but I’m just posting info on what’s going on behind closed doors. I’m encouraged by the leftists wailing …


6 posted on 08/30/2021 3:05:57 PM PDT by 11th_VA (Stolen elections have consequences.)
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To: Bubba_Leroy
Eliminating the step-up in basis on inherited property is a staggeringly bad idea that would be a tax nightmare for most people who inherit real estate.

This. The author of the article claims the step up only benefits very rich people. He is too stupid to know how wrong he is.

7 posted on 08/30/2021 3:09:46 PM PDT by KevinB (''... and to the Banana Republic for which it stands ...")
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To: 11th_VA

“Moderate Democrat”, what a load of garbage, they will vote exactly as they are told too, like they always do.


8 posted on 08/30/2021 3:15:29 PM PDT by TexasM1A
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To: KevinB

Most of these leftist writers live in tiny rental apartments with their same sex lover in big cities—they have no clue what the world is like anywhere else...


9 posted on 08/30/2021 3:19:39 PM PDT by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
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To: Bubba_Leroy

“Most people would end up having to sell the property just to pay the tax.”

Which is probably the objective: eliminate real property in the hands of middle and upper middle class citizens. The forced sales will benefit billionaires, corporations and overseas investors seeking a safe haven in U.S. real estate.


10 posted on 08/30/2021 3:31:59 PM PDT by sphinx
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To: 11th_VA

These are the Assistant Democrats that enabled the latest assault on the USA

Dan Sullivan (R-AK) Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) Mike Crapo (R-ID) Roy Blunt (R-MO) Richard Burr (R-NC) Deb Fischer (R-NE) Lindsey Graham (R-SC) Rob Portman (R-OH) Thom Tillis (R-NC) Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) Jim Risch (R-ID) Chuck Grassley (R-IA) Bill Cassidy (R-LA) Kevin Cramer (R-ND) Roger Wicker (R-MS) Mitch McConnell (R-KY) John Hoeven (R-ND) Susan Collins (R-ME) Mitt Romney (R-UT)

They knew when they were voting for the $1.2 trillion they were enabling the bigger, worse one.


11 posted on 08/30/2021 3:37:46 PM PDT by Lurkinanloomin (Natural Born Citizens Are Born Here of Citizen Parents)(Know Islam, No Peace - No Islam, Know Peace)
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To: 11th_VA

Moderate Rats? What a load of cr@p! Scoop Jackson was the last of the “moderate” Rats...and he died 40 years ago.


12 posted on 08/30/2021 3:42:16 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Covid Is All About Mail In Balloting)
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To: KevinB

Most people pushing this tripe don’t understand that the step up in basis is due to the estate being valued at market when a person dies and the estate comes into being. That market valuation is the basis for the estate tax along with any exemptions.

Remove the step up in basis, and estate values will deflate. It may generate a ‘net win’ for the government, but likely not as much as they hope.


13 posted on 08/30/2021 4:01:43 PM PDT by beancounter13 (A Republic, if you can keep it.)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom
This is how Democrats raise money. They pretend to support high taxes against special interests which causes same special interests to donate to them. They then blame Republicans for supporting the same special interests even though they knew the legislation was bad legislation and really didn't intend it to go though in the first place. They also can placate their radical left base by pretending to be for it in the first place. Devilishly smart aren't they?
14 posted on 08/30/2021 4:39:24 PM PDT by amnestynone (We are asked by people who do not tolerate us to tolerate the intolerable in the name of tolerance.)
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To: 11th_VA

I imagined slashed and knifed in one headline probably melted a few snowflakes,


15 posted on 08/30/2021 4:43:06 PM PDT by Starstruck ( Since I'm old I don't whether I'm senile or brilliant. Or happily both.)
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To: beancounter13
Remove the step up in basis, and estate values will deflate. It may generate a ‘net win’ for the government, but likely not as much as they hope.

Except that it will mostly hurt the little guys whose estates are less than the unified credit (whatever that turns out to be). They would have to pay the capital gain tax but wouldn't get the benefit of a lower estate tax because their estates would be too small to pay estate taxes anyway.

16 posted on 08/30/2021 4:54:57 PM PDT by KevinB (''... and to the Banana Republic for which it stands ...")
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To: Lurkinanloomin

“they knew when they were voting for the $1.2 trillion they were enabling the bigger, worse one.”
100% wrong. The 3.5 trillion bill can proceed regardless of what happens with the 1.2 trillion bill.
Stop spreading fake news.


17 posted on 08/30/2021 5:04:53 PM PDT by nbenyo
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To: KevinB

True, but I also offer some thoughts:

1) The capital gains tax would not be due until the property is sold. Otherwise, the property merely carries forward at the old basis.
2) If the property were ‘sold’ to the heir at the value of the exemption, that might also facilitate some level of step up in basis.
3) If the property were moved into a trust, it might never need to be sold thus the tax would never have to be paid.

The government might be able to live forever, but so can land trusts.

My suggestion is to seek input from your tax advisor…..


18 posted on 08/30/2021 5:14:19 PM PDT by beancounter13 (A Republic, if you can keep it.)
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To: Bubba_Leroy

You are correct to speak out against the elimination of the Basis Step-Up rules. HOWEVER, I know a British ex-pat and we have discussed the way long-term capital gains are taxed in the USA (vs. the UK). Apparently many of the industrialized nations have a mechanism to index capital gains to price levels.
What we really could use here in the USA is a way to calculate income tax on LT Capital Gains based on changes in price levels. Many people hold an investment for many years, sell it for a paper gain, but in fact had an economic loss BECAUSE the value of a dollar declined (due to inflation) over the holding period.


19 posted on 08/30/2021 5:18:45 PM PDT by Honest Nigerian
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To: amnestynone

I hadn’t really thought about that strategy, but it makes a lot of sense. Good thinking!


20 posted on 08/30/2021 5:27:25 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (“Criminal democrats kill babies. Do you think anything else is a problem for them?”)
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