Posted on 11/15/2017 4:51:41 PM PST by SkyPilot
Sen. Ron Johnson (R., Wis.) said he opposes the Senate Republican tax package, becoming the first GOP voice of dissent that, if it gains momentum, could force significant changes or jeopardize the party’s goal to pass the bill before the end of the year.
“If they can pass it without me, let them,” Mr. Johnson said in an interview Wednesday, adding that the plan unfairly benefits corporations more than other types of businesses. “I’m not going to vote for this tax package.”
Any Republican opposition is significant because GOP leaders are counting on near universal support from within the party to pass a bill on party line votes. With 52 seats in the Senate, Republicans can lose no more than two votes unless they can somehow find a way to win votes from Democrats.
Other Senate Republicans have expressed concerns. Jeff Flake of Arizona, for example, has worried about deficits and Susan Collins of Maine has worried about Republican plans to repeal the insurance coverage mandate in the Affordable Care Act as part of a tax overhaul.
Until now, no Senate Republican has come out definitively against the GOP tax plan. The risk for GOP leaders is that other Republicans get behind Mr. Johnson’s opposition, and either stop the bill or slow its passage, depriving Republicans of the chance to boost after-tax income household income next year, during the elections.
Still, in a statement issued in the late afternoon, Mr. Johnson said he hoped that Republicans could address the disparity so he could support the final version of the tax bill. Such changes could be expensive and might force tax writers to make other changes. .
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Despite living in NY - my increase isn’t coming from this SALT business.
Our bill will go up because of the size of our family AND because we are out of the EITC giveaway range.
So they “give” with the child tax credit - but they “take away” with the elimination of personal/dependent exemptions.
The new child tax credit doesn’t offset adding &28k to taxable income.
They’re also taking away education credits - medical expenses.
This is insanity!
They’re “simplifying” our taxes by removing beneficial deductions.
How nice of them!
“He’s just the “designated maverick” to ensure the bill fails. Kabuki theater.
Yep. Johnson was just reelected and isn’t up for SIX YEARS. No reason for him to do this other than stick it to POTUS.”
As a conservative living near the “fairyland of the dairyland (Madison)” I can assure you that the only reason Johnson prevailed in the last election was due to the overwhelming popularity of candidate Trump.
Johnson has been a gross disappointment during his entire tenure in the Senate.
EODGUY
> “pay for” cutting corporate taxes...<
If the “pay for” rule was followed by Congress and the Executive, there would be no need for Debt Ceiling increases. Year after year, republicans and democrats, Budgets are blown through like a cheap Kleenex. Cutting corporate tax rates is simply good policy.
Both republican plans for individual tax payers are bad. They do more harm than good. We did not vote for republicans to pass Deduction Reform.
On the surface, I agree with Johnson. I am an S-corp. But I ran my numbers through a tax calculator for the proposed plan, and my taxes from 2016 would have been $8000 less under the new plan, even with the pass-through rate taxed at personal income levels rather than corporate tax levels. If they extended the 20% corporate rate to me as a service s-corp, I would have saved $50,000
Lol. So true.
I just read the latest news: the House vote is this afternoon, and leadership is confident they have enough votes to pass the bill there.
I tried calling my Congressman’s office this morning, and it immediately went to voicemail and it said that the voicemail box was full. So he is basically blowing us off. Again. My emails have not been returned, and the same goes with other people in my district.
On the Hugh Hewitt radio show this morning, Senator Pat Toomey from Pennsylvania was on. He sounded exasperated and upset about Senator Johnson saying he will vote against the bill in its current form. But both men believe with Senator Johnson is just posturing and will eventually vote for the bill, or at least they hope so.
Toomey basically said last week that he didn’t care if the bill hurt individuals in certain situations or from certain states, all he really cared about was the corporate rate cuts.
But there was real fear in both of their voices. I think they know something that they are not telling the rest of us. They probably know the names of other senators who are going to vote No on the bill, or are leaning strongly against it.
I would lose my mortgage deduction, the deduction I pay on state taxes, and since I don’t have children, my taxes would go up.
Thank you for sharing that. Toomey said on Hewitt’s show this morning that Johnson was correct regarding S-corps, LLCs, etc., but the “problem is not easily solvable.” TRANSLATION: they need your tax revenue to pay for the big cuts for corporations. Same with individuals - they need our tax revenue.
As they will for millions of us. So much for that “Big, beautiful tax cut” that would be “The best Christmas present for the middle class” that President Trump promised. I know he is desperate for a Win, but I don’t think he fully realizes how much this will be a Pyrrhic Victory if it passes. Trump doesn’t have the media, the establishment, Hollywood, the Democrats, the Globalists, or the Rinos on his side. All he has are regular people, many of whom will be screwed by this bill.
We did not vote for republicans to pass Deduction Reform
The website for Congress (Thehill.com) quoted an anonymous Congressman last month who said they could either appease their donors, or the voters, but not both. They chose the donors.
The truth is, they want to jam them up the orifices of the citizens before they can really contemplate how bad they are.
The truth is, you have no tax plan. I’m all ears if you’ve got one. Just saying No isn’t good enough anymore, sorry.
How about this: we tremendously jack up the taxes on the middle class, eliminate virtually all their pitiful deductions including medical expenses, tell them it’s really a “tax cut”, and give all the benefits to the rich donors and multinational corporations.
Errr.....wait.....that’s what you’re advocating.......
So since we won’t pass a VAT or flat tax, then we should do nothing, because that is a better alternative than this abortion of a bill.
There. Can I get my $174,000 Congressional salary now?
They're WORSE than DimocRATS. At least Dims tell you of their devious plans and get them done. "republicans" tell us what they're going to do and then DON'T get them done. And at best, they offer some milquetoast "well .. you're going to have to like it because this is all you're going to get." The "republican" Party is dead and needs to be dropped off of a cliff!
Johnson misses the point. The “small businesses” should incorporate.
Everybody should own a corporation
It’s the American way
Agree 100% that *ALL* they should be talking about is a flat tax, but more precisely, the FAIR Tax. This "overhaul" was a FAIL even before they started talking about it! This is possibly the ONE chance they had to get something bold and transforming done, and as usual they are snatching DEFEAT from the jaws of victory! And THAT is your "republican" Party, folks: the LOSER Party!
Or maybe they understand the reaction of voters in 2018 and 2020?
My taxes are going up BECAUSE I have children.
Exactly... and they always pick someone who's not up for reelection any time soon to play the role.
What is she saying?
THE ANSWER OF COURSE IS TO GIVE US PLEBES A LITTLE BREAK ON OUR INCOME TAX RATES TO RETAIN JOHNSON’S VOTE. IF YOU MUST REPEAL THE MANDATE LATER, AT LEAST THE TAX BILL WILL GO THROUGH ON IT’S OWN AND THE ECONOMY WILL BOOM AND THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE WILL BE LOW.
My taxes are going up BECAUSE I have children.
—
These tax plans appear to be a big mess. I would prefer delaying it until the get one that makes sense. Too much of a rush for political purposes.
Republicans have had years to put together something but are rushing and fumbling to come up with something they can agree upon. They’re as clueless as democrats.
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