$1.5 Trillion GOP Tax Cut Thread

[Person Man]

If there is to be an economic downturn (or even another crisis) sometime within the next few years, I'd rather it happen with these tax cuts already in place.  It would be all the more easier to discredit supply-side economics that way. 

The 2008 collapse was supposed to do that, and then Republicans came back with a vengeance a year later anyway.

The 2008 collapse was the product of regulatory changes passed in the 1990's, not the Bush tax cuts.

They were still neoliberal in nature but were designed as bi-partisan anti-poverty measures. Still has a Neoliberal stench. And this could be the long term problem that Democrats might encounter if they compromise too much to be competitive in national elections.

[Person Man]

And people wanted to know the cause of the next recession..

[Person Man]

Then they'll have to pay them more, won't they?

Hahahahaha, good one. Somehow I'm not seeing a public university finding more money for grad students, especially non-STEM ones.

I'm not going to make a big deal out of this because there are people far worse off than me, but yeah, this would royally screw me over too.

I know
"Honk if I am paying for your new Pickup Truck"
would make an excellent bumper sticker!

[Person Man]

^ While I acknowledge that anything can happen, the road to the senate even passing something seems silm. The fact that there wasn't any rogue dem votes in the house from Cuellar or Peterson or whoever almost certainly means that Manchin, Donnelly, and Heitkamp will hold the D line. McConnell has for all intents and purposes already lost Paul's vote. That means out of Corker, Collins, Murkowski, Lankford, Johnson, McCain, and Flake, McConnell can only lose one. It's a very tough road to follow.

I just don't see Collins being bought  unless she is really being bought.

[Person Man]

At this point, they probably don't have the votes.

[Person Man]

The thing that shocks me is certain people here say how suburanties were a deadend for dems because once Trump is gone and the culture warrior stuff dies down they'll go back to the GOP but this almost guarantee the suburbs going dem as now they are going to get hit in the pocketbook by Trump/GOP as well

It's bewildering how they seem to be almost trying to foster a realignment along the lines of the 2016 presidential election.

It would be easy for the suburban swing to the Democrats to have just been a fluke owing to a uniquely positioned Republican candidate. But the Republicans in elections this year have been running on the sort of culture war and anti-immigrant policies that offend suburbanites, and now Republicans in Congress seem dead-set on passing a tax bill that amounts to a redistribution of wealth toward the super-rich and business owners and away from the "merely" well-off and white collar salaried professionals.

I still do not understand why someone should pay a lower tax bill simply because they live in a state that has high state taxes and property taxes. IF you live in and vote for higher taxes in your state for a variety of reasons, more power to you, but I don't think you should then expect to get let off the hook at the federal level. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Also, anybody who is paying 10,000 dollars in property taxes is the type of person that represents the "rich" that the sanders wing wants to heavily tax.

Funny how they garner sympathy from the left when it is the GOP that targets their unfair tax deduction. 

Yeah. Eating the upper-middle class is really sticking it to the man.

[Person Man]

The thing that shocks me is certain people here say how suburanties were a deadend for dems because once Trump is gone and the culture warrior stuff dies down they'll go back to the GOP but this almost guarantee the suburbs going dem as now they are going to get hit in the pocketbook by Trump/GOP as well

It's bewildering how they seem to be almost trying to foster a realignment along the lines of the 2016 presidential election.

It would be easy for the suburban swing to the Democrats to have just been a fluke owing to a uniquely positioned Republican candidate. But the Republicans in elections this year have been running on the sort of culture war and anti-immigrant policies that offend suburbanites, and now Republicans in Congress seem dead-set on passing a tax bill that amounts to a redistribution of wealth toward the super-rich and business owners and away from the "merely" well-off and white collar salaried professionals.

I still do not understand why someone should pay a lower tax bill simply because they live in a state that has high state taxes and property taxes. IF you live in and vote for higher taxes in your state for a variety of reasons, more power to you, but I don't think you should then expect to get let off the hook at the federal level. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Also, anybody who is paying 10,000 dollars in property taxes is the type of person that represents the "rich" that the sanders wing wants to heavily tax.

Funny how they garner sympathy from the left when it is the GOP that targets their unfair tax deduction. 

That's a very un-conservative thing to say, Marty. Californians' money belongs to Californians. They have a right to keep more of it in California rather than have Donald Trump and the GOP Congress redistribute it to states like Montana and Mississippi.

"Why should I have to make your F-150 payment or buy you a new AR-15?"

[Person Man]

The Paul Ryan tax plan in a nutshell.



Trickle down! Yum!

The Human sh**tipede.

[Person Man]

I told you corporations were people.

Can I marry one?

[Person Man]

Just a reminder: if you’re married and making under $260,000 annually, you get a tax cut or at least break even. Single and under $200,000, same deal.

I really don’t get why this is “cutting taxes for the millionaires and billionaires.”

Because taxes is more than just the tax rates, but also what gets taxed, and the elimination of deductions means that the amount of income getting taxed is increasing under both the House and Senate bills.

[Person Man]

Just a reminder: if you’re married and making under $260,000 annually, you get a tax cut or at least break even. Single and under $200,000, same deal.

I really don’t get why this is “cutting taxes for the millionaires and billionaires.”

Absolutely false. Senate bill raises my taxes $1-2000, and I make 85 a year. Next.

That's roughly my situation.

[Person Man]

Just to show what I am talking about.  If we take a household in SF that has AGI of 500K with some reasonable assumptions about real estate tax, mortgages, and charity.  The 2018 federal tax under current law, House plan, Senate plan with this household being Single vs Married are the following
               
              Current Law     House       Senate
Married     $124.5K      $121.8K      $117.5K
Single       $125.2K      $135.3K      $138.0K

If you are married you gain but gain more under the Senate Plan.  If you are single you lose and you lose more under the Senate plan.

So why should I support this?

[Person Man]

So who else here is about to start paying for someone else's new toys?

[Person Man]

Even though there are so many Senators leaning no on this I still can't believe that they won't pass something. Otherwise it would be apocalyptic for the GOP in 2018.

Well it will be REALLY apocalyptic if they do vote for this trash, considering it's polling at 25-52 in quinnipiac and 19-54 in Harvard-Harris. Hence why I don't care that much what they do. They've already lost the PR battle.

I'm not even sure this bill would poll above water in even West Virginia. Hell, it's telling that the Democrat in the competitive Alabama Senate race feels zero pressure to support it.

Base turnout and corporate donations are more important in the midterms than passing an unpopular bill. If they don't have ANYTHING to tell the GOP base that they've accomplished Republicans will just not bother to vote. There will also be primary challenges funded by angry donors.

How did just passing the ACA work for Obama?

[Person Man]

I love how the Republican logic on this devilish bill is "we need to pass this horribly unpopular bill now or we'll get destroyed in the midterms!"

They are either delusional or have resigned themselves to their fate in 2018 (AKA getting blown the **** out.)

At first glance, you would expect politicians to realize that passing an unpopular bill that is extremely easy for their political opponents to attack them on would lead to ruin in the midterms. However, I think we're looking at this wrong. Republicans know this bill isn't popular, and at least some of them probably know this bill won't lead to magic growth like they keep saying over and over again. Rather, what they all know is that this is a bill their donors want. This bill will pay back those conservative donors for all the money they have donated to Republican campaigns and thensome, and in order to keep getting donations, Congressional Republicans know they need to pass this.

So they know it's unpopular and likely to hurt them, but they think raking in enough campaign donations can stave off losing control of either chamber. It's very silly if you ask me. They should ask Democrats if money saved them in a bad political environment.

Haha as if donors were actually not going to fund Republicans regardless. They should also take note of how Democrats raised tons of money in 2010 and look how that went.

Will enough core voters be getting free money next year ?

[Person Man]

I love how the Republican logic on this devilish bill is "we need to pass this horribly unpopular bill now or we'll get destroyed in the midterms!"

They are either delusional or have resigned themselves to their fate in 2018 (AKA getting blown the **** out.)

At first glance, you would expect politicians to realize that passing an unpopular bill that is extremely easy for their political opponents to attack them on would lead to ruin in the midterms. However, I think we're looking at this wrong. Republicans know this bill isn't popular, and at least some of them probably know this bill won't lead to magic growth like they keep saying over and over again. Rather, what they all know is that this is a bill their donors want. This bill will pay back those conservative donors for all the money they have donated to Republican campaigns and thensome, and in order to keep getting donations, Congressional Republicans know they need to pass this.

So they know it's unpopular and likely to hurt them, but they think raking in enough campaign donations can stave off losing control of either chamber. It's very silly if you ask me. They should ask Democrats if money saved them in a bad political environment.

Haha as if donors were actually not going to fund Republicans regardless. They should also take note of how Democrats raised tons of money in 2010 and look how that went.

Most of them probably believe what they're saying. There is a reason they got into politics in the first place. And this bill does have some redeeming qualities (20% corporate tax rate + territorial taxation).

Obamacare was the same exact deal. They couldn't get everything they needed to make it work, but it was a substantial policy change. Maybe about half of what they needed to solve their problem. It was initially unpopular and it was something that united the opposition.

[Person Man]

Larry Kudlow says tax plan will "hurt" people:

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/29/trump-tax-reform-kudlow-194187

Then guess what.

[Person Man]

What the chances this gets sucked into the shutdown situation? Is the lockout foolproof?

[Person Man]

You think passing this will make Trump at least modestly popular? (low-to-mid 40s)

[Person Man]

Corker and flake announce they are unwavering no's

Oh look 2 nos....looks like Pence is gonna bring out the gavel and end this Kabuki theater farce

For all we know, that's what it is. Basically tax cuts get passed by the Trump admin unilaterally.

[Person Man]

Stabenow is a good looking woman for her age

If I were an old man I would take her to bed if she were my mate

[Person Man]

So Corker and Flake might kill this thing or they are going to pass a half assed version of the already unpopular tax bill

Why is Flake even being considered

He's cuck of the year

I still say this title belongs to Ted Cruz.

Man calls your wife ugly and says your father was part of a plot to kill a president and yet you still vote for everything he wants in Congress.

He's even given up on being an outsider. Cucked by both Trump and McConnell!

He's more of a punk  being passed around at this point.

[Person Man]

The comedic farce continues:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

These are the same people who ran thousands of ads about Nancy Pelosi's "pass it to see what's in it" comment.

You gotta pass it to write it!

[Person Man]

I bet McConnell's snorting a lot of speed to be able to write the bill overnight and then push it through the next day

Gotta pass the bill to write the bill, broh!

[Person Man]

Say the Republicans do basically get whatever they want and are allowed to. Do they take what they want from Trump and then are done with him or do they basically finally become Trump's employees and are absorbed into his "Organization"?