So you think You'll Get a Tax Break, or tax cut? Really?
By Thom Hartmann A...
A letter was sent out recently by the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians.
You're not hearing Breitbart News or Common Dreams - right or left - organizations or news sites with a point of view other than that they are committed to healing people.
The American Medical Association, they're committed to their doctors making a good income too because it's kind of a Union. The American Hospital Association, they want their hospitals to work. The American Academy of Family Physicians, I'd really doubt they have much of an axe to grind other than, "hey, we'd like families to be able to get health care."
The Federation of American Hospitals. BlueCross Blue Shield Association - it's a non-profit. The America's Health Insurance Plans - now, that's a lobbying group for the health insurance industry so that's the one that maybe I could discount.
But here's what letter says...
"Repealing the individual mandate without a workable alternative will reduce enrollment, further destabilizing an already fragile individual and small group health insurance market on which more than 10 million Americans rely."
So you know the Republicans - according to the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the Federation of American hospitals, BlueCross Blue Shield and America's Health Insurance Plans - the Republicans have a choice: who are you going to help?
Are you going to help people - Americans - who might get sick, or are you going to help the billionaires of America who want to be able to pass along all of the money that they made to their children even though their children didn't do anything to earn it, they just were members of the lucky sperm club?
See, I have no problem if Ivanka Trump is taking a paycheck from Trump enterprises for the work that she's doing, or even, for that matter, just for being a Trump. You take a paycheck, you pay taxes on the money, right? If Ivanka Trump or Don jr. or Eric are working for the Trump Organization and are paid a million bucks a year, they're paying taxes on that money. I got no problem with that.
But when daddy croaks, all of a sudden they're going to get a whole pile of billions and billions of dollars - at least if daddy's not lying about his net worth - for which they didn't work. They just happened to be members of the lucky sperm club. They were just born children of Donald and Ivana. And that's worth billions?
I get it, in the Republican world it is, but that's only a little tiny piece of it Topher Spiro and Al Franken are tweeting about this. Topher Spiro is with the Center for American Progress' Think Progress blog. He says...
"Based on my twitter mentions, I can report that Republicans have awakened a sleeping giant. This is now a health care bill."
What's he talking about? Well, Al Franken tweets out...
"RED ALERT: Senate GOP just added provision to their tax plan that would gut ACA & kick 13M ppl off insurance. Yes, it's same tax plan that would add $1 trillion+ to deficit while giving majority of benefits to corporations & the rich. We need you to make your voices heard again."
I would add the other slick little trick that they're pulling is they're saying, "Oh, those tax breaks for people, those expire in ten years. Tax breaks for corporations, they're there forever." And of course the billionaires who take their money out of the corporations, implicitly.
So, you think you're getting a middle-class tax cut? Well, first of all only, about half the middle class might get even a tiny tax cut. The other half the middle class is going to pay more. There are two pieces in the New York Times about this Republican tax scam.
The first from the Editorial Board of the New York Times - they're not just all liberals, they represent a wide variety of opinions from left to right. But there are some things that just have to do with truth.
So, the Republicans passed a budget recently - both through both the House and the Senate and Trump signed it - that provided for increasing the national debt by 1.5 trillion dollars that they can give to billionaires like Donald Trump, saying your estate will not have to pay an inheritance tax when it hands your money to your undeserving children. Because if they were deserving they would have been paid and they would have paid taxes on that income. There's just simple principles here.
So, first, to pay out of that 1.5 trillion that the Republicans intend to borrow from the Chinese and the Saudis and whatnot, they're going to give a massive tax break to billionaires in the form of ending the estate tax, a massive tax break to in particular big tech companies. It's almost breathtaking, the tax break that these companies are going to get.
A press release from Don Owens of Public Citizen says...
"The tax holiday proposal supported by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans would give eight top technology corporations a $95 billion tax break, a new report from Public Citizen and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) reveals."
Now keep mind, these are among the most profitable companies in the history of human civilization. They are sitting collectively on hundreds of billions of dollars in cash. They are not cash strapped. They are not in need of more money to expand or hire new people. All of that is total BS.
Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, said...
"The richest company in history is hardly in need of a nearly $50 billion tax benefit."
And that's the amount of money that will go to Apple - $47.1 billion. The press release continues...
"The eight tech giants collectively hold more than $502 billion offshore, much of which is booked to their 94 tax haven subsidiaries across the globe."
Just Apple is sitting on $252.3 billion overseas. So in exchange for giving Apple and Trump and his billionaire buddies this huge tax break, here's what the editorial board of the New York Times says, the Republicans have to find $200 billion dollars to pay for this.
So, number one: do away with the individual mandate on Obamacare - that'll get you a couple hundred billion, well, we're not sure exactly how much money it'll get you but a lot of people will say, "well, you know, I'm young and healthy - I don't need health insurance" and they'll drop off and so they're no longer paying into the program.
So then the insurance system really starts to crash.
Number two: planning on adopting a child? Republicans are doing away with a $13,000 child adoption tax credit. This is going to give them $3.8 billion that they're stealing from adoptive families that they can give to billionaires.
Have or develop a chronic illness? Nearly nine million taxpayers in 2015 deducted $84 billion from their taxes, a $182 billion over ten years. So if you're sick or anybody in your family is sick, you can no longer deduct your health care expenses.
You need to take care of dependents? Dependent care families you can currently deduct up to $5,000 if you're caring in your house for aging mom or disabled child. Forget that, the Republicans don't want you to be able to deduct that and this is going to raise $6.5 billion that they can give to Ivanka Trump and the Koch brothers.
Comments
#2
Over three centuries ago, our forefathers in Virginia and in Massachusetts, far from home in a lonely wilderness, set aside a time of thanksgiving. On the appointed day, they gave reverent thanks for their safety, for the health of their children, for the fertility of their fields, for the love which bound them together and for the faith which united them with their God.
So too when the colonies achieved their independence, our first President in the first year of his first Administration proclaimed November 26, 1789, as "a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God" and called upon the people of the new republic to "beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions... to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue . . . and generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best."
And so too, in the midst of America's tragic civil war, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November 1863 as a day to renew our gratitude for America's "fruitful fields," for our "national strength and vigor," and for all our "singular deliverances and blessings."
Much time has passed since the first colonists came to rocky shores and dark forests of an unknown continent, much time since President Washington led a young people into the experience of nationhood, much time since President Lincoln saw the American nation through the ordeal of fraternal war--and in these years our population, our plenty and our power have all grown apace. Today we are a nation of nearly two hundred million souls, stretching from coast to coast, on into the Pacific and north toward the Arctic, a nation enjoying the fruits of an ever-expanding agriculture and industry and achieving standards of living unknown in previous history. We give our humble thanks for this.
Yet, as our power has grown, so has our peril. Today we give our thanks, most of all, for the ideals of honor and faith we inherit from our forefathers--for the decency of purpose, steadfastness of resolve and strength of will, for the courage and the humility, which they possessed and which we must seek every day to emulate. As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them.
Let us therefore proclaim our gratitude to Providence for manifold blessings--let us be humbly thankful for inherited ideals--and let us resolve to share those blessings and those ideals with our fellow human beings throughout the world.
Now, Therefore, I, John F. Kennedy, President of the United States of America, in consonance with the joint resolution of the Congress approved December 26, 1941, 55 Stat. 862 (5 U.S.C. 87b), designating the fourth Thursday of November in each year as Thanksgiving Day, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 28, 1963, as a day of national thanksgiving.
On that day let us gather in sanctuaries dedicated to worship and in homes blessed by family affection to express our gratitude for the glorious gifts of God; and let us earnestly and humbly pray that He will continue to guide and sustain us in the great unfinished tasks of achieving peace, justice, and understanding among all men and nations and of ending misery and suffering wherever they exist.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States of America to be affixed.
DONE at the City of Washington this fourth day of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and eighty-eighth.
JOHN F. KENNEDY
By the President:
DEAN RUSK,
Secretary of State
#3
Please let us all now go to a place of worship
And pray "You'll Get a Tax Break, or tax cut? Really?"
Wow!
Can we ever get off subject?
#4
The "lucky sperm club" will most of the time be just like Donald Trump or the lucky sperm club that inherited the Schwinn Bicycle company. They don't care about the company and its workers, the future of the company. They do no research and development, they just rest on their parent's laurels and worry about the bottom line or about how much money is at their disposal. If they don't make enough money they sell the company out or go bankrupt. Perfect example: Pacific Bicycles (a Chinese company) ownes the Schwinn Bicycle company, and have owned it for a number of years.
They turned out to be nothing more than sell-outs with no respect for their predissesors' accomplishments.
I had to pay the taxes on my inhertence, so must they. If they can't make due with a few million dollars, then they aren't worth skunk meat in the first place.
Trump and his kind of American pie hogging pigs aren't even grateful for the fact that if it were not for all of us working people, they would have no means as for how to make any money at all.
If there were to be such a tax break, it should be for the middle class that leave a few thousand dollars to their sons and daughters, not these billionares that have millions of dollars stashed in reserve that they never payed taxes on. Tired of the lucky sperm club? I sure am.
#5
Is America Becoming A Police State Where Churches Can’t Feed The Homeless And Kids Can’t Set Up Lemonade Stands?
snip....
The bigger government gets, the more oppressive it tends to become. But most people don’t understand that there is an inverse relationship between liberty and the size of government. The more government grows, the less freedoms we have, and this is true on the federal, state and local levels.
For example, all over America laws are being passed that make it illegal to feed the homeless. Every new law, rule or regulation restricts our liberties and freedoms in some way, and in this case these sorts of laws restrict our freedom to help our neighbors in need.
Earlier today I came across another example of this. A church in Malibu, California has just been ordered to stop giving food to the homeless…
http://www.dcclothesline.com/2017/11/14/is-america-becoming-a-police-sta...
#6
#5 - That is blasted UNBELIEVABLE
So, now we can't help each other
How in hell does that work?
What is in the mind of those who initaite this stuff???
#7
#5 - That is blasted UNBELIEVABLE
So, now we can't help each other
How in hell does that work?
What is in the mind of those who initiate this stuff???
#8
Sadly! It can be assumed that a decision of this sort evolved in a committee somewhere by such means
Institutions should be abolished
Such a human self inflicted scourge upon us all
#9
They are Stealing elections to steal money
#10
It's not necessarily the size of government, but rather who controls it and their corresponding agenda... Witness the contrast between the govermnent of FDR and that of Reagan...
#11
Merry Christmas Rick Steves
"Congress has handed Trump a historic presidential victory"
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/24/trumps-biggest-win-yet-comes-thanks-to-c...
#12
One thing that always sticks out to me about people who basically take another persons property to get rich with various schemes, things like, not paying their fair share of tax, not paying their employees a fair wage, commit fraud on Wall Street, maybe start a fake University, a fake foundation, stiff contractors, launder money for despots, take your pick,...... they're all lazy as hell. However they're sure quick to condemn poor people who they perceive to be lazy just like them. Truth is, most of those poor refuse to rip their fellow citizens off to change that circumstance.
#13
No Diane...Hillary handed Trump the election by conceding, Obama advised her to....she knew all about the election fraud/conspiracy, just like our CIA did. It was just like when the Dems gave Bush the two illiget wins ...the Dems would rather have peaceful transistion instead of unrest and chaos. Your fake President was ready to not concede had the election fraud failed. Can you imagine if Putin had installed Hillary and she was under investigation????...or are you too foxmerized ?????
What ever happened to your wacky Benghazi and email crap????
#14
@#15
Keep telling yourself Hillary is president even though Trump is appointing judges and issuing executive orders.
And,
Every night before you go to sleep ask yourself if Hillary had different position regarding firearms, could Bill still be inviting interns into the oral office?
#15
DianeR do you keep telling yourself Adoph H was a great leader, and you are pleased that tRump is leading us to the same place?
#16
HotCoffee - What are you talking about? We need a much bigger government to protect us from the billionaires. It seems the conservative definition of liberty is to provide the freedom to concentrated wealth to run our lives. My definition of freedom is for the government to protect me from the oligarchs, billionaires, multinational corporations and the other definitions of concentrated wealth.
In the case of Malibu, the home of concentrated wealth, it is those same wealthy people who have bought the government and to use it to stop the riff-raff from bothering them.
#17
Chuckle8
I was an advocate for the poor and saw DiFi in action, or I should say in non-action. For an old lady she sure can run away from the poor if they happen to get past her aid Yaki.
How much is she worth...what is her salary? How many of DiFi's votes have benifitted her very wealthy hubby? Do you think they issue traffic tickets in her neighborhood?
Malibu is in Ca. for goodness sake totally Dem controlled state, While the " workers" in silicon valley sleep in their cars. Isn't silicon valley supposed to be wealthy Dems.
Face book workers in S.F. complaining they have to see the homeless as they are bussed to their S.F. offices. Want them removed.
Doesn't seem like being in a Dem controlled State makes all that much difference to me.
Could you tell me one aspect of your life Government doesn't have it's nose in ????
I've asked that question many times at many sites I no one has ever answered.
How much of the education budget do you think trickles down to students after the Feds and State get done taking their cut?
Repubs are bad....Dems are no better. The difference is the Dems pretend to be on the side of the poor.
Nuff said.
#18
Thom- check out https://www.ooida.com/ for trucking info
#19
It is really hard to believe that NO ONE is talking about the EXEMPTIONS being eliminated, even though Republicans keep touting about doubling the Standard Deductions. So, married couple now gets $12,000 more deduction on Standard. They LOSE $8,000 from Exemptions = a gain of only $4,000. Add (1) child dependent, minus another $4,000 Exemption- Break even. (2) children - a $4,000 LOSS, (3) children - $8,000 LOSS. If anyone doesn't want this to pass, they BETTER let the American People know!!!
#20
Trickle Down economics works! It Trickles Down to the Bahamas!!!
#21
Perhaps it is better to wait until there is actually a bill before leftie/socialist radio bobbleheads try to panic their malleable flock of sheep with "facts" that may or may not even be in the final bill.
#22
Show 11/28/17. Taxes: You mentioned no breaks for College Intuition. How come no one mentions online degrees?? ...Phoenix College NOT good enough for you??
http://www.phoenix.edu/vr/aptm?&channel=srch&cid=QS1QKPZP&mktg_prog=nati...
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As an 8-year member of CREDO I am incredibly upset by CREO's call for Senator Al Franken of MN to immediately resign because two women have come forward to report he engaged in sexual misconduct. There are at least THREE FUNDAMENTAL FLAWS in CREDO's taking this action: First, CREDO's claim that "Sen. Al Franken had the chance last week to take full responsibility for past sexual harassment, sexual assault and any other behavior that demeaned women. He failed to do so[,]" is demonstrably false. Contrary to CREDO's press statement, Sen. Franken in fact took immediate responsibility for his actions, apologized to the extent he remembered his misconduct, and HE CALLED FOR A FULL INVESTIGATION by the Senate Ethics Committee. Second, CREDO's call for him to resign presumes he is guilty of EVERYTHING that has been alleged without any Due Process whatsoever, which is fundamental to our principles of fairness as set forth in the Constitution; and Third, CREDO's call for him to resign is tantamount to calling for a political "death penalty," which might be warranted in the case of serial pedophiles or serial offenders who call their accusers liars and threaten to sue and intimidate them with their power, but is NOT remotely appropriate for someone who responds respectfully and without recrimination. CREDO are acting like the "purity police," which I find deeply disappointing. Moreover, CREDO Mobile has, in my view, violated its own principles, at least as I understand them. I joined CREDO because of its claims to employ democratic principles in deciding where donations will be sent and by implication in deciding how to represent the membership on such issues as this one. There was clearly no use of a democratic process in making this precipitous, unsupported decision under the mantle of the entire organization. I call on those responsible for this decision to IMMEDIATELY resign. If I had not just been enticed to sign a new two-year program with the promise of an upgrade, I would terminate my CREDO service in favor of another carrier, who at least makes no pretense before acting against my wishes behind my back. Bryan Wm. Blakely(970) 222-6394 Fort Collins CO 80526