The GOP tax bill passed in the Senate last night on a close vote. Not a single Democrat voted in favor of the bill. One of the big talking points that the Democrats are using to blast the bill now is that the tax cuts for individuals are only "temporary" while those for corporations are permanent. The mainstream media is parroting that point as well. So far this morning, I heard CBS news and the AP mention the temporary nature of the individual cuts. It's a completely bogus point, however, and the media is not even being honest about it.
Let's start with what "temporary" means. Because of arcane requirements in the Senate rules, there was a limit on what could be done under the method in which the law was passed. As a result, the changes to the individual rates only last ten years. TEN YEARS!!! That makes them "temporary" under the parlance of the Senate rules. Of course, in 2026, if there haven't been interim tax law changes, it will be up to Congress to decide if it wants to let the rates go back to those in effect in 2017. Does anyone think that Congress will let rates just pop back up on American individuals at that time? I doubt it.
The reason that the individual rates are temporary and the corporate rates are permanent is because the goal is encourage investment in the economy by companies. If those companies can't be sure about future tax rates, it might discourage investment as we got closer to a ten year expiration. That won't happen now.
But think about how the Democrats are denouncing the temporary tax cuts. Each of them voted last night to keep taxes right where they are in 2017. Then they denounce the bill because in 2027 it might let rates go back to the same ones they just voted to keep. Huh?
And look how the media talks about this point. Here's an excerpt from the AP article on the passage of the tax bill:
Democrats derided the bill as a GOP gift to its wealthy and business backers at the expense of lower-earning people. They contrasted the bill’s permanent reduction in corporate income tax rates from 35 percent to 20 percent to smaller individual tax breaks that would end in 2026.
Congress’ nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation has said the bill’s reductions for many families would be modest and said by 2027, families earning under $75,000 would on average face higher, not lower, taxes.
Do you see what the media did? It tells us that in 2027, AFTER THE TEMPORARY TAX CUTS EXPIRE, the average family would pay more in taxes. Of course, at that point, that average family would be paying taxes under the CURRENT system. The media/Democrats are denouncing the GOP bill because people might be forced to pay taxes under the current system that they all just voted to keep.
This may sound complicated, but it's really not. It's just incredibly dishonest and dumb.
The truth is that the tax cut bill passed by the Senate should energize the economy, promote economic growth, help create millions of new jobs, get many poor people out of poverty and generally help the entire nation. Will some people be losers under the plan? Certainly. You can't take away deductions without hurting those who make extensive use of them, but you can instead look at what is good for the country as a whole. I'm glad the Senate was able to get past the partisan nonsense and do what is right.
Let's start with what "temporary" means. Because of arcane requirements in the Senate rules, there was a limit on what could be done under the method in which the law was passed. As a result, the changes to the individual rates only last ten years. TEN YEARS!!! That makes them "temporary" under the parlance of the Senate rules. Of course, in 2026, if there haven't been interim tax law changes, it will be up to Congress to decide if it wants to let the rates go back to those in effect in 2017. Does anyone think that Congress will let rates just pop back up on American individuals at that time? I doubt it.
The reason that the individual rates are temporary and the corporate rates are permanent is because the goal is encourage investment in the economy by companies. If those companies can't be sure about future tax rates, it might discourage investment as we got closer to a ten year expiration. That won't happen now.
But think about how the Democrats are denouncing the temporary tax cuts. Each of them voted last night to keep taxes right where they are in 2017. Then they denounce the bill because in 2027 it might let rates go back to the same ones they just voted to keep. Huh?
And look how the media talks about this point. Here's an excerpt from the AP article on the passage of the tax bill:
Democrats derided the bill as a GOP gift to its wealthy and business backers at the expense of lower-earning people. They contrasted the bill’s permanent reduction in corporate income tax rates from 35 percent to 20 percent to smaller individual tax breaks that would end in 2026.
Congress’ nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation has said the bill’s reductions for many families would be modest and said by 2027, families earning under $75,000 would on average face higher, not lower, taxes.
Do you see what the media did? It tells us that in 2027, AFTER THE TEMPORARY TAX CUTS EXPIRE, the average family would pay more in taxes. Of course, at that point, that average family would be paying taxes under the CURRENT system. The media/Democrats are denouncing the GOP bill because people might be forced to pay taxes under the current system that they all just voted to keep.
This may sound complicated, but it's really not. It's just incredibly dishonest and dumb.
The truth is that the tax cut bill passed by the Senate should energize the economy, promote economic growth, help create millions of new jobs, get many poor people out of poverty and generally help the entire nation. Will some people be losers under the plan? Certainly. You can't take away deductions without hurting those who make extensive use of them, but you can instead look at what is good for the country as a whole. I'm glad the Senate was able to get past the partisan nonsense and do what is right.
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