For the longest time, the Democrats haven't had any policy proposals other than open borders. Basically, the Democrats' position has been to say "we're the party that hates Trump." Now that the 2018 elections are eight months away, the Dems have decided to start rolling out policy proposals on which to run. I guess that they realize that being anti-Trump is not enough. So what have the Dems chosen as their first position? They have come out in favor of a massive tax increase. They want to raise taxes by 1.6 trillion dollars and use the money for some undefined infrastructure program. I'm not kidding. The Democrats have released a detailed plan for raising taxes. Here is the essence of it:
It's hard to imagine that the Dems would choose to run on higher taxes. Remember, prior to the passage of the now popular GOP tax cut, the Democrats managed to get the public to dislike the plan because they claimed it was actually a tax increase, and no one wanted that. Now that the Democrats' lies about the Republican tax cut law have been revealed to the public, the Democrats are pushing their own tax increase.
And despite the spin of the Democrats, this is not just a tax increase on the wealthy. It hits the middle class hard. Just look at the second item dealing with the Alternative Minimum Tax. The AMT was originally passed 50 years ago to hit the wealthy, but since it was not indexed for inflation, it moved on to hit much of the middle class as well. In 2017, the AMT starts to hit single taxpayers at $54,000 of income and married couples at $84,000. Those are hardly wealthy people; they are in the heart of the middle class. Further, because of the way the AMT works, most of the truly wealthy don't get hit by it; the tax hits the middle class much harder. This is the tax that the Dems want to "restore"
And how about the estate and gift taxes? The GOP plan changed the exemptions but kept the tax. The point of the change was to make it possible for family farms and small businesses to be retained by heirs rather than being forced to sell these assets to pay high estate taxes. For a billionaire, the changes were minuscule. Once again, the Democrats aren't aiming their tax plan at the truly wealthy, but rather at the middle class.
I can't believe that the Dems are positioning themselves as the party of higher taxes, but they are. How many people are going to be won over by that? I don't think the number will be too high.
- Return The Top Individual Tax Rate Back To 39.6%
- Restoring The Individual Alternative Minimum Tax To 2017 Law
- Restoring The Estate And Gift Taxes
- Closing The Carried Interest Loophole
- Bring The Corporate Tax Rate To 25%
It's hard to imagine that the Dems would choose to run on higher taxes. Remember, prior to the passage of the now popular GOP tax cut, the Democrats managed to get the public to dislike the plan because they claimed it was actually a tax increase, and no one wanted that. Now that the Democrats' lies about the Republican tax cut law have been revealed to the public, the Democrats are pushing their own tax increase.
And despite the spin of the Democrats, this is not just a tax increase on the wealthy. It hits the middle class hard. Just look at the second item dealing with the Alternative Minimum Tax. The AMT was originally passed 50 years ago to hit the wealthy, but since it was not indexed for inflation, it moved on to hit much of the middle class as well. In 2017, the AMT starts to hit single taxpayers at $54,000 of income and married couples at $84,000. Those are hardly wealthy people; they are in the heart of the middle class. Further, because of the way the AMT works, most of the truly wealthy don't get hit by it; the tax hits the middle class much harder. This is the tax that the Dems want to "restore"
And how about the estate and gift taxes? The GOP plan changed the exemptions but kept the tax. The point of the change was to make it possible for family farms and small businesses to be retained by heirs rather than being forced to sell these assets to pay high estate taxes. For a billionaire, the changes were minuscule. Once again, the Democrats aren't aiming their tax plan at the truly wealthy, but rather at the middle class.
I can't believe that the Dems are positioning themselves as the party of higher taxes, but they are. How many people are going to be won over by that? I don't think the number will be too high.
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