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TomCADem

(17,378 posts)
Sat Apr 29, 2017, 12:48 AM Apr 2017

NYT Editorial - President Trumps Laughable Plan to Cut His Own Taxes

Some sober analysis of a tax plan that you will rarely see on network or cable news.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/opinion/trumps-laughable-plan-to-cut-his-own-taxes.html?mabReward=ACTM3&recp=5&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&region=CColumn&module=Recommendation&src=rechp&WT.nav=RecEngine

As a rule, Republican presidents like offering tax cuts, and President Trump is no different. But the skimpy one-page tax proposal his administration released on Wednesday is, by any historical standard, a laughable stunt by a gang of plutocrats looking to enrich themselves at the expense of the country’s future.

Two of Mr. Trump’s top lieutenants — Steven Mnuchin and Gary Cohn, both multimillionaires and former Goldman Sachs bankers — trotted out a plan that would slash taxes for businesses and wealthy families, including Mr. Trump’s, in the vague hope of propelling economic growth. So as to not seem completely venal, they served up a few goodies for the average wage-earning family, among them fewer and lower tax brackets and a higher standard deduction.

The proposal was so empty of illustrative detail that few people could even begin to calculate its impact on their pocketbooks. Further, depending on where they live, some middle-class families might not benefit much or at all, because the plan does away with important deductions like those for state and local taxes.

* * *

Mr. Trump’s plan aims to cut corporate tax rates from 35 percent to 15 percent. To hear the administration tell it, the present rate is choking investment and killing jobs. In fact, big businesses are earning record profits, and many of them pay no federal taxes. The corporate income tax brought in just 10.6 percent of the federal government’s revenue in 2015, down from between a quarter and a third of revenue in the 1950s, according to the Pew Research Center. A better approach, as part of broad-based reform, would be to eliminate loopholes that have encouraged businesses to avoid their fair share of taxes.
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SoCalMusicLover

(3,194 posts)
2. It's Not Pointless To Those Funding The repub Party
Sat Apr 29, 2017, 04:37 AM
Apr 2017

The ultra-wealthy who finance the campaigns are glad they are getting exactly what they paid for.

Besides, the repeal of the estate tax is going to mean so much to Joe Schmo in places like South Dakota and Oklahoma. You know, the repub base. The voters who put him in office. Most of them have multi-million dollar estates, and most of them stay up nights worrying about the big, bad estate tax.

spanone

(135,636 posts)
4. this morning trump was saying he'll pay MORE in taxes under his new plan....see..
Sat Apr 29, 2017, 08:33 AM
Apr 2017

he knows more than the generals and more than all the accountants in america

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