GOP Giveaway
Republicans rush to push a massive tax break for America’s wealthiest through with little scrutiny
Who would have thought that the fate of the Senate tax giveaway would rest on the shoulders of Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake?
Yet here we are: The Senate is planning to push a massive, partisan tax cut for the richest Americans through the Senate in as little time as possible. The GOP’s Senate plan would increase the deficit by a staggering $1.5 trillion dollars over 10 years; would raise taxes on many middle-class Americans; would hike taxes on college students; and carve new loopholes into the tax code instead of removing them. (Tax breaks for private jets, really? That’s clearing the barnacles off the tax code?)
McCain has proven that he’ll sink a major GOP initiative with his vote against the half-baked healthcare plan earlier this year. And he voted against the Bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003, fearing that the benefits would largely go to America’s wealthiest and the deficit would explode—which, by the way, is exactly what happened. And it’s what’s going to happen with this package, too, so it’s possible that the old McCain will re-emerge for this vote, although he’s been making supportive noises about cutting taxes this week.
Flake is among the senators who are expressing concern about the way the plan will increase the deficit—especially because the way the Senate has set up the legislation, lawmakers will either have to raise taxes on middle-income Americans in 10 years or the cost of the proposal rises even more. And since GOP senators are already promising that no politician would allow taxes to rise on middle-class Americans, it’s obvious they’re just gaming the system to keep the technical cost within the arcane rules of budget legislation, so the deficit is going to increase by even more than the projected $1.5 trillion.
Given how much Republican lawmakers squawked about the deficit while President Barack Obama was in office, it’s a bit astonishing to see how little they care about it today—but in the end, this legislation shows they are far more concerned about helping out corporate interests and the wealthiest of the wealthy than they are in balancing the budget, improving health care, dealing with undocumented youth or handling any other other real problems facing most Americans.
It appears that voters have caught on to the sham here, though. The tax bill is remarkably unpopular. A recent survey of 400 Arizona voters by Hart Research Associates showed just 26 percent of Arizonans approved of the tax plan, while 44 percent are opposed. More than half of those surveyed, 52 percent, believe the plan will primarily benefit the wealthy. And 51 percent of Arizona Republicans say it’s more important to reduce the deficit than pass an across-the-board tax cut. Those numbers mirror national polls that are showing that the idea of borrowing money to cut taxes for people at the top of the food chain isn’t something voters are clamoring for.
But don’t expect Rep. Martha McSally to raise a peep about the budget-busting nature of this giveaway. McSally, who has her eye set on the Senate, eagerly voted in favor of the House version of this bill. How bad does McSally want to make that leap to the Senate? She tweeted out a photo of herself in President Donald Trump‘s embrace, raising a big thumb’s up at the thought of borrowing more money to give away to millionaires and billionaires.
Speaking of Rep. Martha McSally’s plans to move on to the Senate: We hear the big contenders on the GOP side are Lea Márquez Peterson, the president and CEO of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and former state lawmaker Ted Vogt, who is now working as executive director of the Arizona Corporation Commission.
On the Democratic side, there’s already a full lineup with Ann Kirkpatrick, the former representative of Congressional District 1; former state lawmakers Matt Heinz and Bruce Wheeler; Mary Matiella, a former assistant secretary of the Army; and Billy Kovacs, a hotel manager making his first foray into politics.
But if McSally does indeed give up the seat and run for the U.S. Senate, there’s another Democrat who is thinking about getting into the race: Pima County Supervisor Richard Elías. If Elías enters the race, it will likely spell trouble for Matiella, if Congressman Raul Grijalva decides to shift his endorsement to his old friend on the Pima County Board of Supervisors.
The televised edition of Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel airs 6:30 p.m. Fridays on the Creative Tucson network, Cox Channel 20 and Comcast Channel 74. This week’s guests are Nancy Jones of Old Pueblo Community Services and Tyler Meier, executive director of the UA Poetry Center. The TV show repeats Sunday mornings at 9 a.m. The radio edition of Zona Politics airs at 5 p.m. Sundays on community radio KXCI, 91.3 FM. This week’s radio guest is former Reagan administration official Bruce Bartlett, author of Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy and The Truth Matters: A Citizen’s Guide to Separating Facts from Lies and Stopping Fake News in Its Tracks.
This article appears in Nov 30 – Dec 6, 2017.
Yeah that Grijalva endorsement carries a ton of weight. Using tax payer money to pay off harrassed employee makes him a real slug. Pay the money back and resign because he is the swamp.
Apropos of nothing in the article, but of the last comment by Jonathan K—sixteen women have come forward and claimed that the President has 16 sexually molested them. While Democrat lawmakers fall like bowling pins, who among our supine press or Congress will suggest that he undergo an Ethics Committee Review and resign?
Just heard McCain will vote for it. YES!!
Thank you Sen McCain for lighting up the American economy with jobs, pay raises, home sales, and destroying the Progressive/Socialist nightmare.
Now it’s time to resign.
News out yesterday that McCain’s cancer is “back” (truth is, cancer never “leaves”), and today he announces his support for the tax “reform” fiasco.
Rest in Peace, John.
One man’s fiasco is another man’s economic boom. Obama spent eight years solving poverty and finding jobs for black youths. It didn’t work. Socialism never does.
A Democrat has about as much chance of winning an AZ senate seat as Tucson has of a white Christmas.
Democrats want to tax the rich to give Americans welfare while bringing in immigrants to take their jobs. Republicans aren’t much better but at least they’re more honest about it.
The welfare meme has gotten old and stale and only works on the racists and bigots. It never ceases to amaze me that the poor republicans cling to the idea that the rich deserve more than the 99 percent and should pay less. Perhaps John Steinbeck was right when he said “socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as exploited proletariat, but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.” As for socialism itself, it touches every day of your life, even as you flush the toilet, and turning the “have a little” against the “have nots” is an old fascist trick that seems to be working. Eisenhower pretty much called it when he warned that militarism will rob us of community, planet and country as it sucks our pockets dry. WWI created 21,000 new millionaires. Can only imagine what continual wars since then have wrought for the rich and cost the poor.
You got it. War should cause poverty for the country that wins the war. Shared misery just doesn’t seem to be enough for some. Nor is winning and stopping aggressors. We lose our way when we make the assumption that we somehow have become the aggressor. Someone will always gain and lose income from any actions. That should be taught, not fought.
“The tax bill is remarkably unpopular.” And yet our two heroic senators voted for it. Their hypocrisy shouldn’t be all that surprising, did anyone really think think adding to the debt would take precedent over anything that would line their pockets and their donors’ pockets? They’re Republicans, it’s what they do. At least they’re honest about being bought, Democrats like to pretend they’re the party of the middle class and poor when they’re basically Republican-lite (moderate Republicans cool with abortion and gay marriage). This country desperately needs to get money out of politics and make campaigns publicly financed, granting access to all political parties as real democracies do.
The unpopularity of the tax bill is irrelevant. What will be relevant is its impact on our economy. Will growth take off or not? What will be the impact on our deficit?
After Reagan reduced personal income tax rates from 70% to 28% and corporate from 45% to 35%, the combined personal and corporate federal revenues hit records in both 1987 and 1988. Plus, the economy grew 4.7% in 1987 and 3.6% in 1988, more than double Obama’s 2.9% in 2015 and 1.5% in 2016.
Lower tax rates can result in higher revenues and much higher growth. Tax revenues went up after Kennedy and Coolidge did dramatic tax cuts too.
In 1980, taxpayers with an AGI of $80,000 or more (the top 1% of taxpayers in 1980) paid $47 billion in income taxes. Adjusted for inflation, $80,000 in 1980 is $238,000 today. This year taxpayers with an AGI of $238,000 or more will pay over $850 billion. Thats not a trickle, thats not a river, thats not a tsunami, thats a whole ocean. They went from paying 19% of all U.S. personal income taxes to paying over 50%.
Edward Prescott, Nobel Prize winner, found that the higher taxes of Europe caused people to start work later in life, retire earlier, take more sick leave, take more vacation, work less intensely, work less ambitiously, grow less intelligent as adults and produce corporations with lower market values.
That’s why Europe’s stock market is at $8 trillion and ours is at $29.9 trillion. Because Reagan reduced our tax rates.
That’s why U.S. jobs have grown 60% since 1980 while Europe jobs have grown less than 26%.
Thats why U.S. real median per capita personal income has increased 44% since 1981.
Higher taxes make people less intelligent? Classic crazy from the idiot who thinks hip hop is the tool of Satan!
Are you saying that it isn’t? That’s crazy.
And if anyone knows crazy, or at least what it’s like to be delusional, it’s Wayne Olson.