U.S. Senate approves major tax cuts in victory for Trump

[rooster59]

U.S. Senate approves major tax cuts in victory for Trump

By David Morgan and Amanda Becker

 

U.S. President Donald Trump smiles as he arrives to speak about tax reform legislation in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. November 29, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate narrowly approved a tax overhaul on Saturday, moving Republicans and President Donald Trump a big step closer to their goal of slashing taxes for businesses and the rich while offering everyday Americans a mixed bag of changes.

 

In what would be the largest change to U.S. tax laws since the 1980s, Republicans want to add $1.4 trillion over 10 years to the $20 trillion national debt to finance changes that they say would further boost an already growing economy.

 

"We are one step closer to delivering MASSIVE tax cuts for working families across America," Trump said in an early-morning tweet.

 

U.S. stock markets have rallied for months in the hope that Washington would provide significant tax cuts for corporations.

 

Celebrating their Senate victory, Republican leaders predicted the tax cuts would encourage U.S. companies to invest more and boost economic growth.

 

"We have an opportunity now to make America more competitive, to keep jobs from being shipped offshore and to provide substantial relief to the middle class," said Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate.

 

The Senate approved their bill in a 51-49 vote with Democrats complaining that last-minute amendments to win over skeptical Republicans were poorly drafted and vulnerable to being gamed later by lawyers and accountants in the tax avoidance industry.

 

"The Republicans have managed to take a bad bill and make it worse," said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. "Under the cover of darkness and with the aid of haste, a flurry of last-minute changes will stuff even more money into the pockets of the wealthy and the biggest corporations."

 

No Democrats voted for the bill, but they were unable to block it because Republicans hold a 52-48 Senate majority.

 

Talks will begin, likely next week, between the Senate and the House of Representatives, which has already approved its own tax bill.

 

Trump wants that to happen before the end of the year, allowing him and his Republicans to score their first major legislative achievement of 2017, despite controlling the White House, the Senate and the House since he took office in January.

 

Republicans failed in their efforts to repeal the Obamacare healthcare law over the summer and Trump's presidency has been hit by White House in-fighting and by a federal investigation into possible collusion last year between his election campaign team and Russian officials.

 

The tax overhaul is seen by Trump and Republicans as crucial to their prospects at mid-term elections in November 2018, when they will have to defend their majorities in Congress.

 

In a legislative battle that moved so fast a final draft of the bill was unavailable to the public until just hours before the vote, Democrats slammed the proposed tax cuts as a give-away to businesses and the rich financed with billions of dollars in taxpayer debt.

 

The framework for both the Senate and House bills was developed in secret over a few months by a half-dozen Republican congressional leaders and Trump advisers, with little input from the party's rank-and-file and none from Democrats.

 

Six Republican senators, who wanted and got last-minute amendments and whose votes had been in doubt, said on Friday they would back the bill and did so.

 

Senator Bob Corker, one of few remaining Republican fiscal hawks who pledged early on to oppose any bill that expanded the federal deficit, stood out as the lone Republican dissenter.

 

"I am not able to cast aside my fiscal concerns and vote for legislation that ... could deepen the debt burden on future generations," said Corker, who is not running for re-election.

 

KEY CHANGES

 

Numerous last-minute changes were made to the bill on Friday and in the early morning hours of Saturday.

 

One was to make state and local property tax deductible up to $10,000, mirroring the House bill. The Senate previously had proposed entirely ending state and local tax deductibility.

 

In another change, the alternative minimum tax (AMT), both for individuals and corporations, would not be repealed in full. Instead, the individual AMT would be adjusted and the corporate AMT would be maintained as is, lobbyists said.

 

Another change would put a five-year limit on letting businesses immediately write off the full value of new capital investments. That would phase out over four years starting in year six, rather than be permanent as initially proposed.

 

Under the bill, the corporate tax rate would be permanently slashed to 20 percent from 35 percent, while future foreign profits of U.S.-based firms would be largely exempted from tax -- both changes pursued by corporate lobbyists for years.

 

On the individual side of the tax code, the top tax rate paid by the highest-income earners would be cut slightly.

 

The Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank, analyzed an earlier but broadly similar version of the bill passed by the Senate tax committee on Nov. 16 and found it would reduce taxes for all income groups in 2019 and 2025, with the largest average tax cuts going to the highest-income Americans.

 

Two Republican senators announced their support for the bill on Friday after winning more tax relief for non-corporate pass-through businesses.

These include partnerships and other companies not organized as public corporations, ranging from mom-and-pop concerns to large financial and real estate groups.

 

The bill now features a 23 percent tax deduction for such business owners, up from the original 17.4 percent.

 

Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said Trump controls more than 500 pass-through companies that will directly benefit. "So the president may be celebrating, but most Americans will rue this day," Blumenthal said.

 

The Senate bill would gut a section of Obamacare by repealing a fee paid by some Americans who do not buy health insurance, a step critics said would undermine the Obamacare system and raise insurance premiums for the sick and the old.

 

Senator Susan Collins, a moderate Republican, said she obtained commitments from Republican leaders that steps would be taken later in separate legislation to minimize the impact of the repeal of the "individual mandate" fee.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-12-02

[swissie]

Thank God. Helping mostly the downtrodden Millionaires and Billionaires.
Trickle down effect, Laffer-Curve once more?
Cheers.

[sirineou]

The Trump Family and Friends tax cut. that our children will pay to the toon of $1 trillion  increase in deficit spending in the next 10 years.  and reductions on social security and Medicare.. In the meantime the repeal  of the coverage  mandate of the ACA will increase premiums making coverage unaffordable for many  and erasing any tax gains for those in the middle class that get any..

Way to go Deficit Chicken Hawks   

[Jingthing]

The USA has been hijacked by a toxic combo of idiocracy, trollocracy, and KLEPTOCRACY. Give me the "swamp" any day over this. 
 

[Samui Bodoh]

It does make sense to drop the corporate tax rate and close loopholes; I think most knowledgeable people would agree.

 

What does not make sense is lowering the taxes on the wealthy at the expense of the less well-off. And getting rid of the estate tax is nothing more than a sop for the political donor class.

 

What has happened to the USA? In the past the US has been, despite all its faults, a model that other people could look up to and aspire to something similar.

 

Now, bought politicians have voted to create a feral society where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

 

It is a sorrowful thing to watch...

 

[lannarebirth]

 

 

Quote

 

Here's Senator Tester being a bit testy that he was expected to vote on a 479-page bill just a few hours before it was handed to him.  The margins are full of hand-written scribbles, much of which is undecipherable.  Anyone want to guess what the encircled word is?

 

 

 

Quote

 

They're voting on something that can't even be read. 

 

 

I think it says "attributable to".  There's precedent for voting on massive, life changing bills without reading them. See Obamacare and Patriot Act passage for similar stories.

Edited December 2, 2017 by lannarebirth

[lannarebirth]

1 minute ago, Samui Bodoh said:

It does make sense to drop the corporate tax rate and close loopholes; I think most knowledgeable people would agree.

 

What does not make sense is lowering the taxes on the wealthy at the expense of the less well-off. And getting rid of the estate tax is nothing more than a sop for the political donor class.

 

What has happened to the USA? In the past the US has been, despite all its faults, a model that other people could look up to and aspire to something similar.

 

Now, bought politicians have voted to create a feral society where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

 

It is a sorrowful thing to watch...

 

 

I don't think they got rid of the estate tax I think it was raised from 5.** million to 11.** million which it would have gotten to soon anyhow. Probably ought to be somewhere between those two figures.

[craigt3365]

Partisan politics at it's worst. They should all be fired. All of them.

[FreddieRoyle]

Nicely done Trump, another tremendous achievement, and never again can the haters claim you have achieved nothing. It definitely makes sense to reward the entrepreneurs, those with the stones to gamble, to invest, to create jobs. The rewarding of freeloaders might have benefited fried chicken takeaways but come on guys we have a whole economy to boost here. This is what Trump meant by MAGA, and boy is he delivering.

[craigt3365]

42 minutes ago, FreddieRoyle said:

Nicely done Trump, another tremendous achievement, and never again can the haters claim you have achieved nothing. It definitely makes sense to reward the entrepreneurs, those with the stones to gamble, to invest, to create jobs. The rewarding of freeloaders might have benefited fried chicken takeaways but come on guys we have a whole economy to boost here. This is what Trump meant by MAGA, and boy is he delivering.

You are aware the senators have no idea what they voted for. It was being written as they were voting and even after they voted. And you think that is good?

 

Politics at it's worst. Especially as it will significantly increase the US debt.

 

MAGA!

[Becker]

48 minutes ago, FreddieRoyle said:

Nicely done Trump, another tremendous achievement, and never again can the haters claim you have achieved nothing. It definitely makes sense to reward the entrepreneurs, those with the stones to gamble, to invest, to create jobs. The rewarding of freeloaders might have benefited fried chicken takeaways but come on guys we have a whole economy to boost here. This is what Trump meant by MAGA, and boy is he delivering.

You mean MAPA (Make America Poorer Again)?

 

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/53297

 

[Berkshire]

49 minutes ago, FreddieRoyle said:

Nicely done Trump, another tremendous achievement, and never again can the haters claim you have achieved nothing. It definitely makes sense to reward the entrepreneurs, those with the stones to gamble, to invest, to create jobs. The rewarding of freeloaders might have benefited fried chicken takeaways but come on guys we have a whole economy to boost here. This is what Trump meant by MAGA, and boy is he delivering.

You Trump guys continue to vote against your own self-interest.  After a few years when it's clear that economic growth is not nearly enough to offset the deficit, how is the US gov going to pay for all these tax cuts?  One word--entitlements.  We're talking social security, medicare, federal/military pension, etc., all getting cut.  I hope you guys have a big nestegg. 

[Becker]

47 minutes ago, FreddieRoyle said:

Do you have a credible link showing that there were "millions of retards" that voted for Trump? You might not have notice but labelling political opponents as "deplorables" did not go down so well at the polling station. Time for an attitude adjustment perhaps?

Why? Those who still support that lying sack of amoral shit currently desecrating the office of the President are deplorable - end of story.

[lannarebirth]

Does anyone know if the current tax bill, once passed will apply to 2017 earnings or if it is to be implemented for 2018 returns? 

[habanero]

Nothing stopping any of you from returning any extra money you may receive from your tax refund to the treasury department if you feel that strongly about it. But, i'm betting none of you will do it.

[boomerangutang]

Trump doesn't know any details of the Tax Bill.  It's like getting a street sweeper to design the next space shuttle.  Neither Repubs nor Dems read the drafts, because the drafts weren't even ready to read before the votes.  Rich Republican donors are happy, so it's all worthwhile.

[craigt3365]

17 minutes ago, habanero said:

Nothing stopping any of you from returning any extra money you may receive from your tax refund to the treasury department if you feel that strongly about it. But, i'm betting none of you will do it.

Dumb post of the day.

 

13 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

Trump doesn't know any details of the Tax Bill.  It's like getting a street sweeper to design the next space shuttle.  Neither Repubs nor Dems read the drafts, because the drafts weren't even ready to read before the votes.  Rich Republican donors are happy, so it's all worthwhile.

Trump just said he may change the bill. LOL

 

A long way to go to get this passed. The 2 bills have to be reconciled.

[Boon Mee]

Don't believe the Nattering Nabobs of Negativism in the left wing press. This tax reform is a Big Win for all American taxpayers. 

[bendejo]

30 minutes ago, Berkshire said:

You Trump guys continue to vote against your own self-interest.  After a few years when it's clear that economic growth is not nearly enough to offset the deficit, how is the US gov going to pay for all these tax cuts?  One word--entitlements.  We're talking social security, medicare, federal/military pension, etc., all getting cut.  I hope you guys have a big nestegg. 

 

Voting against your own self-interest is a very Republican practice, been going on for ages, there's even books written about it.  DT knows he polls best among the poorly educated, and plays them for the rubes they are.  His fans don't know Obamacare and the ACA are the same thing.  Cruz tries to appeal to the same base, during the campaign they had a race to the bottom, with Cruz openly accusing DT of using his own sleazy tactics. 

 

I'm hoping for something like this: after it's signed into law a bunch of Federal agents come into the Oval Office carrying a large, cylindrical object.  "Ok Mr President, take off you trousers and drawers and lean over the desk." 

"What?"

"Says it right here on page 378 of the law 'before any actions are taken on this law the president shall submit to being rectally violated with a 5-inch pipe, of no shorter than 24 inches in length, while bent over the desk of the Oval Office."

 

 

[alanrchase]

1 hour ago, FreddieRoyle said:

Nicely done Trump, another tremendous achievement, and never again can the haters claim you have achieved nothing. It definitely makes sense to reward the entrepreneurs, those with the stones to gamble, to invest, to create jobs. The rewarding of freeloaders might have benefited fried chicken takeaways but come on guys we have a whole economy to boost here. This is what Trump meant by MAGA, and boy is he delivering.

You seem to know a lot about Trump and his tax policy. On several occasions he has said it would be bad for him. Care to explain why it will be bad for him?

[ilostmypassword]

5 hours ago, lannarebirth said:

 

 

 

 

I think it says "attributable to".  There's precedent for voting on massive, life changing bills without reading them. See Obamacare and Patriot Act passage for similar stories.

Typical right wing nonsense about Obamacare. There were months of debate in the Senate and House in various committees. Yes it was complicated. But no, it wasn't cobbled together at the last minute and pushed through without debate. 'There were 25 consecutive days of open debate and discussion in the Senate. For the Republican tax bill, there was 4 hours.

[ilostmypassword]

5 hours ago, lannarebirth said:

 

I don't think they got rid of the estate tax I think it was raised from 5.** million to 11.** million which it would have gotten to soon anyhow. Probably ought to be somewhere between those two figures.

Why do you think it should be raised? Right now it applies to .02 percent of all estates. You think up to 11 million dollars isn't enough to leave untaxed? Tell us again why is it you support Bernie Sanders?

[lannarebirth]

40 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

Don't believe the Nattering Nabobs of Negativism in the left wing press. This tax reform is a Big Win for all American taxpayers. 

 

It's the ones who are too young to pay taxes YET who are the losers. 

[lannarebirth]

11 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Why do you think it should be raised? Right now it applies to .02 percent of all estates. You think up to 11 million dollars isn't enough to leave untaxed? Tell us again why is it you support Bernie Sanders?

 

I agree with the current implementation of the estate tax. I would not have raised it save for inflation. One thing that is never mentioned is that many states ALSO have inheritance taxes. The state I am about to move to levies a 16% tax on all estates over $1 million, which isn't much these days. That's in addition to whatever may be levied by the federal government.

[jackh]

Another great day for DT! Tax bill win is another step to MAGA. I am so loving all the whiners here. LOL  Gives me that warm feeling watching Trump win the election and snowflakes just going insane. Keep up the good work Donald. The tide is turning and soon the power will be back in the right place.....good Americans that care about America's future. BTW, I heard free crying towels are being handed out at Siam Square, courtesy of the great DT himself.

[wwest5829]

4 hours ago, FreddieRoyle said:

Nicely done Trump, another tremendous achievement, and never again can the haters claim you have achieved nothing. It definitely makes sense to reward the entrepreneurs, those with the stones to gamble, to invest, to create jobs. The rewarding of freeloaders might have benefited fried chicken takeaways but come on guys we have a whole economy to boost here. This is what Trump meant by MAGA, and boy is he delivering.

And now to come after my "freeloading" Social Security and Medicare. I'll be watching the Conference Committee, if they still go along with this .... give the people what they want. Then let us see the political reaction of working middle class in the 2018 elections.

[wwest5829]

2 hours ago, lannarebirth said:

 

I agree with the current implementation of the estate tax. I would not have raised it save for inflation. One thing that is never mentioned is that many states ALSO have inheritance taxes. The state I am about to move to levies a 16% tax on all estates over $1 million, which isn't much these days. That's in addition to whatever may be levied by the federal government.

As national tax support for social programs diminish, watch for the states to have to pick up the slack.

[ilostmypassword]

8 minutes ago, wwest5829 said:

And now to come after my "freeloading" Social Security and Medicare. I'll be watching the Conference Committee, if they still go along with this .... give the people what they want. Then let us see the political reaction of working middle class in the 2018 elections.

Already the Republicans have been talking about doing just this. And their major justification is the deficit, to which they just added. This is like the case of the guy who gets convicted of killing his parents and then throws himself on the mercy of the court because he's an orphan.

[FreddieRoyle]

7 minutes ago, wwest5829 said:

As national tax support for social programs diminish, watch for the states to have to pick up the slack.

Well what has been happening is the government/state agncies has grown so bloated, with most of the money being thrown around and wasted. Realistically a tax rate should be about 0.5% tops and just cut spending to balance. Government should be a very small entity, serving the people not this monstrous entity making up balmy laws and even causing havoc around the world. 99.9% of civil servants should be fired and forced into the workplace to get real jobs. Trump's tax cuts are a start to getting the government down to a more manageable size.

[thaihome]

Koch Brothers and N.R.A. Reach Timeshare Agreement Over Ownership of Paul Ryan

 

 

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In a unique accord, the billionaire Koch brothers and the National Rifle Association have reached a timeshare agreement over the ownership of House Speaker Paul Ryan, representatives of both parties have confirmed.

https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/koch-brothers-and-nra-reach-timeshare-agreement-over-ownership-of-paul-ryan