U.S. House gives final approval to tax bill, delivering victory to Trump

[MajarTheLion]

14 hours ago, twig said:

ALL government gang spending worldwide that is not coercion-financed is "debt-financed".

 

So, my view is that ALL the money the government gang coerces from businesses/corporations is in one way or another passed on to those businesses' customers.

 

So, corporate "taxes" are extortion from ALL  consumers in every individual theft bracket. And lower government gang theft from businesses is some relief from such theft for all consumers.

 

56% of United Plantations revenue comes from 4.3% of individual government gang theft victims:

https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2017/january/federal-income-taxes-bracket

 

So, seems fair to me that they get most of the "tax cuts" in the Land of Opportunists, even though I'm not one of them.

 

What a shame such rudimentary mathematics needs to be explained to certain simpletons. I have an example at the other end of the income spectrum. I recently destroyed a leftist on another web site regarding the bottom 20% of income earners. He complained they were only getting a $70 federal income tax cut. The problem? They paya NEGATIVE tax rate of 2.2%. How much are we supposed to cut the taxes of people who not only don't pay, but get *refunds* of more than they pay in????

 

So here's another slice of math from the top. The top 20% of earners earn 51% of the income, yet pay 84% of the income taxes. So yes, of course they're going to get a bigger tax cut.

 

The only problem I see here, beyond the leftist inability to understand simple mathematics, is that they operate on base emotions like greed, envy and sloth. Sadly, that's the voter base of an entire political party in the USA.

[MajarTheLion]

I have some WONDFERFUL news to report regarding the Trump tax cuts. I'm sure this huge story being overlooked as a thread was a simple mistake. On the other hand, it's directly related to the Trump tax cuts- so it's all good.

 

Several companies have announced employee bonuses, pay increases and charitable giving as a result of and/or directly after these awesome tax cuts were passed.

 

AT&T: $1,000 bonuses to 200,000 employees and $1 billion in $300 US investment in 2018.

 

Boeing: $300 million in employee and charity-based giving.

 

Comcast: $1,000 bonuses to 100,000 non-executive employees PLUS $50 billion infrastructure investment in the next five years. Wow!

 

Fifth Third Bancorp: raising employee minimum wage to that $15 per hour so highly sought after. Great news, right???

 

Wells Fargo: raising employee minimum wage to $15 per hour, PLUS $400 million in charity. Cool!

 

http://time.com/5074911/tax-reform-bill-company-investments-bonuses/

 

I'm sure we can all agree this is wonderful news, yes? And just think about it- this is just five companies. Obviously, a person familiar with the concept of interpolation can use their imagination and be thrilled that America will see much more good news like this in the coming months!

[lannarebirth]

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Right, which is why I don't understand why they lowered the top rate. The amount they get back is insignificant to the wealthy, so why not leave it as it was? I guess it's more to do with ideology than sense though.

All they achieved by doing so was to give the Dems a stick to beat them with.

The biggest thing I regret though, is that they kept 7 brackets instead of making it 3, as was suggested, and I can't understand why they start the lowest bracket at $1 when they then give a tax break of $10,000 or something. Why not just start the lowest bracket at $10,000?

 

In the US, taxable income is adjusted gross income  minus allowances for personal exemptions and / or itemized deductions.

[ilostmypassword]

1 hour ago, MajarTheLion said:

I have some WONDFERFUL news to report regarding the Trump tax cuts. I'm sure this huge story being overlooked as a thread was a simple mistake. On the other hand, it's directly related to the Trump tax cuts- so it's all good.

 

Several companies have announced employee bonuses, pay increases and charitable giving as a result of and/or directly after these awesome tax cuts were passed.

 

AT&T: $1,000 bonuses to 200,000 employees and $1 billion in $300 US investment in 2018.

 

Boeing: $300 million in employee and charity-based giving.

 

Comcast: $1,000 bonuses to 100,000 non-executive employees PLUS $50 billion infrastructure investment in the next five years. Wow!

 

Fifth Third Bancorp: raising employee minimum wage to that $15 per hour so highly sought after. Great news, right???

 

Wells Fargo: raising employee minimum wage to $15 per hour, PLUS $400 million in charity. Cool!

 

http://time.com/5074911/tax-reform-bill-company-investments-bonuses/

 

I'm sure we can all agree this is wonderful news, yes? And just think about it- this is just five companies. Obviously, a person familiar with the concept of interpolation can use their imagination and be thrilled that America will see much more good news like this in the coming months!

Most of these companies have various reasons to want to butter up Donald Trump. The only one I don't know has a reason is Fifth Third Bancorp. Bonuses - big deal. It's a one time thing. More impressive if those bonuses were raises. That would reflect faith in the future. As for raising wages to $15 per hour. I guess that depends on what percentage of their work forces make less. Boeing is one of the few industries left that has a strong union so they don't have any employees making less than $15 per hour. The conservative justices on the Supreme Court have unions in their sights.  Trump has managed to install a viciously anti-labor supreme court justice. Just one more like him and workers in the USA will be screwed over for a long time to come.

[MajarTheLion]

2 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Most of these companies have various reasons to want to butter up Donald Trump. The only one I don't know has a reason is Fifth Third Bancorp. Bonuses - big deal. It's a one time thing. More impressive if those bonuses were raises. That would reflect faith in the future. As for raising wages to $15 per hour. I guess that depends on what percentage of their work forces make less. Boeing is one of the few industries left that has a strong union so they don't have any employees making less than $15 per hour. The conservative justices on the Supreme Court have unions in their sights.  Trump has managed to install a viciously anti-labor supreme court justice. Just one more like him and workers in the USA will be screwed over for a long time to come.

Large corporations almost always have good reason to "butter up" a president. That's nothing new. The fact remains, Donald Trump and the Republican party already delivered the goods to the evil corporations. So what do you suppose they are buttering up Donald Trump for?

 

I have a different attitude about bonuses. If I were an employee, I would be grateful for a $1,000 bonus. You, on the other hand, are practically complaining about them! That seems quite odd to me.

 

As to your posting about the Supreme Court, that is completely off-topic and I see no need to address your diversion.

 

I remain happy companies are paying bonuses, giving to charity, increasing wages and targeting money for infrastructure investment as a result of the Trump tax cuts. I'm sorry to see that to you, it appears to be bad news.

 

[riclag]

16 hours ago, ToS2014 said:

The new bill that passed did not repeal the entire ACA.  It ended the individual mandate, that is the government cannot tell me that I must have a government schemed insurance.  I feel the government should not tell me, nor even get into the insurance market on a personal level.  To fix it, a good start would be to focus on the billions that the insurance companies make; just my humble opinion....and yea, I know it smells.

I like doing away with the mandate. I don't need ACA Insurance while I'm in Thailand.I won't have to pay a $800 fine for not carrying the mandatory Ins. Yup, those Ins.companies never loose.

Edited December 22, 2017 by riclag

[MajarTheLion]

1 minute ago, riclag said:

I like doing away with the mandate. I don't need ACA Insurance while I'm in Thailand.I won't have to pay a $800 fine for not carrying the mandatory Ins. Those companies never loose.

I agree, and am still in the US. The less force and coercion we allow government to engage in, the better. Of course, this assumes one wants to live in a free country. Based on many posts I read here, it appears many prefer totalitarianism.

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎12‎/‎23‎/‎2017 at 12:44 AM, lannarebirth said:

 

In the US, taxable income is adjusted gross income  minus allowances for personal exemptions and / or itemized deductions.

Not being particularly clever with mathematics I'll take your word on that, but if I ruled the world there would be no deductions for anything and a low personal income tax starting at eg $10,000 income. In other words, everyone could indeed send their tax return in on a postcard.

I'd make the money on sales tax, which would start out low on essentials like food and fuel, and be extremely high on luxury items, plus an even higher tax on luxury imports.

However, not being ruler of the world, it'll be just a daydream.

[ilostmypassword]

On 12/23/2017 at 2:06 AM, MajarTheLion said:

I agree, and am still in the US. The less force and coercion we allow government to engage in, the better. Of course, this assumes one wants to live in a free country. Based on many posts I read here, it appears many prefer totalitarianism.

And soon people with pre-existing condtions and no workplace health insurance, will enjoy the freedom not to have health care.

[thaibeachlovers]

10 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

And soon people with pre-existing condtions and no workplace health insurance, will enjoy the freedom not to have health care.

If Americans want socialism, they should vote for socialist parties.

The founding fathers did not include free health care for all in the constitution.

[lannarebirth]

Here's one much needed change to the corporate tax code:

 

http://www.businessinsider.com/what-trump-tax-law-means-for-companies-corporate-interest-expense-2017-12

 

Another change I'd like to see in future reforms is a higher bracket for non pass through companies with high revenues but few employees.  Mostly tech and some finance companies would be impacted by that.

[Opl]

Because Trump says so .... (Trump's private comment to his Mar-a-Lago friends may have contradicted his public statements)  .

 

"You all just got a lot richer," Trump tells friends, referencing tax overhaul"

-> Americans who make between $500,000 and $1,000,000 each year, according to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center. will see an increase of 4.3 percentage points in their income,

-> those who earn between $20,000 and $30,000 will see an increase of 0.7 percentage points

and so on..

 

https://www.salon.com/2017/12/24/trump-brags-at-mar-a-lago-that-he-just-made-his-rich-friends-a-lot-richer/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-mar-a-lago-christmas-trip/.

 

And because Trump does so.......Trump and Cronies Lie About How Capitalism Works in Claiming Tax Cut Will Lift Wages

" Capitalists understand that corporate profits don’t determine wages but rather the dynamics of labor supply and demand do.

In the case of Mar-a-Lago’s hiring practices, Trump’s resort is deliberately trying to undermine the forces that raise worker wages by bringing in foreign workers—because that’s how capitalism works. Corporations, like Carrier and Trump’s businesses, seek to pay the lowest wages possible."

http://www.politicususa.com/2017/12/24/trump-cronies-lie-capitalism-works-claiming-tax-cut-lift-wages.html

 

Merry XMAS!

 

 

Edited December 25, 2017 by Opl

[thaihome]

On 12/23/2017 at 2:03 AM, riclag said:

I like doing away with the mandate. I don't need ACA Insurance while I'm in Thailand.I won't have to pay a $800 fine for not carrying the mandatory Ins. Yup, those Ins.companies never loose.

You never had to pay the fine if you lived in Thailand. People that qualify as bona fide residents or physical presence test in a foreign country have always been exempt from the mandate. You have been told this before.

TH 

 

Edited December 25, 2017 by thaihome

[jackh]

On 12/23/2017 at 2:08 AM, ilostmypassword said:

Most of these companies have various reasons to want to butter up Donald Trump. The only one I don't know has a reason is Fifth Third Bancorp. Bonuses - big deal. It's a one time thing. More impressive if those bonuses were raises. That would reflect faith in the future. As for raising wages to $15 per hour. I guess that depends on what percentage of their work forces make less. Boeing is one of the few industries left that has a strong union so they don't have any employees making less than $15 per hour. The conservative justices on the Supreme Court have unions in their sights.  Trump has managed to install a viciously anti-labor supreme court justice. Just one more like him and workers in the USA will be screwed over for a long time to come.

In this day and age, there is no place for unions. They are nothing more than legalized mafia.

[blazes]

14 hours ago, jackh said:

In this day and age, there is no place for unions. They are nothing more than legalized mafia.

 

No place for unions in this day and age?  Oh yes, I forgot, the number of workers earning more than minimum wage all over the USA is miniscule.  Who will try to rectify that?  Trumpet Man?  All the corrupt politicians on both sides?  All the CEOs of all those Apples with $200 billion sitting in a nice pile waiting to be doled out to the workers?

Dream on.

The class war can only begin to be won if there is an uncorrupt union movement leading the way to greater economic justice.....

 

*Foreign language edited out*

Edited December 26, 2017 by Scott

[thaibeachlovers]

16 hours ago, jackh said:

In this day and age, there is no place for unions. They are nothing more than legalized mafia.

Seriously? While I agree that some unions may have been taken over by the wrong people, a good union gets a better deal for its workers.

My career choice unfortunately had a very rubbish union that did nothing for it's members and our wages were way under what they should have been with a decent union.

Without unions in the past, all us workers would still be living in poverty, and seems to be happening again. People forget so quickly.

[thaihome]

20 hours ago, jackh said:

In this day and age, there is no place for unions. They are nothing more than legalized mafia.

Looks to me like we need unions more now then since the 1920's.

TH 

[jackh]

13 hours ago, blazes said:

 

No place for unions in this day and age?  Oh yes, I forgot, the number of workers earning more than minimum wage all over the USA is miniscule.  Who will try to rectify that?  Trumpet Man?  All the corrupt politicians on both sides?  All the CEOs of all those Apples with $200 billion sitting in a nice pile waiting to be doled out to the workers?

Dream on.

The class war can only begin to be won if there is an uncorrupt union movement leading the way to greater economic justice.....

 

*Foreign language edited out*

Well there you go! " IF there is an uncorrupt union........."   No such thing.  Unions played an important role 100 years ago. Now they have no function like I said. Just another hand in my pocket taking my hard earned $$ for their own political/econmic agendas. I would never work for any unionized company.