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Biggest Reform EVER passed thread

First I've seen of this and this article reeks of a pre-emptive PR move by this advocacy group but something to keep an eye on. Especially if you currently take advantage of public servant loan forgiveness programs or planning your career with this benefit in mind.


Scrapping loan forgiveness for public servants hurts our democracy

http://thehill.com/opinion/civil-ri...eness-for-public-servants-hurts-our-democracy

the article is kind of out of nowhere unless, as you say, something will be included in tax reform. as someone in the program, i hope it's not entirely scrapped. I do think there are reforms that could be done to improve it for public servants as well as the cost for government in the long run.
 
Ummmm..... Only Norway and Luxemburg have a smaller lower class than the US. Considering our population and diversity we are doing very well.

Depends on your definition of "very well".

the table I posted includes the impact of tax transfers on incomes (i.e. cash assistance, earned income tax credits, etc.) but I do not believe it includes the impact of other government programs such as healthcare and free higher education. The lower class may be bigger in the Eurozone, but those people get a lot more help from their governments than poor people here get.

That fact partially explains other comparative elements to highlight between the US and other rich countries, such economic mobility and overall happiness.

In the US, if you are born poor, you're very likely to remain poor, especially in the South.
snapshot-mobility.png.608

http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/reports/0001/01/01/economic-mobility-of-the-states

And, the US has been falling for years in the "happiness index" which sounds corny but is a measure of overall life satisfaction based on sound data.
http://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/206468/happiest-unhappiest-countries-world.aspx

And as exhaustively discussed in other threads, Americans have worse health outcomes than other countries, despite paying many times more for healthcare. Of course, the poor in America have the worst health outcomes of all.

the point of all this, when it comes to tax policy, is to simply ask the question "what are the needs of the country, and how should we arrange our tax policy to meet those needs"? The upper income group in America is large, it's doing extremely well, it's sitting on huge piles of cash and investments, and there is no evidence at all for the idea that another big tax cut for that group is going to help any of the serious problems facing America today. The lower income group and middle income groups are heavily burdened by healthcare costs/access and higher education costs. Raising taxes or cutting their benefits to pay for a big tax cut for the wealthy is certainly not going to help.
 
it's out or has been leaked. WSJ has an article but there's a paywall

Phil Mattingly and Richard Rubin with solid updates if you are on the Twitter
 
I found something I like!

Tax-exempt bonds could no longer be used to build professional sports stadiums.

Still trying to figure out how they are keeping this under the $1.5T needed to pass the Senate.
 
I found something I like!



Still trying to figure out how they are keeping this under the $1.5T needed to pass the Senate.

looks like several of the provisions sunset after a few years. That's a favorite dodge to manipulate the CBO score which goes out 10 years. If you sunset a tax break five or six years out, the CBO scores it as though all that revenue reappears in the later years. Of course as we know those cans tend to get kicked down the road so the sunset never happens.

ETA: before anyone throws partisan darts, i should note that this tactic has been widely used by both parties, very notably so (although in reverse) by Democrats with the ACA.
 
Even then! How can you cut the corporate tax rate by 40%, double the income for the top tax bracket, double the estate tax exemption, and not explode the deficit? I'd be interested to know how much revenue will be brought in by eliminating the deduction for interest payments at businesses. Getting rid of the deduction for state and local taxes could be dicey for NY and NJ Republicans. Eliminating the deductions for student loan interest payments, medical costs, and the adoption credit just look bad politically.

I'm sure people smarter than me will have analyses with numbers out soon.
 
By making the biggest changes to the corporate tax rate they can play the game of nobody knows what that will do to companies but we are betting on explosive economic growth so it’s neutral.
 
The house bill repeals the industry I work in. Fun times.
 
By making the biggest changes to the corporate tax rate they can play the game of nobody knows what that will do to companies but we are betting on explosive economic growth so it’s neutral.

I have no doubt you are right that they will sell it that way, but if the CBO says it increases the deficit by more than $1.5T, won't it need 60 votes in the Senate?
 
Even then! How can you cut the corporate tax rate by 40%, double the income for the top tax bracket, double the estate tax exemption, and not explode the deficit? I'd be interested to know how much revenue will be brought in by eliminating the deduction for interest payments at businesses. Getting rid of the deduction for state and local taxes could be dicey for NY and NJ Republicans. Eliminating the deductions for student loan interest payments, medical costs, and the adoption credit just look bad politically.

I'm sure people smarter than me will have analyses with numbers out soon.

There are 14 Republicans in the CA delegation. Topping the interest deduction at $500K impacts hundreds of thousands of people in CA.
 
the new changes save me about $3,400. Sign me up. Taxing the first $90k at 12% for married couples really is a significant change for the middle class. And I don't mind the changes that hurt the people on the coasts, that seems more fair for the country as a whole. Property taxes being limited to $10k sounds about right to me too, we don't need to give tax breaks for people with more than million dollar homes.
 
Liberals loooove Donald's tax plan, when they think Hillary pitch it. Team politics in action.
 
Tweaking taxes as a whole for anyone that isn’t insanely wealthy is just moving money around here and there. Like 3000 dollars more, 3000 dollars less really isn’t anything.
 
Also, it could be a huge boon to pretty much everyone if you can deduct the home interest + prop taxes AND take the standard deduction. Not sure if it's either/or yet.
 
Also, it could be a huge boon to pretty much everyone if you can deduct the home interest + prop taxes AND take the standard deduction. Not sure if it's either/or yet.

No, mortgage interest, property taxes, charitable contributions are still itemized, not above the line deductions.
 
And the few states that are negatively affected can alter their own state taxes if they wish.
 
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