Category: Taxation

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Congress GOP Taxation WTF?!

EXPOSED: GOP Will Push $3 Trillion Tax Cut For The Rich Just Weeks After Debt Limit Deadline

As they continue to threaten the U.S. economy with a debt ceiling default that would be devastating for Americans and the reputation of the United States across the globe, the GOP is also secretly plotting to begin making a push for $3 trillion in tax cuts for the very rich.

Politico’s Brendan Duke reports that Republicans will introduce their massive tax cut just two weeks after the June 1 debt limit deadline, suggesting that they’ve been planning the measure for some time now.

Keep in mind these tax cuts would be in addition to the massive Trump tax cuts which have already ballooned the federal deficit and long-term debt, with the Center for American Progress noting:

President Donald Trump’s signature tax bill, enacted when Republicans gained control of the White House and both houses of Congress in 2017, will have cost roughly $1.7 trillion by the end of fiscal year 2023. These tax cuts reduced personal income tax rates and permanently lowered the corporate tax rate, among other changes. Despite being paired with a further expansion of the child tax credit, the 2017 changes also largely benefited the wealthy, once again making the U.S. tax code significantly more regressive.

Now add in the tax cuts passed during the presidency of George W. Bush and you wind up with $10 trillion in lost revenues that would certainly come in handy right about now, especially since Republicans have already made it clear they don’t plan to cut a dime from the Department of Defense, which will continue to see massive inflows of taxpayer money even though the United States isn’t at war with anyone.

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy notes that two-thirds of the benefits in a new tax cut would go to the richest fifth of Americans, meaning millionaires and billionaires, the very people who can afford to pay more.

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has been saying for weeks that the United States doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem, but the numbers show otherwise, and his plan to cut taxes again is the strongest proof yet that Republicans will eventually be going after Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. They deny that’s their plan, but these are the same fiscal fanatics who subscribe to what Americans for Tax Reform founder and president Grover Norquist said back in 2001:

“I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.”

If they have to drown millions of us in debt, poverty, starvation, and want, that’s a price they’re more than willing to see the average American pay to keep taxes on the rich as low as possible.

 

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Congress Economics GOP Taxation

WATCH A CNBC Host Tell Kevin McCarthy He’s A Hypocrite For Refusing To Repeal The Trump Tax Cuts

CNBC host Sara Eisen repeatedly asked Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) why he’s refusing to repeal the Trump tax cuts as part of the ongoing debate over raising the nation’s debt ceiling.

McCarthy was in New York to discuss the debt ceiling and stabilizing financial markets, and he wondered if Eisen would allow the country to continue to tax and spend: “Would you just raise the limit?”

Eisen replied, “Well, if it meant playing with America’s standing and full faith and credit of U.S. government debt, I feel like you can deal with the spending in other ways, which is totally legitimate.”

When McCarthy said debt can only be reduced with massive spending cuts, Eisen wondered, “You did it (raised the debt ceiling) three times in the Trump administration.”

The Speaker protested, “We never raised the debt ceiling by itself.”

Eisen: “And tax cuts. That was like $2 trillion in deficit.”

When McCarthy said those tax cuts had been good for the economy, Eisen countered, “So I was going to ask you about taxes because I wonder, because you want to extend the Trump tax cuts, correct? But isn’t that a little hypocritical when you’re talking about finding savings everywhere and being on an unsustainable fiscal path?”

In response, McCarthy resorted to his favorite trick: He lied.

“How’s that hypocritical when it’s bringing tax cuts, tax savings? I will always advocate for the idea that we are streamlining our tax policies, that we’re also streamlining our regulation.”

Someone please explain the basics of economics to Kevin McCarthy. It’s clear he has no damn idea what he’s talking about.

Here’s the video from CNBC:

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Congress GOP Taxation

WATCH Jake Tapper Humiliate A Republican For Lying About The IRS And Budget Deficit

CNN host Jake Tapper gave GOP Congressman Mike Johnson (LA) a lesson in basic economics and the need for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and wound up making the Republican look like a clueless dolt Tuesday on the network.

The bone of contention was legislation proposed by House Republicans that would not allow the IRS to fill 87,000 open jobs and would also increase the federal deficit.

Tapper began by noting:

“You supported the House bill we just discussed. It would rescind billions of dollars to the IRS. You tweeted, you will vote to ‘stop the 87,000 IRS agents from going after families’. That’s not true. It would be employees, not agents. The Congressional Budget Office says that your bill to get rid of those IRS employees is going to add to the deficit.”

Johnson replied:

“Only in the Bizarro World of Washington would you get an estimate that not spending the money is going to add to the deficit.”

Tapper pushed back:

“Because of enforcement more people who are avoiding paying their taxes. About ten years ago, if you made more than $10 million a year, one out of five people like that would be audited. Now it’s down to 3.6 percent. The wealthy people are getting away with not paying their taxes. Corporations too.”

Rather than admit Tapper was correct, Johnson decided to lie:

“The intent of hiring all of these new agents would have the effect of going after hard-working families and small businesses. That is not a Republican talking point. That comes from the Joint Committee on Taxation. When the Joint Committee on Taxation publishes something, it’s given a lot of weight. They’re nonpartisan.”

That’s when Tapper hit back by reminding the congressman:

“But I quoted the CBO, the CBO is nonpartisan too!”

Johnson:

“The CBO doesn’t have a lot of credibility right now. Their analysis is wildly inaccurate in a lot of ways and they don’t always do appropriate analysis.”

Tapper then asked the most important question:

“Do you think there’s a problem in this country of wealthy individuals and companies not paying their fair share in taxes?”

The congressman responded:

“That’s been a problem, of course, but it’s — we’re not preventing that. The IRS has an important job to go after tax cheats, absolutely, and we support that. We want these things to be done properly.”

But for it to be done properly requires IRS employees to do the work of tracking down tax cheats. Congressman Johnson and other Republicans say they want to stop tax fraud, but then they turn around the try to hamstring the IRS. As usual, they’re just grandstanding and using bullshit instead of facts.

Here’s the video:

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Crime Donald Trump Taxation

Trump’s Tax Returns Show At Least 26 Instances Of Fraud That He Can Be Prosecuted For

Now that we have six years of former president Donald Trump’s tax returns, experts say he should be very worried about upcoming criminal charges against him on multiple counts of tax fraud.

The returns show that Trump and his company, the Trump Organization, have been taking advantage of massive tax breaks that he vigorously lobbied Congress for over the decades.

David Cay Johnston, author of “The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family,” said Friday during an appearance on CNN that one thing stood out to him upon initial inspection of Trump’s tax returns from the years 2015 to 2020:

“They don’t show he’s successful at all.”

Johnston then elaborated:

“They clearly show that he took advantage of every lawful method of tax avoidance including ones he lobbied Congress for in 1992, successfully lobbied them for, that were enormously beneficial to him but also show at a minimum 26 examples of where Donald crossed the line. and engaged in what I believe can be prosecuted as criminal tax fraud.”

Asked for specifics, Johnston explained:

“Donald in 1984 filed tax returns that showed businesses — a business with zero revenue and $600,000 of expenses, while the city of New York and the state of New York, after trials Donald demanded, the judges held these were civil tax fraud. Well, that put him on notice he can’t do that. He did it 26 times over the six years and that is powerful evidence of criminal intent, he knew he shouldn’t do it, he did it anyway.

“And why did he get away with it? Well, being in control of the federal government, he blocked the turning over of his tax returns, he blocked the audits that are required by law and for years he didn’t receive any serious mention from the IRS auditors.”

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Donald Trump Social Media Taxation

Trump Posts Threats As His Tax Returns Are Released: ‘Going To Lead To Horrible Things’

The House Ways and Means Committee released six years of failed former president Donald Trump’s tax returns this morning, and at first blush it certainly appears that the ex-president may well have manipulated the numbers to keep his tax burden low, including not paying a dime in taxes some years.

CNN reports that during the first and last years Trump was in the White House, he paid almost nothing in taxes.

The returns, long shrouded in secrecy, were released to the public on Friday by the House Ways and Means Committee, the culmination of a battle over their disclosure that went to the Supreme Court. They confirm a report issued from the Joint Committee on Taxation that Trump claimed large losses before and throughout his presidency that he carried forward to reduce or practically eliminate his tax burden. For example, his returns show that he carried forward a $105 million loss in 2015 and $73 million in 2016.

The committee also included an analysis of Trump’s tax returns, and it too raises all sorts of questions about how he and his company, the Trump Organization, managed to have such a miniscule tax liability.

Included with the committee’s report was an analysis of the numbers from each of the six Trump tax returns by the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation. Among the JCT’s findings, the then-president paid very little federal income tax in 2017 – just $750 – and nothing in 2020. The report also showed Trump paid a combined $1.1 million in federal income taxes in 2018 and 2019, a stark contrast to the $750 he paid in 2017 and $0 in 2020.

For many years, prior to his running for president, a New York Times investigation showed that Trump had claimed huge net operating losses that he was allowed to carry forward and apply to future tax years, which greatly reduced or simply wiped out his annual income tax liability.

For example, the JCT report noted that Trump carried forward $105 million in losses on his 2015 return, $73 million in 2016, $45 million in 2017 and $23 million in 2018.

Minutes after the tax returns were made public, Trump issued a statement via his spokesperson, Liz Harrington, which at times reads like a threat.

“The Democrats should have never done it, the Supreme Court should have never approved it, and it’s going to lead to horrible things for so many people. The great USA divide will now grow far worse. The radical, left Democrats have weaponized everything, but remember, that is a dangerous two-way street!”

There was also this:

“The ‘Trump’ tax returns once again show how proudly successful I have been and how I have been able to use depreciation and various other tax deductions as an incentive for creating thousands of jobs and magnificent structures and enterprises.”

He sounds furious and nervous. That alone tells you the tax returns contain evidence of criminal behavior.