$anta for rich
GOP reaches tax deal with more giveaways
’TIS THE season. Republican leaders found common ground on Wednesday — paving the way for a massive tax overhaul.
Final votes in the House and Senate are expected to come next week and the bill could be on President Trump’s desk ahead of Christmas, as he has requested.
Trump, appearing in the ornately decorated grand foyer of the White House, called on members of five families joining him to talk about how the tax plan would help them — although all the details were yet to be unveiled.
The President promised that if Congress finishes the bill before Christmas, the IRS has confirmed that Americans will see “lower taxes and bigger paychecks” beginning in February.
“We are going to have a country that celebrates you again, hard working, great people. You are being celebrated again. Remember that,” Trump said. “Because you were a little bit forgotten. We have been called the forgotten people.”
But most analysts agree that the bill likely to reach Trump’s desk will heavily favor businesses and the rich.
The agreement drops the corporate tax rate to 21% from the current 35% rate and will go into effect next year, rather than 2019, as the Senate bill called for. The top individual income tax rate will drop to 37%, down from 39.6%.
It will also allow individuals to deduct up to $10,000 in state and local taxes, a move meant to please GOP lawmakers from high-tax states like New York and New Jersey who fought the bill in the House.
A conference committee held Wednesday afternoon with Democrats was a “farce,” according to Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent of Vermont.
Several details still need to be drafted and assessed by congressional scorekeepers but the final House-Senate compromise is on track to be unveiled this week.
Earlier in the day, Trump praised the Republican architects behind the compromise.
“We’re very close to getting it done, we’re very close to voting,” Trump said.
“This is the biggest thing that we’ve worked on.”
The measure would give Trump his first major victory in Congress, and fulfills a longstanding goal of top Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan (inset, left to right) to rewrite the nation’s tax code.
The measure has come under assault by Democrats, economists and tax experts who say it is unfairly tilted in favor of business and the wealthy.
“It’s going to be a pretty dramatic change in the tax code,” Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow with the Tax Policy Center, told the Daily News.“It makes hundreds of changes in the tax law. More than anything else, it’s a big tax cut for corporations.”
The families whom Trump paraded in front of the cameras at the White House said they’ll use their tax savings to do home renovations, pay college tuition and help other people.
Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen, on her last day on the job, said she and her colleagues expect a “modest lift” to economic growth from the tax cuts.
She also cautioned, however, that there is “considerable uncertainty” about the impact of the bill, which is estimated to add at least $1 trillion to the national debt over the next decade.
You are being celebrated again. Remember that. Because you were a little bit forgotten. We have been called the forgotten people. President Trump