FINDING UNITY
Players grapple with standing up to president or caving in
NFL players wonder what happens next to reclaim what protests about
As Week 4 of the NFL is set to begin on Thursday night in Green Bay, Wis., the question in locker rooms on Wednesday was simple: What next?
More than 200 players took a knee or locked arms during the national anthem before games on Sunday and Monday, a united front in response to comments from President Trump that attacked individual players and the game at large.
As Trump has continued to speak out against players taking a knee during the national anthem and the overall well-being of the NFL, tweeting each day this week on the topic, the message outside of the 32 teams has not been as unified. Fans, public employees and politicians have taken sides, many joining Trump in attacking the league, and in some cases using profane and racist language.
That has put players, coaches and owners in a difficult spot. Do they stand up to the president or
levied on the distribution of property as it passes from deceased persons to their heirs. This could save the Trump family as much as $1.4 billion, assuming a Forbes estimate that Trump is worth $3.5 billion. Currently, Trump’s children would inherit
$2.1 billion, assuming the top
40% estate tax rate. Finally, Trump’s plan collapses individual income brackets to three, lowering the top rate from
39.6% to 35%, which critics say would be a significant increase for the wealthiest Americans.
The White House pointed to language in the GOP framework that would allow the bill’s negotiators to add a surcharge on highincome households to ensure it is “at least as progressive” as the current code. It also vows to eliminate “itemized deductions that primarily benefit the wealthiest families.” Yet it doesn’t identify those loopholes, other than a state and local deduction that is also used by many middle-class families living in coastal and blue states.
It’s impossible to determine exactly how much Trump would personally benefit since, unlike every U.S. president since Richard Nixon, he has not released his tax returns.
Trump is making clear he intends to succeed on taxes where his effort to repeal Obamacare failed — by working with Democrats.
His plan is likely to undergo significant changes in Congress if Trump wants to win their approval. For instance, he may be pressed to drop his bid to end the estate tax. Yet eliminating the estate tax has been a longtime goal of the GOP, which argues that it stifles family-owned businesses, including in the farming industry.
As he rolled out the plan in a Wednesday speech, Trump was joined by Sen. Joe Donnelly of Indiana, one of the most endangered Democrats sitting for re-election in 2018. Trump is courting moderate Democrats such as Donnelly and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, who’ve yet to indicate what it will take to get their votes.
However, according to a Democrat familiar with their thinking, these lawmakers are unlikely to support the plan unless it brings in about the same amount of revenue from upper-income earners as the current tax code.
Progressive Democrats are already seizing the moment to renew their calls for the release of his tax returns.
Meanwhile, Trump is touting several provisions that will help lower income earners.
For instance, he said the first $12,000 in personal income for individuals and $24,000 for married couples would pay no taxes. Trump would also expand the child care tax credit and create a new $500 caregiver credit.
It’s possible that, as the plan comes together, some of the substantial benefits the wealthy stand to gain will be offset by closing loopholes they currently benefit from.
Yet, until Republicans outline which loopholes are ending, the blueprint released this week promises substantial benefit for wealthier taxpayers.
The estate tax is charged only on estates worth about $5.5 million or more. It was created in part to reduce the ability of a small number of families to amass huge wealth over time. Supporters of its elimination say it can force family-owned businesses to be broken up and sold to pay taxes, affecting workers’ jobs.
Yet according to the non-partisan Tax Policy Center, only roughly 50 small business and small farm estates nationwide will face any estate tax in 2017, owing on average less than 6% of their value in tax. The provision also brings in significant revenue to the federal Treasury.
It’s a similar story with the alternative minimum tax. A small minority, 3% of all taxpayers, had to pay the AMT, according to IRS data of the 2014 tax year reviewed by Forbes magazine. Doing away with it would be costly, as it brought in more than $28 billion in revenue the same year.
The precursor to the AMT was created in 1969 in response to outrage over a small minority of wealthy taxpayers earning more than $200,000 a year who paid nothing in federal income taxes by maximizing preferences and special write-offs.
Finally, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “pass through” income is highly concentrated among the wealthiest Americans.