Time for another Rose Garden Republican celebration?
House Republicans are planning a Thursday afternoon vote on their plan to cut taxes on corporations and the wealthy while screwing graduate students and teachers and wind farms, among others. Though Republican leaders say they are confident of the bill’s passage, Donald Trump will be visiting the Capitol to help rally support (to the extent that he is helpful at that).
Only about 10 House Republicans had declared by Wednesday that they’d vote no -- and many of them cited a proposal to repeal or limit individuals’ state and local tax deductions. The House legislation would end all but the break for state and local property taxes, which it would cap at $10,000. [...]
It’s unlikely Trump will sway any of the moderate Republicans from high-tax states who’ve said they’ll vote against the tax bill.
Those “moderate” Republicans are from New York, New Jersey, and California, states that pay more in federal taxes than they get and where not only are state taxes relatively high but home values in many places are high.
The House vote is not the end of this process:
Should the House pass its tax bill Thursday, it’ll be dead on arrival under Senate budget rules that prevent adding to the federal deficit after 10 years. To meet that constraint, Senate GOP leaders plan on sunsetting their individual income tax breaks while making the corporate cut and international changes permanent.
The differences between the two chambers will have to be reconciled before either’s plans can become law -- a goal they’ve set to accomplish before year’s end.
That’s middle-class people paying for a giant corporate tax break on the promise that corporate tax breaks mean more jobs and higher wages—even though it's easy to prove that's not true. But that’s what Republicans are going with, because they’re driven by the need to claim a legislative victory—just one!—in 2017, and because they’re always driven by tax cuts for the rich and powerful.
Call your senators and representatives now at (202) 224-3121 and urge them to vote no on this giveaway to corporations and the wealthy at the expense of working families.
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