When Donald Trump and congressional Republicans start making a serious push to cut taxes for wealthy individuals and corporations, expect a lot of talk about “small business.” In fact, expect to hear a pitch that sounds like small businesses will be absolutely the biggest winners from a Republican tax plan. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ Chye-Ching Huang explains the reality Republicans are trying to hide with their “small business” talk:
- A special rate cut for “pass-through” businesses would overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy and tax avoiders, not small businesses. [...] Some proponents say the tax cut would be a boon for small businesses. But most small businesses are small — despite what prominent congressional Republicans have said, very few small business owners pay the top rate of 39.6 percent. [...]
- Eliminating the estate tax would be a boon to the heirs of the nation’s wealthiest estates, not to small farms and small businesses. [...]
- A “territorial” corporate tax system could put small and domestic businesses at a competitive disadvantage. President Trump and House Budget Committee Chairman Diane Black have proposed a territorial tax system: U.S.-based multinational corporations wouldn’t pay U.S. corporate taxes on their foreign profits, while domestic businesses would face a 15 percent rate. That could make U.S. domestic and small businesses less competitive relative to large U.S. multinationals. [...]
- Paying for the Trump and “Better Way” tax cuts for the affluent and large corporations could hurt education, infrastructure, and other federal investments critical to the economy and small businesses.
Be ready and know how to see through the sales job.
● Billionaire's plan to sell a publicly owned airport is a lesson in Trumponomics.
● Slate's biggest enemies are Donald Trump and its staff trying to unionize:
The site’s management declined to voluntarily recognize a union in March, after more than 90 percent of editorial staff signed cards signaling their intent to join the Writers Guild of America-East. Higher-ups, including the site’s editor-in-chief and the company’s chairman, have since tried to dissuade them from unionizing at all, according to internal emails obtained by Splinter.
● High pay for charter school administrators in Boston.
● The quaint Baltimore seafood business that masks shocking labor abuses overseas.
● Union strategies: organizing or politics ... or both?
● Nissan launches anti-union blitz ahead of pivotal UAW election:
At the Nissan plant, supervisors have worn “vote no” t-shirts to work in recent days, and in some cases held one-on-one talks with employees to discourage them from joining the UAW, according to workers. Videos are running on loop in the plant’s break areas, painting unions in a bad light. “It costs a lot of money to join a union!” the video asserts.
● David Moberg writes that that Nissan vote—for which we may know results by the time you’re reading this—is a battle for the soul of the U.S. labor movement.
● Workers Independent News: