On eve of vote, POS tax bill is even more a regressive budget-buster

As the GOP Congress seems hell-bent on voting on this absurd tax bill, more evidence keeps coming out showing how damaging this bill would be. Not only because of the massive increases in the deficit, but also in the regressive nature of the scam, with average Americans having to pay more while the rich and the corporate get all of the benefits.

On the individual side, the Corker kickbacks and other additional giveaways to the rich and connected that have been larded onto this Piece of Shit in the last 2 weeks make it even more regressive, if that was possible.

The Republican tax bill got worse: now the top 1% get 83% of the gains https://t.co/xX8S2asSf5

— Vox (@voxdotcom) December 18, 2017

Klein is quoting an updated analysis from the Tax Policy Center which took into account the changes in the House-Senate Conference Committee. The TPC says that the tax cut starts off OK for most people, as almost all individuals will pay fewer taxes next year.

In 2018, taxes would be reduced by about $1,600 on average, increasing after-tax incomes 2.2 percent (table 1). Taxes would decline on average across all income groups.Taxpayers in the bottom quintile (those with income less than $25,000) would see an average tax cut of $60,or 0.4 percent of after-tax income. Taxpayers in the middle income quintile (those with income between about $49,000 and $86,000) would receive an average tax cut of about $900,or 1.6 percent of after-tax income. Taxpayers in the 95th to 99th income percentiles (those with income between about $308,000 and $733,000)would benefit the most as a shareof after-tax income,with an average tax cut of about $13,500 or 4.1 percent of after-tax income. Taxpayers in the top 1 percent of the income distribution (those with income more than $733,000) would receive an average cut of $51,000,or 3.4 percent of after-tax income.

The TPC adds that the top 1% will get a little over 1/5 of the total tax cut next year, but the top 20% will get nearly 2/3 of the tax cut. And according to this handy tool, me and my wife also get that middle-income tax cut of $900 Problem is that we are likely in the 4th quartile due to SALT limitations, so that seems to put us behind the curve, if anything.

Moving ahead to 2025 (the last year of that the reduced rates and other "reforms" will be in place), and the TPC says richer people will be grabbing a larger share. And the installation of Chained CPI as an inflation measure (yes, that's in this Piece of Shit) means that individuals will be having a slow-motion back-door tax INCREASE in future years.

In 2025, the average tax cut would be almost $1,600,or 1.7 percent of after-tax income (table 2). The magnitude of the average tax cut as a share of after-tax income would be smaller in 2025 than in 2018 for most income groups, mainly because the tax system would be indexed to the slower-growing chain-weighted consumer price index and due to the phase-out of certain business tax cuts,and phase-in of certain business tax increases.

Taxpayers in the bottom quintile would see an average tax cut of $70, or 0.4 percent of after-tax income. Taxpayers in the middle income quintile would receive an average tax cut of about $900, or 1.3 percent of after-tax income. Taxpayers in the 95th to 99th income percentiles would benefit the most as a share of after-tax income, with an average tax cut of almost $13,000,or 3.2 percent of after-tax income. Taxpayers in the top 1 percent of the income distribution would receive an average cut of about $61,000, or 2.9 percent of after-tax income.

And then the tax hikes hit after 2025. The Tax Policy Center looks at the final year of the 10-year tax window, and it shows how not only most Americans would be paying higher taxes, but that the rich are much better off.

In 2027, the overall average tax cut would be $160,or 0.2 percent of after-tax income (table 3), largely because almost all individual income tax provisions would sunset after 2025.On average, taxes would be little changed for taxpayers in the bottom 95 percent of the income distribution.

Taxpayers in the bottom two quintiles of the income distribution would face an average tax increase of 0.1 percent of after-tax income; taxpayers in the middle income quintile would see no material change on average; and taxpayers in the 95th to 99th income percentiles would receive an average tax cut of 0.2 percent of after-tax income. Taxpayers in the top 1 percent of the income distribution would receive an average tax cut of 0.9 percent of after-tax income, accounting for 83 percent of the total benefit for that year.

If anything, that summary soft-sells the TPC's findings for 2027, as they say the top 20% get 107 PERCENT OF ALL TAX BENEFITS, meaning that the bottom 80% are paying more in aggregate.

n top of the tax scam being a regressive giveaway to the rich, this article in the Hill illustrates what might be the biggest piece of cynicism in this Piece of Shit. Since the bill had to be set up to fit under the $1.5 trillion deficit cap over 10 years, the tax cuts for real people will either go away in 8 years, or they will be a lot more costly than $1.5 trillion.

Most of the bill's changes for individuals sunsets in 2025, even as a cut to the corporate rate from 35 percent to 21 percent is made permanent.

If future Congresses decide to extend the lower tax rates for individuals and families rather than allow them to expire, and also extends other temporary provisions, the bill will end up costing $2 trillion to $2.2 trillion, according to a report by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan deficit hawk group.

Even accounting for economic growth, it predicts the bill would add $1.5 trillion to $1.7 trillion to the debt — bringing debt levels close to 100 percent of the nation's GDP.

"If expiring provisions are extended and late-stage tax hikes avoided, debt could reach as high as 98 percent or 100 percent of GDP by 2027," the group said. "In other words, the national debt could exceed the size of the economy."

This is where I remind you that the $2 trillion increase in aggregate deficits are ON TOP OF the structural deficit that is already built into our federal budget. As I mentioned earlier this month, that structural deficit is already projected to be $1 trillion by 2022 BEFORE we account for the revenue losses from this tax cut, and is already being signaled as an excuse for Republicans to cut Social Security and Medicare if Americans are stupid enough to keep them in office.



And this is before I even talk about the damage this bill will do to the average American due to its preference of Wall Street gambling and profit-hoarding over paying workers, and because it would not become worthwhile to write off housing-related deductions and other itemizations under this bill, it will likely speed a housing crash with the next economic downturn.

Anyone who signs off on tax scam should be kicked out in 10 1/2 months, and I have a sick feeling that most of the GOPs know it too. Which is why they are trying to pull this smash-and-grab, so they and their puppetmasters can loot the country one more time before they "retire" to become big-money lobbyists, leaving Democratic politicians and those of us with real jobs to clean up the mess.