2017 GOP Tax Cut & Jobs Act: Republican majorities to vote on extension in 119th Congress before expiration on 12/31/25

[CEO of Morgan Industries]

corporatism doesn't die because a democrat loses to a republican. it gets supercharged. and this tax bill is evidence of that.

People across the spectrum really hate this tax bill, though.

I think that we're in a weird time where the parties are shifting. They haven't done this since 1964, and typically before that, there would be a party switch or die-off every 28 to 32 years. We're well past the time for a realignment, and it's happening right now.

Honestly, I'm shocked that a racist, anti-corporate populist hasn't seized the GOP yet. It's ripe for the taking for someone like that. As for the Democrats, I think the party's voters themselves are shifting on a number of things. The influx of early millennials like myself who are hitting their early-to-mid thirties and trying to settle down are paying closer attention and starting to vote, and we tend to want more taxes for rich people and more services.

All this is to say that the paradigm re: taxation that has been the norm since the 1980s is probably changing in ways that we can't quite anticipate yet. I think the GOP senses it too, which explains the smash-and-grab nature of this legislation.

 

[hashmander]

People across the spectrum really hate this tax bill, though.

I think that we're in a weird time where the parties are shifting. They haven't done this since 1964, and typically before that, there would be a party switch or die-off every 28 to 32 years. We're well past the time for a realignment, and it's happening right now.

Honestly, I'm shocked that a racist, anti-corporate populist hasn't seized the GOP yet. It's ripe for the taking for someone like that. As for the Democrats, I think the party's voters themselves are shifting on a number of things. The influx of early millennials like myself who are hitting their early-to-mid thirties and trying to settle down are paying closer attention and starting to vote, and we tend to want more taxes for rich people and more services.

All this is to say that the paradigm re: taxation that has been the norm since the 1980s is probably changing in ways that we can't quite anticipate yet. I think the GOP senses it too, which explains the smash-and-grab nature of this legislation.

no conservative with a vote hates it.

 

[CEO of Morgan Industries]

no conservative with a vote hates it.

I agree! However, there is a gap between what conservative reps want and what their voters want when it comes to economics.

Their voters would love socialism right now except that black people would also benefit. If you took every black and brown person out of this country right now, it would turn toward Euro-style socialism immediately. The only way that the GOP even has the ability to do what they're doing to loot the country is because their voters are so racist that they can win on that + all their "white Jesus" evangelical bullshyt.

At some point, though, some of their own people are going to run on economic populism, but keep the racism, and when that happens, the GOP is going to have issues. I think it'll happen sooner rather than later; Steve Bannon is a harbinger of what's to come.

 

[Blackfyre]

 

[Robbie3000]

I agree! However, there is a gap between what conservative reps want and what their voters want when it comes to economics.

Their voters would love socialism right now except that black people would also benefit. If you took every black and brown person out of this country right now, it would turn toward Euro-style socialism immediately. The only way that the GOP even has the ability to do what they're doing to loot the country is because their voters are so racist that they can win on that + all their "white Jesus" evangelical bullshyt.

At some point, though, some of their own people are going to run on economic populism, but keep the racism, and when that happens, the GOP is going to have issues. I think it'll happen sooner rather than later; Steve Bannon is a harbinger of what's to come.

You could be right, but everything about the GOP base since the 60s leads me to believe they will continue to put their racism and bigotry ahead of their economic "anxiety".

The quote from LBJ about racist whites putting race above all else is more true now than it has ever been.

It's naked tribalism fueled by suspicion and hatred of others. Anyone from a developing country can attest to this.

 

[Mantis Toboggan M.D.]

You could be right, but everything about the GOP base since the 60s leads me to believe they will continue to put their racism and bigotry ahead of their economic "anxiety".

The quote from LBJ about racist whites putting race above all else is more true now than it has ever been.

It's naked tribalism fueled by suspicion and hatred of others. Anyone from a developing country can attest to this.

The nihilism of the party is showing as strongly as ever too. They’d truly rather destroy the country and have it collapse into a third world nation or a dictatorship than share the wealth with other ethnicities in order to maintain prosperity.

 

[tru_m.a.c]

People across the spectrum really hate this tax bill, though.

Really

Roy Moore just lost Alabama by 20,000 votes. Roy moore won 48% of that state's vote. You telling me if he got elected that 48% of people would've marched on his house and demanded him to vote no? I doubt it.

Kansas is the poster child for debilitating tax cuts. Yet they still elected Brownback. You telling me Republicans of Kansas care or hate this tax bill enough to get their elected senators to change their vote?

Just because you have a few right wing folks on twitter or tv saying they disagree with this bill, doesn't actually mean they're going to do anything to defeat this bill. All those rallies and rah-rah shyts are all left wing activist. We need to stop overselling the sense of "duty" and "country" on the right.

We know what happens when right-wing groups disagree with bills coming out of DC.

Where these people at?

If they ain't out in these streets like this, they can miss me with their bullshyt.

 

[tru_m.a.c]

How the Republican Tax Plan Uses School Savings to Hurt States

The first blow would come from expanding 529 college savings accounts, which offer tax advantages to encourage families to save money for college, to cover K-12 expenses, such as private school tuition and home schooling costs.

This amendment by Senator Ted Cruz passed only because of a midnight tiebreaking vote cast by Vice President Mike Pence.

Imagine for instance that a family in New York spends $10,000 on high school tuition but has not yet started saving for college. Congress’s 529 expansion opens New York’s $10,000 state income tax deduction for 529 contributions to private school tuition. This family could now open a 529 savings account, briefly park the $10,000 for private school tuition in it, and avoid about $600 in state income taxes.

That modest $600 for families takes a much bigger cumulative toll on New York’s income tax base. With about 465,000 New York private school students, roughly $3 billion might be cut from New York’s income tax base.

Opinion | How the Republican Tax Plan Uses School Savings to Hurt States

 

[CEO of Morgan Industries]

Really

Roy Moore just lost Alabama by 20,000 votes. Roy moore won 48% of that state's vote. You telling me if he got elected that 48% of people would've marched on his house and demanded him to vote no? I doubt it.

Kansas is the poster child for debilitating tax cuts. Yet they still elected Brownback. You telling me Republicans of Kansas care or hate this tax bill enough to get their elected senators to change their vote?

Just because you have a few right wing folks on twitter or tv saying they disagree with this bill, doesn't actually mean they're going to do anything to defeat this bill. All those rallies and rah-rah shyts are all left wing activist. We need to stop overselling the sense of "duty" and "country" on the right.

We know what happens when right-wing groups disagree with bills coming out of DC.

Where these people at?

If they ain't out in these streets like this, they can miss me with their bullshyt.

I get your point, but I think that I addressed this when I said that the only reason that the GOP's voters take it in the ass economically is because of their racism.

The tax bill is, what, 30% favorability? Their health care bill was 18-24% favorability. Make no mistake, they hate what the GOP is doing economically.

They just hate black folks even more than that.

 

[Jhoon]

The nihilism of the party is showing as strongly as ever too. They’d truly rather destroy the country and have it collapse into a third world nation or a dictatorship than share the wealth with other ethnicities in order to maintain prosperity.

Not only are we taxing their wealth, the minute they try to export it elsewhere, they should have their citizenship revoked. Let their courts figure it out.

Republicans just gave a tax break to Russian/Chinese/Saudi millionaires. Let them
Start over and pull themselves up by the bootstraps in those countries.

 

[88m3]

So the Senate still voted tonight?




How does that make any fukking sense?

 

[MenacingMonk]

"Merry Christmas, America, enjoy this pile of fukk you."

 

[ineedsleep212]

These are the type of clowns who need these tax cuts. One of the Koch kids.

 

[88m3]

idk what the short term solution is but the Republicans have broken any idea of social contract with their actions

 

[FAH1223]

I believe the only reason Dems are voting unanimously against this deal is because it's going to pass anyway.

If Dem votes could make a difference I believe a few of them would end up supporting the tax plan.

Even if Dems held power in all three branches of government, I doubt they are going to have the balls to raise Corporate taxes.

The GOP will run a campaign of job killing tax increases and the Dems will happily fold.

They were barely able to let the Bush tax cuts on the very wealthy expire. Sad state of affairs we have going on right now.

I agree but things are changing. A big part of the Republican party will want to pivot from this to gutting entitlements or cutting non-military spending. Starve the beast. Use the massive debt/deficit created by this tax cut to justify spending cuts. It's an old strategy of theirs. They're already talking about it (see Karl Rove's oped in last month in Wall Street Journal). There's just one problem with it. They don't have the votes. They definitely don't have the votes for cutting non-military discretionary spending (that's why all these continuing budget resolutions that they've passed in Congress since Trump was elected have depended on Democratic votes; every time Trump proposed to cut something, a significant minority of Republicans forced him to put it back or to increase spending on it), and I don't think they have the votes in the Senate (and maybe even in the House) to gut in a big splashy way—even with the debt argument—Social Security or Medicare [even though we know those aren't driving the debt or deficit!]. In the past, they could rely on some Democratic votes for the latter (just as they could rely on Democratic votes for tax cuts; Bush got 8 or 9 Senate Dems to vote for his tax cuts). Judging by the votes on Obamacare and the tax cuts, those Democratic votes don't seem to be there anymore.

Plus, its an election year.

Now if the Dems ever get all 3 branches again, the only way it will happen is if they run on popular ideas. With a fukking backbone. There should be no more talking of the debt as Obama did in 2007. Want to fix the deficit? Eliminate this tax cut and all of the Bush tax cuts that were made permanent along with reducing the military expenditures.