Death and Taxes - Pigs at the Trough...

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Relying on total secrecy and through distortion of facts, Republicans have forced an unpopular, deficit exploding corporate giveaway into law. Make no mistake, what we are really witnessing is an unprecedented attack on the working class in America, and its effects will be felt for decades.

In a last ditch effort to appear as though they involved more than just select senior Republicans, the senate held a mock conference committee hearing to discuss the implications of the new tax bill. Considering the bill was already approved by both congressional bodies yesterday, democratic members of the committee used the opportunity to vent frustration at their Republican counterparts.

This legislation will have a far reaching impact on the American economy, and has not had a single public hearing. Not only have there been no public hearings, but there where in excess of 6000 Washington lobbyists working on it behind closed doors. It’s been pushed through with no input whatsoever from the opposition party, economists, the business community, or from ordinary working class Americans - no one had the chance to ask a single question about 10 trillion dollars worth of tax changes.

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Let’s be sure to recognize what happened today is a total joke. It’s an obvious attempt by the Republican controlled government to lend credibility to what will eventually become the ultimate betrayal of the middle class. No one should in any way mistake the conference held today for real debate of the issue – especially when republicans and special interest lobbyists have already wrapped up the real negotiations in secret – and from what we know so far, at the end of the secret negotiations they apparently thought it was necessary to give even bigger breaks to those at the top.

This is indeed our democracy at work, or at least the Donald Trump reality show version. The party in power makes the decisions, and then holds hearings after - deciding the fate of millions of Americans. Of all the fake claims we’ve heard over the last few months, the most blatant lie is the republican tax bill will be focused on helping the middle class. The reality is - millions of middle income Americans will be forced to pay higher taxes under this bill.

No one really knows what provisions are really in this tax bill, let alone what the impact on our economy will be. The details are however slowly leaking out. Unfortunately with each new revelation there is more bad news for the middle class. The final bill will come with an astonishing price tag of 1.5 trillion dollars, and it should also be crystal clear to everyone, that the republicans have decided to deliver the sweetest possible deal for multinational corporations and their powerful elite donors.

What is well know about the bill, is the legislation was written specifically for wealthy campaign contributors, and republicans have more or less given up trying to mask that fact. Several republican senators have even said publicly - that if they are unable to pass this bill, wealthy donors will not continue to donate millions of dollars to their campaigns.

Every poll taken on the subject shows that by overwhelming margins, the American people do not want this bill to be passed. People know that in the midst of massive wealth inequality, the very rich are becoming much richer, while the middle class continues to shrink. The Republican response to the disproportionate distribution of wealth in the United States is to totally rewrite the tax law where 62% of the benefits of the plan go to the top 1%.

Video on the wealth distribution in America. Click Here

Consider just how outrageous that is for a second and break it down just one step further - where 62% of the benefits of this tax bill go to the top 1%, and 42% of the benefits go to the top .01%. Permanent corporate tax breaks, and huge new loopholes are only the beginning. The bill is also written in such a way to actually create new incentives for corporations to ship jobs overseas.

Proponents of the bill continue to claim the trillions of dollars in new debt amassed because of this bill, will somehow be erased by future economic growth - knowing full well it is just false. The reality is middle class Americans will once again be stuck with the bill for this massive debt. Either through a future deficit tax hike, or through cuts to programs they depend on like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

Just a couple of the ways the middle class get screwed over by this bill:

• The individual tax changes are temporary, while the corporate and top income bracket changes are permanent. Compared to the current law, millions of people will have significant tax increases due to the expiring provisions in the bill.

• The claim that the bill will somehow generate $4,000 in additional wages / income for each worker is beyond laughable – if anyone actually believes this nonsense, have I got a deal for you… There’s a bridge for sale in Brooklyn, and because I like you, and because I think you deserve it, I can get it for you, CHEAP… But only if you buy it right now, and don’t tell anyone…

• The government revenue loss due to the 1% decrease in the top income tax rate will be in excess of 500 Billion dollars, whereas the revenue loss for people making less than $100,000 dollars per year will be in excess of $5,000 PER TAXPAYER

• The percentage of taxpayers who will receive the MOST benefit from this tax plan is .01% - That’s one tenth of one percent who will receive the most benefit.

• Permanent deductions/reduction in the penalties for multinational corporations that manufacture their products overseas – providing more NOT LESS incentive to relocate businesses to China.

• The reduction and/or elimination of the state and local tax deduction, and mortgage interest deduction – depending on what state you live in, will have a massive impact on low and middle income Americans ability to buy a home.

If you weren’t pissed off already - There's more…

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“Believe Me”…