Trump's Tax Plan: Prepare to be trickled on

As more and more of Trump's "brilliant" tax reform plan is revealed one thing has become obvious:

This plan was designed with billionaires in mind.

Consider two major provisions on which Trump’s and Ryan’s plans agree: First, they’d compress the existing seven individual tax brackets to three, cutting rates generally across the board. Yet the largest cut would be in the top rate, to 33 percent from 39.6 percent. That rate applies only to those with incomes well within the top one percent. Second, their plans would abolish the estate tax, which currently applies only to estates worth more than $5.45 million for individuals and $10.9 million for couples. Data from the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Census Bureau show that far less than one percent of the people who die each year pay any estate tax.

trump-tax.jpg

Not exactly "pro-working class" cuts here, but Arthur Laffer thinks "they are terrific".
Let's look at the numbers.

An independent analysis of House Republicans’ “blueprint” found that while households at all income levels would pay less tax, “the highest-income households would receive the largest cuts, both in dollars and as a percentage of income.” The very rich -- the top 0.1 percent of U.S. earners, or those with incomes over $3.7 million -- would see after-tax incomes rise by almost 17 percent. At the same time, the bottom three-fifths of households would see average gains of 0.5 percent or less, according to the analysis by the Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank that’s a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution. Three quarters of the total tax cuts would go to the top 1 percent, that study found.

"Top 1%" does appear to be the key term with this plan.

Trump also has investors in mind.

House Republicans’ plan to cut the top tax rate on long-term capital gains to 16.5 percent from 20 percent, while abolishing a 3.8 percent investment-income tax that was part of Obamacare, would be a major benefit for high earners, it said.
“The top 0.1 percent realize about half of all capital gains,” the memo said, arguing that the primary effect of cutting the rate would be “rewarding rich people for investments they would have made (or already have made) anyway.”

Trump also has plans for corporate tax reform.

American corporations have kept an accumulation of earnings abroad because they would be subject to paying more taxes when they bring it home.
Mr. Trump has said he wants to repatriate such corporate profits with a one-time rate of 10 percent. That is about a third of what is required by the current law, which says companies need to pay up to 35 percent of their earnings to the government, and then get credited for taxes they have already paid overseas, which usually is not much.
If they were to bring that capital back, those companies could use it to invest in their businesses, which may in turn create jobs. Yet that is only one of several options.

Hurrah! More jobs! Just like it happened under Bush.

Job losses did result the last time Congress initiated a tax holiday, in 2004. The top 15 repatriating companies brought home $150 billion but reduced their work force by 20,931 jobs, according to a 2011 study commissioned by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
Some of those cuts were tied to mergers and acquisitions. As part of the study, Oracle explained how its repatriated funds were used for two acquisitions: Retek, a software provider to the retail industry, and PeopleSoft, a rival in enterprise software. After buying both for a combined $11 billion, Oracle “eliminated thousands of jobs,” the study found.

Oh, right.
Well, at least our billionaires will win, unlike all us "takers" in the 99%.

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The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects that, without a change in economic policy, the government would add $9 trillion during the next decade to the debt, which is made up of Treasury bills, notes and bonds sold to public and private investors, including those abroad.

The Washington-based Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget calculates that Trump’s economic plans would pile on $6 trillion in debt beyond that $9 trillion increase during the next decade. As a percentage of gross domestic product, that would rival the record debt load in the aftermath of World War II.

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sojourns's picture

The republicans will reduce the deficit by means of cutting domestic programs. It's a brilliant plan! Those mofo's.

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"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage

sojourns's picture

I'm hard pressed to be critical of your essays, gjohnsit, but often times the graphs are unreadable because of the image size limitations here. You do so much work on these already but -- I think you can use straight HTML when assembling an essay, If so--



Note how that appears as a link. Image and link broken in this example, of course. Use right click on new tab or window.
The code for the tag can be found by viewing the source code of this comment. If on firefox, right click on inspect element of the example instead of the entire page. I'd write it out for you but it won't show up except as another broken link.

If you use those tags, it would link to the source page where the graph or pic is located. Unless, of course, you're getting them from somewhere not the net. You could also hot link them but most people don't like that so they code the page to prevent it. This way the image becomes an external link where the graphs are most probably fully sized.

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"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage

jwa13's picture

-- to embed a jpeg? I am set up to generate a graphics file from just about anything --

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When Cicero had finished speaking, the people said “How well he spoke”.
When Demosthenes had finished speaking, the people said “Let us march”.

sojourns's picture

If it is your own work just upload it here. Embedding is not always a good idea as it is considered hot-linking and burns up the server bandwidth of the site which you are embedding from. -- which doesn't matter if you are Google.

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"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage

boriscleto's picture

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" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "

Pricknick's picture

Prepare to be trickled on

more?
It's never stopped. Even under Obama we've been pissed upon.
Now we have to worry about the stones they'll pass. Will they be made of coal?

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

The economics of coal are so bad at this point, that the only way to save it, would be to nationalize the industry and make all competing options illegal.

The coal industry will not play the game with Trump, they don't want to be in the position that any future president could over night destroy them on whim and fancy. Further subsidy, direct or indirect is a stability risk for the industry, What big coal needs, and wants, even if they themselves can't articulate it, is a path to wind down the industry.

The only people who want some sort of deal with Trump are the pump and dump scammers, who would love one last price upswing in coal, in order to dump their equity and bond holdings before the card castle comes crashing down. Granted their are a fair number of these.

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MsGrin's picture

is what I've always called it...

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member

Alligator Ed's picture

but the continuing 4 years we shall again get both. Raincoats or umbrellas anyone?

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MsGrin's picture

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member

asterisk's picture

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edg's picture

I knew as soon as Hillary stole the nomination from Bernie that she would lose and we would be stuck with whatever Trump wanted to do to us. Unfortunately, the only difference between what Trump will do to us and what Clinton would have done to us is the speed at which the damage is done. Under Trump, it's like getting your head lopped off with a machete. Under Clinton, it would've been like getting your head lopped off with toenail clippers, one nibble at a time.

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Song of the lark's picture

full on golden showers. Those carbon fiends better pump up the economy or else.

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wait until the next adminsration after 4 (hopefully) short years of W the 2nd, there will be billionaires taking off in the nearest escape pod. I just hope they fill them with gold bullion. Then, when they try to escape the gravity well, it will be funny as hell Biggrin

Their dumb ass short-sightedness in robbing NASA for their tax-cut means they will have to pay whatever extortion Russia or Abu Dhubai says is the market rate.

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Fighting for democratic principles,... well, since forever

Lookout's picture

may we have your crumbs? Please Mr corporation in chief.

I wish there was a youtube recording but here are the words...
THE FROZEN GIRL

No home, no home pled a little girl
At the door of the rich man's hall
As she trembling stood on the polished step
And leaned on a marble wall

Her clothes were thin and her feet were bare
And the snow had covered her head
Oh, give me a home, she feebly said
A home and a bit of bread

My father I never knew, she said
Through the tears in her eyes so bright
My mother sleeps in a new-made grave
'Tis an orphan that begs tonight

The night was dark and the wild storm blew
But the rich man shut his door
With a frowning face, he scornfully said
No home or bread for the poor

The snow fell fast as she shrank on the steps
And strove to wrap her feet
In a tattered dress all covered with snow
Yes, covered with snow and sleet

The rich man slept on his velvet couch
And dreamed on his silver and gold
But the little girl on a bed of snow
She murmured, so cold, so cold

The hours rolled on and the midnight, dawn
Rolled on like a funeral bell
The earth seemed wrapped in a winding sheet
And the dropping snow still fell

The storm rolled on and the little girl
Still lay at the rich man's door
But her soul had gone to a home above
Where there's room and bread for the poor

This is a transcription of a 1940s King recording of 'The Frozen Girl' by the Delmore Brothers [exact date not given], reissued on The Delmore Brothers 'Sand Mountain Blues' County CD CCS-110. The Delmores had previously recorded this in December 1933 in Chicago, Ill, issued as Bb B5338 in April 1934.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Oldest Son Of A Sailor's picture

Getting a freakin Tax Break?

WTF!

How about we found your cash stash!
Now bring it home and pay your damn taxes, or we'll seize every damn asset you have in this country and you'll be prohibited from ever doing business in this country again. BTW There are Tax Evasion Warrants out for your entire Board of Directors...

We recognize the Human Element of Corporations and we're going to jail a corporation with the same brutal techniques used on an inner city crack dealer...

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"Do you realize the responsibility I carry?
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."

~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,
snoopydawg's picture

And it would be if we had a government that hasn't sold us out.
IMG_0609.JPG

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.

orlbucfan's picture

no shit, sherlock!! Rec'd!!
Talk about prehistoric monsters, here's a whole school of 'em!

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Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.