Author: Editor

“A well-designed tax reform would take multiple times as long to write as the Republicans are allotting themselves. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 began two years earlier. The Republicans are rushing their plan through Congress in weeks, in part to avoid the potential loss of a Senate vote in Alabama, and in part because they understand that extended public debate and scrutiny of their already-unpopular plan would only subject them to more public backlash.”  More …

Wall Street vets say an attack on blue states could start a chain reaction in the housing market. “Will this be the first tax cut in American history that actually results in a recession?”  More …

“There’s a lot that’s controversial about tax policy, but not everything is controversial. It’s obvious that if you cut a tax that’s only paid by married couples who’ve amassed at least $11 million that you are helping rich people. It’s obvious that if you enact a special discount tax rate for people who own LLCs then you are helping Donald Trump, who owns a ton of them. And it’s obvious that if part of your plan is permanent and part of it is temporary, and the part you made temporary is the part that helps the middle class, then helping the middle class wasn’t your priority.”  More ...

“There’s no economic justification whatsoever for a tax cut at this time. U.S. GDP is growing, unemployment is close to 4 percent (below what is commonly considered “full employment”), corporate profits are at record levels and stock markets are soaring. It makes no sense to add any federal government-induced stimulus to all this private sector-caused economic activity, let alone a tax cut as big as this one.”  More …