Republicans apparently pulled a fast one on Americans in their rush to pressure Democrats into passing the coronavirus relief package last month — because they wanted to keep a secret tax provision they slipped into the law hidden that only benefits the wealthy.
As you may recall, Senate Republicans created a $500 billion corporate slush fund that delayed the bill because Democrats objected to the fact that there was no oversight of the fund and the bill did little to help struggling Americans. Republicans eventually agreed to oversight and the $1,200 stimulus checks Americans are starting to receive. But they sent it to the House and began a pressure campaign to force Democrats to pass it quickly.
Of course, that means lawmakers didn’t have much chance to really read the details of the bill. And now we know why Republicans insisted on such swift passage.
The Washington Post reports that Republicans inserted a tax provision that “temporarily suspends a limitation on how much owners of businesses formed as ‘pass-through’ entities can deduct against their non-business income, such as capital gains, to reduce their tax liability. The limitation was created as part of the 2017 Republican tax law to offset other tax cuts to firms in that legislation.”
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So, an offset built into the disastrous 2017 GOP tax law to make it a little less disastrous has been reversed by this new secret provision. And it will cost taxpayers an additional $170 billion over the next ten years and add to the deficit and national debt.
How do we know about this provision? Because a joint committee in Congress discovered it.
According to Common Dreams:
The finding came in a new Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) analysis released by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) detailing the expected impact of the GOP provision, which was part of the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act signed into law by President Donald Trump last month.
‘This analysis shows that while Democrats fought for unemployment insurance and small business relief, a top priority of President Trump and his allies in Congress was another massive tax cut for the wealthy,’ Whitehouse said in a statement. ‘Congress should repeal this rotten, un-American giveaway and use the revenue to help workers battling through this crisis.’
Noting the current health and financial conditions created by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Whitehouse added that ‘it’s a scandal for Republicans to loot American taxpayers in the midst of an economic and human tragedy.'”
Indeed, it’s a bombshell of a scandal that proves Republicans care more about the rich than they do about the American people, who need that $170 billion a whole lot more than millionaires and billionaires do.
This is unparalleled greed that should be punished in November when voters go to the polls. The richest Americans already received a massive tax giveaway in 2017. They did not need another one, but Republicans gave it to them anyway and Trump signed it into law, all while hoping no one would ever notice. Well, now everyone knows what they did and the only way to reverse the damage is to make sure Democrats take the Senate and the White House back so they can make things right.
Featured image via screen capture
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