Senate GOP screwed up their own tax bill - accidentally killed all corporate tax deductions!!

[Justice]

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/12/senate-gop-accidentally-killed-all-corporate-tax-deductions.html

"Due to arcane Senate rules, the Trump tax cuts can only add $1.5 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. Last Thursday, the Senate tax bill already cost about that sum, and then McConnell started making expensive promises to his few holdouts. Susan Collins wanted a $10,000 property tax deduction for Americans in high-tax states; Ron Johnson wanted a 23 percent business-income deduction for the company that his family owns. This left the Senate Majority Leader searching under the tax code’s couch cushions for new sources of revenue.

Eventually, he came upon the corporate alternative minimum tax (AMT). At present, most corporations face a 35 percent (statutory) rate on their income. But by availing themselves of various tax credits and deductions, most companies can get their actual rates down far below that figure. To put a limit on just how far, the corporate AMT prevents companies from paying any less than 20 percent on their profits (or, more precisely, on the profits that they fail to hide overseas).

The GOP had originally intended to abolish the AMT. But on Friday, with the clock running out — and money running short — Senate Republicans put the AMT back into their bill. Unfortunately for McConnell, they forgot to lower the AMT after doing so.

This is a big problem. The Senate bill brings the normal corporate rate down to 20 percent — while leaving the alternative minimum rate at … 20 percent. The legislation would still allow corporations to claim a wide variety of tax credits and deductions — it just renders all them completely worthless. Companies can either take no deductions, and pay a 20 percent rate — or take lots of deductions … and pay a 20 percent rate."

In other words, Senate tax bill currently doesn't work!

[dalton99a]

1. Regular order at its finest

[spanone]

2. K&R...

Silly, those rules only apply to Democrats.
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[Proud Liberal Dem]

3. Ummm.....oops.

Guess they will have to spend more time "fixing" it. Or, of course, just simply not passing it all.

[Justice]

4. Means McConnell is going to need new revenue to keep below $1.5 trillion.

[BSdetect]

5. You can bet that will be fixed shortly.

[pnwmom]

31. It can't be fixed without another vote. The only 2 choices now are for the House

to approve the Senate bill as-is, or the House and Senate committee together to agree on a compromise bill -- and then for the House and Senate to each approve that compromise bill.

That just got a little bit harder.

[SergeStorms]

33. They'll just steal more money....

from Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security etc. and presto chango........ Fixed!!

[Thomas Hurt]

6. What is to stop them from fixing it in reconciliation?

[Justice]

9. Means House cannot simply pass Senate bill as was feared. There has to be Conference Committee

Also means Senate deal on where there would be cuts and revenue doesn't add up.

If cut AMT, means have to make-up revenue elsewhere so Susan Collins or Ron Johnson or another Republican Senator may not support final bill b/c what they wanted isn't included.

[Thomas Hurt]

19. Thanks

[exboyfil]

10. Nothing but I think they

are worried about another Senate vote. The fall back was the House just voting in the Senate plan. Now you have another session of horsetrading for the Senate.

i am hoping some talk goes into the unfairness of adjusting the basis upwards if you do not have inheritance taxes.

[BigmanPigman]

18. There IS STILL TIME...We, all of us, must stop it and

Last edited Mon Dec 4, 2017, 08:13 PM - Edit history (1)

I was part of the Not One Penny nationwide phone call today and you are doing what Ben said we all need to do. The bill is not a win, it is a disaster and we can stop it. There are still a few weeks left and the three things we must do...
1. Attend protests, town halls, etc and make sure the media is there, no matter how big or small it is. The media has been absent due to the non stop distractions. There are many important issues but this is our BIGGEST PRIORITY for the next few weeks.
2. Keep up the CALLS. They started late but eventually their staffers were busy ...call, tell your family and friends in other states to call too. [phone]
https://www.trumptaxscam.org/
3. Social media is crucial. Retweet and share whatever you can. Send it to the media. Events, town halls, protests are occurring and over 100 are planned for this week alone. Bernie, Cory Booker, Indivisible, MoveOn have been going to Kentucky, Ohio and PA all weekend.

New info is already coming out. One new fact since the Fri vote is that there will be 1/2 trillion more dollars added to the deficit. 28% of Americans approve of the Tax Scam. This week Ryan will appoint Repub to his closed door "conference committee" and then we can target those reps. The house and senate have to "negotiate a compromise". What they voted on is different in each chamber. For now we know of 28 Rep congressmen who voted against one of the two bills/plans. We need to flip 23 of them. The Senate will need to be PRESSURED NON STOP...this means calling the 9 senators that were wavering. If we get Alabama we only need two more senators with Corker. This would be great. Also there is the threat of a govt shutdown by Fri., Dec. 8th.
We have been the catalysts of the grass roots efforts for a year and have stopped major legislation. We have a few more weeks until the holidays. After that we have to spread the word about what the GOP has done to the stability and future of our country with this tax cut for the rich and they are taking money from the sick and poor which will bankrupt millions and take over 13 million off of health care. Meanwhile tax cuts for multi million dollar corporations will not be trickling down at all and never will. The bill ensures that the country will be taxed more over the next 10 year (but not the corporations...you and me are paying).
Call [phone]

We must HAMMER them on this bill. Put the pressure on these greedy, cruel bastards and DO NOT STOP!

[Alice11111]

36. The DNC needs to hit the RW radio and TV, country stations.

As well as calling your reps, call the DNC...No time to waste. Get off the pot already. Run ads Grassley's words, Mnuchin photos ....


202 863 8000

I'm a Democrat , and it's time to start kicking!
Get the truth out there to the people who voted against the elites.

[lpbk2713]

7. They'll blame it on Obama.

And Benghazi.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

15. Don't forget Clinton

they won't

[onit2day]

47. Yes, but no one is listening anymore.Trump sunk to far down

below pond scum.

[L. Coyote]

8. K & R

[FBaggins]

11. Doesn't much matter

The key at this point is to pass something that can be taken to conference. The final bill may look little like either house's plan.

[gratuitous]

14. Yeah, they could have passed the lunch menu at Komi as the Senate bill

It will all be ironed out in conference.

But yeah, this is sloppy law-making and should be a topic of conversation to put the lie to responsible Republican government. Example 638,449.

[LeftInTX]

12. A coal executive is pissed

https://chiefexecutive.net/murray-energy-ceo-calls-senate-tax-plan-a-mockery-and-a-tragedy/

in my case, the Senate just killed 7,000 coal mining jobs in my company

What was that about bringing back coal?

[Alice11111]

37. I heard a small oil company today on CNBC say this

was a disaster for his company. It would cost them millions and they would have to lay off employees.

Not surprising. If any of us did work like that, we would be fired or lose our license for whatever. Gross incompetence...all for the pursuit of greed, no matter who they hurt. The fact is they WANTED to hurt people, but they seemed to miss their intended targets, in some cases.

[Justice]

13. I wondered how they could keep agreeing to Sen Collins' amendments b/c each one cost money

yet there was no corresponding revenue increase somewhere else. Didn't add up.

May not make any difference in the end, but it makes it impossible for House to just vote on Senate bill - which is key.

Also means it is really hard to do what they are trying to do, and they haven't yet figured it out. May have to keep ACA mandate or raise the corporate rate. Will also look at trying to raise revenue by hurting middle class more.

Was very hard to pin down what they were doing in order to analyze and communicate it to get people motivated. Now the details are on paper and it can be communicated. People are paying more attention to this bill and this effort and realizing it is not helping the middle class. Maybe there will be a greater outcry about it.

[Egnever]

44. Yup

Was wondering the same thing when they accepted her amendments, Kept thinking how in the hell are they adding that and keeping the numbers right.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

16. GIGO

Garbage in, Garbage out


This is illustrative of the need for regular order and why Democrats took a year for doing the ACA. The Republicans were desperate to get this bill crammed through by Christmas and now we see the final result.

[Buns_of_Fire]

17. These little problems can happen when you write tax policy on

used cocktail napkins from the "Capitol Cuties" Gentlemen's Club, stapled to Senate letterheads.

Okay, maybe not quite THAT bad. But close. Watch:

Link to tweet

God Only Knows what other little surprises are buried in there.

[gristy]

41. attributable to

I think that's what that word is (actually 2 words).

But his point is well made and well taken.

[Yavin4]

20. No one knows whats in that bill. There could be puppy kicking provision in it for all we know. nt

[Alice11111]

38. ...would be funny if someone snuck that in to prove a point.

[getagrip_already]

21. why couldn't they pass it as-is, and then just pass another bill to fix it?

It seems they have 99% of what they want in there anyway. They can bundle it up with a new tax on political parties that start with the letter "D".

[paleotn]

40. Byrd Rule in the Senate

They can't fix it in the Senate unless they increase revenue on.......somebody. The current Senate version meets the Byrd Rule provision, but additional tax cuts have to be paid for or the bill, or any fix, is subject to the filibuster. If they do this through reconciliation, whatever emerges still has to abide by the Byrd Rule in the Senate or it's filibuster city, and then it has to pass the House. Tall order given how unpopular the whole thing is. Once again, the Rethugs have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

[angrychair]

46. No rules

They will pass any bill they want and no one can do anything about it. No one really cares.
Businesses will still be able to take all their deductions and reduce their rates to zero, nothing has changed.

Rules are for suckers and the poor.

Republicans endorsed a pedophile and has an executive branch of government in which every man and women in leadership is a criminal and a president that is a traitor and a sexual predator, why would you think they give two shits about rules or laws!?!? ROFL.

[fierywoman]

22. ahhhhh: Goddess bless the Mercury retrograde that kicked in yesterday (until the 22nd I think)

[Bernardo de La Paz]

23. Clear as day illustration of folly of rushing legislation. But Republicons generate their own fog.nt

[gordianot]

24. Who would have thought taxes were so difficult?

Republican nerve bundles never cease to amaze.

[klook]

25. Nobody knew taxes were so complicated!

[calimary]

26. Haste makes waste! One of the first cliches I learned as a kid!

And it still fits.

[Kajun Gal]

27. It's Obama's fault! Lol!

[pbmus]

28. Notice....

[SunSeeker]

29. If we could get corporations to actually pay 20%, that would be an improvement.

Right now, most pay around 15%, thanks to all the deductions, with some of the biggest corporations paying ZERO.

But they will change this in reconciliation. No way would GOP donors let them keep that as is.

[Leith]

30. Such an Incompetent Bunch of Yahoos

rethugs aren't good for anything but coming up with new ways to smear the powerless and assorted political opponents.

[mvd]

32. K&R

It's justice to their haste to push that crap through - that was not how democracy is supposed to work.

[davekriss]

34. That is so funny! And tragic. :(

[BadgerMom]

35. God, I love this!

[paleotn]

39. That's what happens

when you throw things together at the last minute. Trust me. Been there, done that. Deadline is looming, you're tired, you start getting sloppy...and forgetful...and just when you think you've pulled it off, your mistakes blow up in your face.

Couldn't happen to worse people. My heat bleeds for them.

[sagesnow]

42. Hoisted by their own hasty petard.

If I may misquote the Bard.

[Juliusseizure]

43. McCain still satisfied procedures were followed

more or less

[angrychair]

45. That is all meaningless

Businesses will still be able to take all their deductions and reduce their rates to zero, nothing has changed.

Rules are for the suckers and the poor.

Republicans endorsed a pedophile and has an executive branch of government in which every man and women in leadership is a criminal and a president that is a traitor and a sexual predator, why would you think they give two shits about rules or laws!?!? ROFL.