A political drawback of the Republican tax bills is that they raise taxes on a significant number of voters by curbing the deduction for state and local taxes. A lot of these voters are in households that make between $100,000 and $500,000 in taxable income. About 40 million tax returns come from that group, and its members are disproportionately likely to face higher taxes as a result of Republican tax legislation.
Would Republicans make these households happier if they cut taxes more for households richer than they are?
Everybody Hates the Trump Tax Plan
what people used to say about former Senator Phil Gramm .. “Even his friends don’t like him.”
.. the Senate version, which would
raise taxes on most individuals, especially in the middle and working classes, and
add around 13 million Americans to the ranks of the uninsured,
all to pay for big cuts in corporate taxes.
.. After all, if we’re talking about a big increase in capital expenditure, where does the money for that expenditure come from? Nothing in the bill would make Americans consume less and save more. So the money would have to come from abroad — from selling stocks, bonds and other assets to foreigners, on a massive scale.
.. And this inflow of foreign money would drive up the value of the dollar and lead to huge trade deficits: according to my analysis of the most optimistic forecast out there, more than $6 trillion in deficits over the next decade. These trade deficits would have a devastating effect on manufacturing — remember those jobs Trump promised to bring back? — to the likely tune of more than two million jobs lost.
.. Nor does it take account of what would inevitably come next: tax-cut-induced deficits would, by law, trigger cuts in Medicare, and this would just be the start of a G.O.P. assault on programs like disability insurance
.. “My donors are basically saying get it done or don’t ever call me again.”