Those plutocrats in the late 18th Century really knew what they were doing when they wrote the Constitution.
Thrag
5524
The days of the GOP taking credit for thing they voted against have come to a middle.
Strollen
5525
This is really unfortunate, I hate to see the Democrats follow Republicans in providing tax cuts to the rich.
The House is expected to vote this week on President Bidenās Build Back Better legislation. The social spending bill includes investments in clean energy and affordable child care ā but it also includes a $285 billion tax cut that would almost exclusively benefit high-income households over the next five years.
The measure would allow households to increase their deduction from state and local taxes from $10,000 to $80,000 through 2026, and then impose a new deduction cap through 2031. Itās the second-most expensive item in the legislation over the next five years, more costly than establishing a paid family and medical leave program, and nearly twice as expensive as funding home-medical services for the elderly and disabled, according to an analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
The raising of the standard deduction by the Republican in their tax bill to $12,000 was actually a significant reduction in taxes for most middle income (say under $100K) and made it so that most family making 50K, paid no Federal Income tax.
BBB still has some worthwhile programs for combating climate change. But the one-year extension for the child tax credit feels more like a gimmick. I donāt know the details about the child care program, but I know that for decades progressive have been claiming that early education programs help poor kids, unfortunately despite 50 years of studies there is little evidence of its effectiveness. If I was senator lād still vote for it but it would be a close call.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/11/16/second-biggest-program-democrats-budget-gives-billions-rich/
My understanding is that the SALT deduction (being able to deduct your state and local taxes from your federal taxes, which is what that bit it about) was a killed by the Trump administration to effectively punish blue states that they didnāt like with higher taxesābecause those places have high S&L taxes. Blue staters, especially high-mid income ones that donate to Democratic candidates, have been howling about it and the leadership of both houses represent a lot of these folks (SF and NY). While everything else in the BBB was stripped down to the bone, that part has been non-negotiable. If you want to be generous, you can say that it amounts to the Dems repealing Trumpās petty attack on people who didnāt vote for him. But when the price tag of the bill has been the core contention over it, I think the leadership should have yanked it and found a way to deal with it later.
Thrag
5527
Finally the liberal media is mentioning the Bidenās infrastructure victory!
According to GOP Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas, āThis year, there wonāt be blueberry pie, and thereās not going to be any pumpkin pie.ā
The Biden Presidency - denying Americans pie in 2021. :(
KevinC
5529
Who actually uses that infrastructure stuff, anyway?
Biden should give a free turkey to every American family.
From most expensive to best Thanksgiving ever.
Alstein
5531
Turkeyās kinda inexpensive right now. 29cents/pound.
KevinC
5532
That gets pretty expensive when your family eats 12 turkeys a week!
Thrag
5533
The 12 gallons of milk a week thing is never not going to make me laugh. Itās the new infrastructure week.
If only CNN had a way to let those people know what was in the packageā¦
12 gallons is pretty excessive, now a gallon a day is totally reasonable.
And he can give them out by having helicopters toss out turkeys over neighborhoods.
Of which, as I recall, only 3 were not adultsā¦
Thrag
5538
In case you didnāt see it as it was another thread, the reference is to an article in CNN about how the average American family is being hit by inflation. For this story they found an average American family of 11, and there was a literal quote about the price of milk that had āand you multiply that by 12 gallons a weekā.
That reference will never not get a laugh from me.
Menzo
5541
Clearly Trumpās efforts here have paid off.
That CNN analysis/editorial piece on the BIF has issues, butā¦
ā¦I would strongly caution against dismissing issues that hit people in the wallet out of hand, too, even when the analysis can seem nitpicky and maybe unfair.
There are probably really good takeaways there, and Democrats and those on the Left ignore them at their own peril.
EDIT: Jonathan Robinson, who is one of the sharpest data guys in the business AND works as chief data guy for a Left-leaning pollster/think tank says it better than I did:
