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Tax Bill Passes - What Just Happened?

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  • Tax Bill Passes - What Just Happened?

    Well, thats it. The much discussed tax bill has passed both houses of Congress and been signed by the President.

    It seems like there has been a lack of clear guidance about the impact of the tax bill, so I wanted to post a summary of the Bill's impact from the non-partisan Tax Policy Institute - they've got a decent summary based on simulation data from the Brookings Institute. By and large Brookings has good people working for them (I knew several when I lived in DC), so I trust their numbers.

    The bottom line is, all income groups are projected to get a tax cut and the percentage increase is higher for higher income persons.

    Reprinted here:

    Analysis of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

    The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has worked its way through Congress and is now awaiting final passage by the House and Senate. TPC has updated its comparison chart to show how the TCJA from the conference committee would compare against current law.

    The Tax Policy Center has released distributional estimates of the conference agreement for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as filed on December 15, 2017. We find the bill would reduce taxes on average for all income groups in both 2018 and 2025. In general, higher income households receive larger average tax cuts as a percentage of after-tax income, with the largest cuts as a share of income going to taxpayers in the 95th to 99th percentiles of the income distribution. On average, in 2027 taxes would change little for lower- and middle-income groups and decrease for higher-income groups. Compared to current law, 5 percent of taxpayers would pay more tax in 2018, 9 percent in 2025, and 53 percent in 2027.



    The Tax Policy Center has also released an analysis of the macroeconomic effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as passed by Congress. We find the legislation would boost US gross domestic product (GDP) 0.8 percent in 2018 and would have little effect on GDP in 2027 or 2037. The resulting increase in taxable incomes would reduce the revenue loss arising from the legislation by $186 billion from 2018 to 2027 (around 13 percent). Because most of the individual provisions expire after 2025, we expect deficits (not including interest costs) would decline by $415 billion from 2028 to 2037, and macroeconomic feedback would boost the deficit savings by $3 billion over that interval. Including macroeconomic effects and interest costs, the legislation is projected to increase debt as a share of GDP over 5 percentage points in 2027 to 97 percent of GDP, and almost 4 percentage points in 2037 to 117 percent of GDP.

    Links to our most recent analyses and detailed tables are below. To brush up on some tax policy basics, or to refer to our previous analyses, see our Prepping for the 2017 Tax Reform Debate collection page.

    Link: Tax Policy Center
    Last edited by james.hendrickson; 12-20-2017, 06:04 PM. Reason: grammar and context
    james.c.hendrickson@gmail.com
    202.468.6043

  • #2
    As an American living out of country, I'm concerned that other than the Committee responsible for drafting the bill, Congress and Senators representing their constituents, passed the Bill without reading and fully understanding the details. There was no vetting by experts; possible unanticipated issues were not considered, there was no opportunity for discussion or other viewpoints to be heard.
    1st, the rules were changed from 60% to pass legislation to 50% + 1.
    2nd GOP added medical factors that were rejected on that discussion to the tax bill.
    3rd, GOP added an environmental [Alaskan] demand
    4th, Congressmen were so unaware of the House procedure, they were forced to repeat the vote process the following AM. No one seems to understand the Constitution no one cares !
    The President is enriching himself and his family without anyone expressing concern.

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    • #3
      Is caring about the deficit or out national debt just a talking point? Considering that the majority of Americans doesn't even care about their own debt, why is the national debt important to any individual?

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      • #4
        I think the deficit is a problem. But I'm not sure how to resolve it. I guess we do have to cut programs. But I'm still a firm believer that one way to cut wasteful spending is to move away from employer provided healthcare and socialized medicine. Or to a completely free market healthcare and give everyone vouchers so we are all on a level playing ground. Employment tied to healthcare distorts the market. I think it would either force the US to choose between medicare for all or a really free market health care market.
        LivingAlmostLarge Blog

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        • #5
          Originally posted by LivingAlmostLarge View Post
          I think the deficit is a problem. But I'm not sure how to resolve it. I guess we do have to cut programs. But I'm still a firm believer that one way to cut wasteful spending is to move away from employer provided healthcare and socialized medicine. Or to a completely free market healthcare and give everyone vouchers so we are all on a level playing ground. Employment tied to healthcare distorts the market. I think it would either force the US to choose between medicare for all or a really free market health care market.
          While you are here trying to figure out how to resolve healthcare, Trump already announced that Obamacare has been "replaced"...with a defunded obamacare? That guy really needs to learn English.

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          • #6
            Has the bill been signed by the president?

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            • #7
              Originally posted by LivingAlmostLarge View Post
              I think the deficit is a problem. But I'm not sure how to resolve it. I guess we do have to cut programs.
              I disagree. I think we need to cut WASTEFUL SPENDING before we even think about cutting programs.

              Government waste is beyond outrageous. We throw away billions on total nonsense, inefficiencies, ridiculous perks for "public servants", etc. If the government was a private business, they would be bankrupt due to how wasteful and inefficiently they function.
              Steve

              * Despite the high cost of living, it remains very popular.
              * Why should I pay for my daughter's education when she already knows everything?
              * There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Singuy View Post
                Is caring about the deficit or out national debt just a talking point? Considering that the majority of Americans doesn't even care about their own debt, why is the national debt important to any individual?
                I know this has been talked about several times but ill say it again. The national debt is just an imaginary number. We already know that money is printed from thin again...its not backed by anything. It doesnt matter if they keep printing and that "deficit" keeps growing. It makes no difference.

                Who the hell are we paying the money back to? We'll just print more and more and more. The entire system is artificial...why cant people figure this out yet.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by rennigade View Post
                  Who the hell are we paying the money back to?
                  We're paying it back to the people who we borrowed it from in the form of various government bonds. For 2017, the government paid out $458 Billion in interest on debt.
                  Steve

                  * Despite the high cost of living, it remains very popular.
                  * Why should I pay for my daughter's education when she already knows everything?
                  * There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by disneysteve View Post
                    We're paying it back to the people who we borrowed it from in the form of various government bonds. For 2017, the government paid out $458 Billion in interest on debt.
                    Again...just fire up the mint and print more money. It makes no difference since money is printed from thin air. They're just talking points people latch on to. Every single politician running for anything ever spouts this garbage.

                    Why do people keep using these talking points like it makes any difference? Thats how brainwashed we are. Its actually really interesting to witness how easily people are manipulated to believing this trash.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by rennigade View Post
                      It makes no difference since money is printed from thin air.
                      It's true that money only has value because we all agree that it does, but what's the alternative?

                      If I buy a government bond and I get paid interest every month, it's certainly real to me when I turn around and use that money to make purchases.
                      Steve

                      * Despite the high cost of living, it remains very popular.
                      * Why should I pay for my daughter's education when she already knows everything?
                      * There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Rennigade makes a good point though. The USG could easily print their way out of debt. The downside is hyper inflation.

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by corn18 View Post
                          Rennigade makes a good point though. The USG could easily print their way out of debt. The downside is hyper inflation.
                          Sure, so could any government. I just don't understand the point. Why would they ever do that and intentionally crash the economy and essentially make their money worthless? What possible benefit would there be to doing that?
                          Steve

                          * Despite the high cost of living, it remains very popular.
                          * Why should I pay for my daughter's education when she already knows everything?
                          * There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by disneysteve View Post
                            It's true that money only has value because we all agree that it does, but what's the alternative?

                            If I buy a government bond and I get paid interest every month, it's certainly real to me when I turn around and use that money to make purchases.
                            Right...im not saying money isnt real. When I see my investments grow its real to me too.

                            What im saying is when you see that fancy deficit ticket that shows trillions and trillions in debt...its nonsense. The money will never be paid back. Its nothing more than a statement politicos can use to show the great american people that they will fix this deficit, blah blah. We hear the same stuff every couple years when people are running for president.

                            Do this moving forward...the next time you hear someone running for any office talk about how they can reduce the deficit...cross them off the list for people you can vote for. See how many are left when voting day comes.

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by rennigade View Post
                              Right...im not saying money isnt real. When I see my investments grow its real to me too.

                              What im saying is when you see that fancy deficit ticket that shows trillions and trillions in debt...its nonsense. The money will never be paid back.
                              Okay. I agree with you on that. I don't think it will ever go to zero. The US has been in debt since the end of the Revolutionary War in 1789. The amount waxes and wanes, typically rising during wars and recessions and falling during calmer times. And the ups and downs do not correlate with which party is in the White House, contrary to what many people think, which supports your point that using deficit reduction as a campaign promise really makes no sense. It isn't the President or administration that influences the debt amount.
                              Steve

                              * Despite the high cost of living, it remains very popular.
                              * Why should I pay for my daughter's education when she already knows everything?
                              * There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.

                              Comment

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