pianogonzology

Saturday, December 2, 2017

Average . . .

(from https://www.usnews.com/opinion/economic-intelligence/articles/2017-11-10/2017-gop-tax-reform-bill-ignores-lessons-of-ronald-reagans-1986-bill By Claudine Schneider)
". . . This Isn't Reagan's Tax Reform . . . I know this firsthand because I voted to do just that when I was a member of the House of Representatives in 1986, the last time Congress passed major tax reform legislation. But my fellow Republicans don't seem to have learned the lessons of President Ronald Reagan's reform efforts. The 1986 reform rested on a bipartisan deal to lower tax rates in exchange for closing loopholes and exemptions. Revenue neutrality was at the core of the deal, and the reform was meant to be broadly distribution neutral as well, meaning that everyone would benefit, not just the richest. The main driver for our bill was clearly to increase the efficiency of our tax system – something no one can argue against – and not to score partisan points. . . In the 30 years since bipartisan tax reform last passed, the global economy has gone through dramatic changes. Technology and trade have made it easier to move goods, ideas and capital across the globe and to locate them wherever the tax laws are most lax or beneficial. Emerging economies have lifted millions of people out of poverty and reshaped the global political order. And policy decisions driven by an increasingly narrow set of powerful interests have driven economic inequality to dangerous heights leaving us with a world where only eight men own as much wealth as half of humanity, according to Oxfam. . . Indeed, adjusting our tax code to fit the times is necessary. But the bill introduced in the House of Representatives with President Donald Trump's support is not good for the average citizen or for our country. . ."

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Friday, December 1, 2017

Since . . .

. . . Don't believe we SAW you there . . .

. . . thought we would give you some (more) highlights from the OHO Music Show at Millstone Cellars (Monkton, MD) in November . . .

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Thursday, November 30, 2017

Let's . . .

. . . File A Joint Tax Return . . .

(from https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/trump-populist-not-when-it-comes-his-tax-plan-n824851)
THEN
". . . it will no longer be accurate to describe him (Trump) as an economic populist who pursues policies to benefit the poor and the middle class at the expense of the wealthiest Americans. The reason: The Senate tax plan he’s selling is the exact opposite of economic populism. . . During the 2016 presidential campaign — and even in his first year as president — Trump portrayed himself as an economic populist. . . Do you believe in raising taxes on the wealthy? TRUMP: "I do, I do, including myself. I do." (Today Show town hall, April 21, 2016). . . “The thing I'm going to do is make sure the middle class gets good tax breaks. Because they have been absolutely shunned.” . . .(“Meet the Press,” May 8, 2016) . . . “I have joined the political arena so that the powerful can no longer beat up on people who cannot defend themselves” (GOP convention speech, July 21, 2016) . . . “We are transferring power from Washington DC and giving it back to you, the American People ... The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.” (Inaugural address, Jan. 20, 2017) . . . “I have wealthy friends that say to me I don’t mind paying more tax. . . " (Wall Street Journal interview, July 25, 2017) . . “Our framework includes our explicit commitment that tax reform will protect low-income and middle-income households, not the wealthy and well-connected. They can call me all they want. It’s not going to help. I’m doing the right thing, and it’s not good for me. Believe me.” (Speech on the GOP tax plan, Sept. 27, 2017). . ."

NOW
". . . Under the Senate tax plan, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the poorest Americans are worse off (due to no longer receiving tax credits because the bill eliminates the health-care law’s individual mandate), while the richest American are better off; . . . Even if you exclude the individual mandate from the analysis, the CBO showsthe poorest will see their taxes go up by 2027, because the individual tax cuts are temporary while the corporate ones are permanent. . ."

Let's File A Joint Tax Return
©2018 Raymond M. Jozwiak

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Wednesday, November 29, 2017

More Taxes . . .

(from https://www.snopes.com/tax-plan-graduate-students/)
CLAIM
The Republican tax reform plan would increase the tax burden on graduate students by counting waived tuition as personal income.

WHAT'S TRUE
The House of Representatives' 16 November 2017 version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would tax graduate tuition waivers, and has passed the House.

WHAT'S FALSE
As of 20 November 2017, the Senate version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act keeps the current exemption from taxation on graduate tuition waivers.

WHAT'S UNDETERMINED
Whether the final version of the tax bill, if passed, will include an end to the exemption of tuition waivers from taxation.

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Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Taxes . .

(from Vox.com)
". . . if you saw a candidate standing on a dais pointing at his pet dog and telling you it was a cat, you’d think something pretty odd was going on. . . both citizens watching the tax reform debate in Washington and reporters covering it ought to ask themselves: Why, if this plan is so good, do its authors keep lying about what the bill does? . . . It’s obvious that if you cut a tax that’s only paid by married couples who’ve amassed at least $11 million that you are helping rich people. It’s obvious that if you enact a special discount tax rate for people who own LLCs then you are helping Donald Trump, who owns a ton of them. And it’s obvious that if part of your plan is permanent and part of it is temporary, and the part you made temporary is the part that helps the middle class, then helping the middle class wasn’t your priority. . . everyone who’s anyone in the Republican Party said they wanted to cut taxes for the middle class, and not for rich people in general or Donald Trump in particular — the Senate’s coalesced around a bill whose long-term distributional impact looks like this. . . this hypothetical family of four that Paul Ryan cooked up and has instructed his caucus to meme about does get a one-year $1,182 tax cut. But under the bill the House passed last week, that tax cut shrinks over time and within a few years turns into a tax increase. . . If that’s such a good idea, why did its proponents invest so much time and energy in pretending they were going to do the opposite?Republicans promised a middle-class tax cut. . . As a candidate for office, Trump ran on promising a middle-class tax cut. At a meeting with business leaders at the beginning of the month, Trump was on the same page, saying, “It's a tax bill for middle class.” . . . But it’s not. Neither the House bill nor the Senate bill are good for the middle class. . . The middle-class provisions are afterthoughts, scrounged together to meet messaging goals. . . Trump frequently likes to make this point is to cast himself as a selfless champion of the people, willing to raise his own taxes for the sake of the country. . . Trump’s team is now engaging in bizarre deflections. . . A telling thing about the cavalcade of lies Republicans are telling about taxes is the party can’t quite get its story straight as to what the policy agenda even is here. They are telling deficit hawks that the bill is fiscally responsible, adding a large but manageable $1.5 trillion to the debt over 10 years but revenue-neutral in the long term. They're telling others that statutory “pay-as-you-go,” or PAYGO, rules will be suspended, and the bill won’t really lead to the automatic cuts in Medicare and other programs that, by law, will result from its passage. They’re telling some people the middle-class tax hikes written into the Senate bill will never be enacted, so there’s no need to worry. That’s the opposite of what they’re telling deficit hawks. So then some Republicans are telling some deficit hawks that the follow-up to the tax bill will be a return to entitlement reform. . . Of course, that’s the opposite of what Trump promised his voters during the campaign . . ."

GET IT GUYS???!!!!
. . . or maybe not!

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Monday, November 27, 2017

More Millstone. . .

. . . performances by OHO from November 2017. . .

. . . this one of Hidden Agenda. . .

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Sunday, November 26, 2017

Act . . .

. . . First, THINK later. . .

THURSDAY
(from https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-administration-lifts-ban-importing-heads-hunted-elephants-n821331
". . . The Trump administration confirmed Thursday it lifted a ban that had prohibited hunters from importing trophies of elephants killed in two African nations, reversing a 2014 rule put in place by the Obama White House. . . A spokesperson for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told NBC News that the agency had “determined that the hunting and management programs for African elephants in Zimbabwe and Zambia will enhance the survival of the species in the wild.” . . . “Legal, well-regulated sport hunting as part of a sound management program can benefit certain species by providing incentives to local communities to conserve those species and by putting much-needed revenue back into conservation,” the spokesperson said.

FRIDAY
(https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/17/us/politics/trump-elephant-trophy-ban.html)
". . . President Trump on Friday reversed the government’s decision to start allowing hunters to import trophies of elephants that were killed in two African countries, pending a further review. . . His evening Twitter message reversed a decision by his own administration over Zimbabwe that was announced this week and promoted as recently as Friday afternoon by the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders. . .“Put big game trophy decision on hold until such time as I review all conservation facts,” Mr. Trump tweeted. “Under study for years. Will update soon with Secretary Zinke. Thank you!" . . Ryan Zinke, the interior secretary, said in a statement later Friday night that the decision applied to two African countries, though it did not name them. . . .“President Trump and I have talked, and both believe that conservation and healthy herds are critical,” the statement said. “As a result, in a manner compliant with all applicable laws, rules and regulations, the issuing of permits is being put on hold as the decision is being removed.”. . . "

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