Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Tax Bill Blur

No News is Good News

 

The News channels and newspapers are selective with their facts. They must believe “No news is good news”. Both carry more opinion than facts. We saw the news begin to add more “entertainment” decades ago, but they’ve gone too far.  TV cable news has turned into a reality TV show to draw fans who just want to know “who is winning”, so these cable news shows only cover the attacks on parts of the Tax Bill. They fail to alert voters to the facts and fan the fires of our ideological division.

 

Senate Bill

 

I can’t find a summary of the Senate Bill on the internet. But I did find a download at

https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/11.9.17%20Chairman's%20Mark.pdf

 

The media hasn’t bothered to summarize this download and isn’t particularly interested in looking for potential unintended consequences. The media needs to apply the components of the Tax Bills to individual circumstances.

 

There has been a lot of talk about expanding the child credit, to cover child care.  But the child tax credit is the most fraudulently abused tax break of all.  Illegal Mexicans have claimed all of their relatives who still live in Mexico.

 

Most parents have grandparents doing the child care.  When couples can’t afford their own lodging, they live at grandma’s house. So, if the exemption for dependents disappears, how will this impact the taxes of the majority who don’t use commercial day care facilities. 

 

We have a lot of retired grandmas housing their children and grandchildren and have no wages to claim. They should be able to deduct all dependents. We also have lots of single moms who live with other relatives. So who claims “head of household” status to qualify for childcare credits?  I envision more taxpayers going to tax services to sort out how to fill out their postcards.

 

There is talk about paid parental leave and this sounds like a luxury rather than a necessity for wealthy two-earner couples.

 

I am completely for ending the Obamacare Mandate tax on the Individual Tax Bill and would support the Reconciliation Bill just to get that tax removed. Health Insurance Consumers need to be able to transfer to coverage they can afford.

 

I am also afraid that Reconciliation of the Tax Bill will produce a Tax Law with lots of unintended consequences. If the Bill crashes, Congress should pass the Corporate Tax Bill on its own.

 

There are some deductions I wouldn’t reduce or eliminate. That includes the home mortgage interest deduction and would not eliminate the Personal Exemption.

 

There are some deductions changes I would give up. That includes the elimination of the State and Local Tax deduction, even though it would impact high tax States.

 

There are some parts of the Tax Bill I believe are critical to pass immediately and that includes the Corporate Tax Bill and the elimination of the Obamacare Mandate tax.

 

I would not include increases in the child tax credit, because it’s contaminated with fraud. I would also drop parental leave and let corporations be free to decide what benefits to offer.

 


Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

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