Republican Tax Fraud!

The Republican Tax Reform legislation is a fraud! A fraud yet again perpetrated on the American people by their Republican wealthy-representatives in Congress. The bill should be vetoed, Mr. President. It does not represent what you promised America. You do not want this tax bill to be your first year’s signature legislation. Think about your legacy – not legislation.

Tax reform is something you promised. Real tax breaks for America’s working and middle classes. That is something you can achieve with tax legislation that is bipartisan. The current tax legislation crafted by the Republican Party is a Fraud. One you surely do not want to be seen as supporting. Veto the tax legislation. Do not sign it into law.

There is no doubt in my mind that you want to sign the tax legislation into law. Nevertheless, I can’t emphasize enough your need to think about your legacy and place in history before you put pen to paper.

The final 500-plus-page Republican tax bill does nothing long-term for the middle and working classes. Tax relief for individuals will expire in eight years while making corporate tax rates permanent. Why?

What happened to the postcard-size tax return you promised?

The primary purpose of tax reform is to eliminate tax breaks to simplify the tax code and reduce rates. The Republican tax bill does neither. It only reduces corporate tax rates.

The Republican process left Democrats as bystanders to the biggest tax overhaul since 1986. By contrast, the tax reform bill passed in 1986 under President Ronald Reagan was debated and crafted on a bipartisan basis over more than 18 months.

The tax rate for big corporations was cut almost in half. It has been reduced from 35% to 21%. Reality is most U.S. corporations don’t even pay 21%, if they pay any taxes, thanks to all the corporate loopholes – most of which remain in place.

The only bright and equitable part of the tax legislation is for funds repatriated from overseas that will now be taxed at an even lower rate — 10%. It is estimated that U.S. corporations keep more than 70% of their earnings, $1.3 trillion, overseas. Coupled with state and local tax breaks corporations will be allowed to deduct, the incentives to repatriate are significant. In fact the tax bill is designed to get U.S. corporations to repatriate more than two-thirds of their foreign capital.

All major American companies have promised to repatriate their foreign funds if the tax rate is reduced to 10%.

The tax overhaul is designed to benefit the U.S. economic recovery.

The sweeping tax cuts and repatriation of billions of dollars of offshore funds will encourage U.S. companies to invest and expand their operation back home, create new jobs and stimulate the American economy.

A sidebar of the tax reform bill is that Chinese and other foreign companies are also setting up operations in the U.S. to take advantage of America’s lower corporate tax rates than those in China and elsewhere.

Fuyao Glass Industry Group from Fuqing, Fujian province in China, has opened the world’s biggest assembly plant for automotive glass in Ohio. Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology, that employs more than 500,000 people in Greater China and Asia, has announced it is setting up a $10 billion assembly plant in Wisconsin.

The sweeping tax cuts will stimulate the American economy and job market. Not enough to make-up for the estimated $1.5 trillion plus in deficit spending required to pay for all the other wasteful provisions of the tax legislation that primarily benefit the top 1% at the expense of the working and middle classes. In fact, the bill will leave most poor, working and middle-class Americans worse off over the long run. The short-term short-lived tax benefits to individuals is not the tax reform the middle and working classes need and want.

Capitalist America has to reinvent itself yet again to survive, thrive and continue to guide in the 21st-century. It has to become a more compassionate capitalist country that prioritizes human capital by investing in Americans education and health care. Bringing America’s foreign corporate earnings back home is a promising good-seeding first-step to narrow the inequality gap that will be widened by the Republican tax bill.

One thought on “Republican Tax Fraud!

  1. I think a reform that ignores input from the other party will simply get replaced the next time a Democratic President takes office. Without bipartisan support, things will just keep changing according to the party and not in the best interest of the people. It becomes short lived and also breeds resentment from the other party.

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