Jobs v. Loopholes
7 Tax Loopholes the GOP Loves to Love
In less than two weeks the very damaging across
the board “sequester” cuts will kick in unless Republicans agree to a
replacement that is a balanced compromise including both new revenues from
closing tax loopholes and smarter, more targeted spending cuts.
When it was convenient for them to do so,
Republicans including Speaker Boehner and Mitt Romney argued vociferously for
closing loopholes and ending wasteful giveaways in the tax code. But now that
push is coming to shove, these Republicans are refusing to help protect the
economy and jobs by replacing the sequester cuts with new revenues from closing
loopholes.
This intransigence has real consequences. As
the president laid out yesterday, these cuts will cause
pain:
So these cuts are not smart. They are not fair. They will hurt our economy. They will add hundreds of thousands of Americans to the unemployment rolls. This is not an abstraction — people will lose their jobs. The unemployment rate might tick up again.
Here’s a look at the top seven loopholes and
giveaways that Republicans think are more important than protecting our economy,
jobs, the middle class, and the most vulnerable among us:
- Extra tax breaks enjoyed by the wealthiest Americans — $520 BILLION
- Tax break for companies that ship jobs overseas — $168 BILLION
- Special tax breaks for the largest oil companies — $25 BILLION
- The loophole that allow people like Mitt Romney to pay a lower tax rate than middle-class workers — $21 BILLION
- Tax deductions for vacation homes and yachts — $10 BILLION
- The corporate jet loophole — $3 BILLION
- Special write-offs for horse breeders (aka the Bluegrass Boondoggle) — $126 MILLION
BOTTOM LINE:
The Republicans are choosing to protect millionaires and special
interests like Big Oil and Wall Street instead of funding our military and
programs vital for the middle class and the health of our economy.
No comments:
Post a Comment