MoJo: Congress to Americans: You Get a Tax Break! And You Get a Tax Break!

Congress to Americans: You Get a Tax Break! And You Get a Tax Break!

Now we have to pay for them.

—By Delphine d'Amora

| Fri Dec. 18, 2015

vipman/Shutterstock

The Senate on Friday passed a massive $1.8 trillion spending and tax bill, including a mess of tax breaks expected to cost the government $680 billion over the next decade. The beneficiaries range from low-income workers to giant corporations, and even include the all-important horse racing and motorsports industries. The measures, which passed the House on Thursday, are now headed to the desk of President Barack Obama.

Both parties came away from the frantic negotiations claiming some victories. Democrats managed to make permanent a series of anti-poverty tax breaks, including an expansion of the child tax credit—which will keep the threshold above which a percentage of a parent's income can be deducted to defray childcare costs at $3,000, rather than allowing it to rise to $10,000—and the earned income tax credit. “These improvements lift about 16 million people, including about 8 million children, out of poverty or closer to the poverty line each year,” Robert Greenstein, president of the progressive Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said of the measures.

Two other newly permanent tax breaks are the research and experimentation credit—which allows companies to deduct R&D costs—and a tax deduction allowing small businesses to write off up to $500,000 for the purchase of heavy machinery or office equipment. These proposals found support on both sides of the aisle. Republicans, meanwhile, managed to extend or make permanent deductions that will largely benefit large corporations, including one that expands the category of foreign income that is not taxed and another allowing businesses to write off investment costs up front.

The tax bill may raise some problems for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Obama’s landmark health coverage bill. It delays the unpopular “Cadillac tax”—a tax on expensive employer-provided health plans—as well as taxes on medical devices and health insurance. Altogether, these cuts will cost the healthcare program more than $30 billion, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), a bipartisan fiscal policy education organization, making Obamacare just that much more expensive for the government over the coming years.

According to CRFB, the tax deal will cost the government a whopping $680 billion over the next decade—after interest, about $830 billion. With no new revenue sources, the expense will just be tacked onto the yawning US deficit. "The failure to pay for this legislation is completely at odds with rhetoric about fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets," CRFB president Maya MacGuineas said.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/12/congress-just-passed-ton-tax-breaks

Ya just got screwed! Why are you voting for Republicans?

9 Heinous Items Sneaked Into the Budget Bill Congress Doesn’t Want You to See

3. There’s enough corporate tax breaks to provide free college to everyone for 9 years

The $1.1 trillion budget bill just signed into law by President Obama is the last thing Congress passed before adjourning for the year and heading home. Lawmakers knew this was a must-pass bill to avoid a government shutdown, so they made sure to pack it full of goodies for their top donors. What’s been largely missed in the breadth of coverage about this bill is just how atrocious many of these last-minute provisions are, that were hidden in the bill’s enormous volume of text at late-night hours.

1. Ban on domestic oil exports lifted

Since the Gerald Ford administration, Congress has banned the sale of American oil to the international market. The ban was largely to benefit American oil refineries, who need the ban to compete with oil refineries in countries that operate cheaply due to the lack of clean air regulations. But after the ban on oil exports is lifted, many American refineries could run the risk of shutting down, since oil companies can refine their oil outside of the US and turn even larger profits. This move will benefit the big oil companies in a major way, rewarding them for their investment in lobbying and campaign contributions. In 2013 and 2014 alone, Big Oil spent over $326 million on buying politicians and Congressional votes.

2. Ban on studying gun violence maintained

While Republicans were successful in lifting the ban on domestic oil exports, Democrats failed to lift the ban on publicly-funded scientists studying the underlying origins of gun violence. So far in 2015, more than 457 people have died from 357 mass shootings. But the total number of gun deaths this year is far more terrifying — 12,783 people have been killed by guns this year, and another 25,828 were injured, according to gunviolencearchive.org. Congress still won’t allow the Centers for Disease Control to study these incidents and learn about what leads to gun violence, extending the ban on public gun violence research earlier this year.

The National Rifle Assocation has been a fierce opponent of gun violence research, saying that government scientists were using science to push for gun control. Their lobbying and campaign spending remains fierce: In the 2014 election cycle, the NRA spent nearly $1 million on campaign contributions, $6.77 million on lobbying, and a whopping $28.2 million in independent expenditures.

3. There’s enough corporate tax breaks to provide free college to everyone for 9 years

One of the major provisions of the spending bill was the “Tax Extenders” package, which makes a vast number of tax breaks permanent. While some of the tax breaks will help working families, like the extension of the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit, 60 percent, or roughly $350 billion of the tax breaks are for corporations. This includes a tax break called“active financing” which helps corporations keep money made in the US stashed in overseas tax havens. The $622 billion in tax breaks is enough to fund tuition-free public college for 9 years.

4. Ban on IRS action against organizations abusing their tax exempt status

One of the main campaign finance wins for the GOP washamstringing the IRS’ enforcement of tax-exempt rules for nonprofit organizations that engage in illegal activity. Now, when a 501(c)(4) organization engages in illegal political activity, it runs essentially zero risk of losing its tax-exempt status. This will likely pave the way for politically-active C4 organizations, like Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS, to take in even more money from undisclosed donors. Theoretically, this could mean that foreign governments could spend money influencing American elections, as a former FEC commissioner noted.

5. Corporations don’t have to disclose political activity to shareholders

On page 1,982 of the budget bill, Republicans concealed language that prevents the Securities and Exchange Commission from requiring corporations disclose their political activity to shareholders. This is likely a response to grassroots mobilization among shareholders demanding the companies they invest in dicslose how they spent their vast reserves to influence elections. With the passage of this bill, there’s no way the federal government can require disclosure.

6. CISA surveillance bill added

In the wake of the recent mass shooting in San Bernardino, Congress renewed its push for the Cyber Internet Security Act (CISA) a controversial internet surveillance bill that would give private companies legal immunity from sharing users’ most intimate data with the federal government. House Speaker Paul Ryan snuck CISA into the must-pass budget bill to bypass procedural holdups. It would also make it even easier for the government to spy on citizens’ internet activity, streamlining the process between the Department of Homeland Security, the National Security Agency, and federal courts.

“Unfortunately, this misguided cyber legislation does little to protect Americans’ security and a great deal more to threaten our privacy than the flawed Senate version,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) said in a public statement. “Americans demand real solutions that will protect them from foreign hackers, not knee-jerk responses that allow companies to fork over huge amounts of their customers’ private data with only cursory review.”

7. Country of origin labels on meat repealed

While the food industry didn’t get the GMO labeling ban it lobbied for, it did get a major win in the budget bill as Republicans repealed Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) for beef, poultry, and pork. COOL is a common-sense measure that helps grocery shoppers make informed decisions by letting them know where their food comes from.

As a result of COOL repeal, American livestock farmers will lose business when competing with factory farming operations overseas.

“They’re importing meat from Brazil, and they’re going to ship it out of Brazil and bring it into this country,” Nebraska cattle farmer Jim Dinklage told NPR. “(Beef) would go the same way as the textile industry.”

8. Wall Street deregulation

In addition to all of the new provisions in this year’s budget bill, one of the worst riders from the 2014 “cromnibus” bill that deregulated derivatives trading on Wall Street will remain in effect. The deregulation bill reverses portions of the Dodd-Frank financial reform act of 2010, and allows big banks to get away with the same high-risk gambling on complex financial instruments that caused the 2008 financial crisis. Wall Street lobbyists actually wrote most of the language in the bill that was snuck into last year’s budget bill.

9. Ban on DC marijuana legalization remains in effect

The final fuck-you from Congress to the American people was directed at voters in Washington, DC, who approved a ballot measure that allowed for the legalization and taxation of marijuana for recreational use. In 2014, Congress’ budget deal prevented DC, whose budget is set by Congress, from implementing the law the people voted for. This year’s budget deal renews that ban.

Tom Cahill is a writer for US Uncut based in the Pacific Northwest. He specializes in coverage of political, economic, and environmental news. You can contact him via email at tom.v.cahill@gmail.com.

http://usuncut.com/politics/9-heinous-items-sneaked-into-budget-bill/

The Republican party of the rich for the rich by the rich.

"Lawmakers knew this was a must-pass bill to avoid a government shutdown, so they made sure to pack it full of goodies for their top donors. What’s been largely missed in the breadth of coverage about this bill is just how atrocious many of these last-minute provisions are, that were hidden in the bill’s enormous volume of text at late-night hours.

1. Ban on domestic oil exports lifted.
2. Ban on studying gun violence maintained.
3. There’s enough corporate tax breaks to provide free college to everyone for 9 years.
4. Ban on IRS action against organizations abusing their tax exempt status.
5. Corporations don’t have to disclose political activity to shareholders
6. CISA surveillance bill added.
7. Country of origin labels on meat repealed.”
8. Wall Street deregulation.
9. Ban on DC marijuana legalization remains in effect"

9 Heinous Items Sneaked Into the Budget Bill Congress Doesn't Want You to See

3. There's enough corporate tax breaks to provide free college
to everyone for 9 years

USUNCUT.COM

YOU GOT SCREWED! Lurking Within That Ominous Omnibus Spending Bill

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Bill Moyers and Michael Winship | Lurking Within That Ominous Omnibus Spending Bill

Bill Moyers and Michael Winship, Moyers & Company
Excerpt: "There is an unwritten rule in Congress that before you do even a little for the working class you must do a lot for the donor class. So while the $1.1 trillion - yes, that's a 't' - budget bill now winding its way to passage contains some tax breaks for low-income workers, in reality, it's a bonanza for Big Business."
READ MORE 

The bipartisan budget compromise is a holiday giveaway to the wealthy.

pdate, The Washington Post: “Early Friday morning the House passed [the] $1.1 trillion spending bill on a 316 to 113 vote, with 150 Republicans and 166 Democrats supporting the measure, after passing a $622 billion tax measure Thursday on a 318 to 109 vote… The Senate soon after passed both parts of the agreement on a 65 to 33 vote.”

#####

There is an unwritten rule in Congress that before you do even a little for the working class you must do a lot for the donor class. So while the $1.1 trillion — yes, that’s a “t” — budget bill now winding its way to passage contains some tax breaks for low-income workers, in reality, it’s a bonanza for Big Business.

Congressional leadership actually split the bill in two with one devoted to spending and the other devoted to cuts. “That way,” Paul Singer writes in USA Today, “Republican conservatives can vote against the spending bill, Democratic liberals can vote against the tax bill, and both bills still pass and a government shutdown is averted.”

Let’s start with the fossil fuel industry. For 40 years, Republicans and some Democrats have been demanding an end to the ban on crude oil exports. The omnibus bill lifts that ban just as the world community meeting in Paris agreed that emissions released from fossil fuels must be lowered if the planet is to escape incineration. Selling off cheap oil abroad is — you should excuse the expression —like throwing gasoline on the fire.

But in Congress, the energy giants have money to burn, 

and that cash speaks louder than threats to the earth or its 

inhabitants. In the 113th Congress (2013 and 2014) the 

fossil fuel industry spent $326 million and change on 

lobbying and political campaigns. In return, they received 

government favors totaling $33.7 billion. Do the math: 

According to the advocacy group Oil Change 

International, for every dollar the oil, gas and coal industry 

spends on influencing Washington, it gets back $103 in 

subsidies. With this new spending bill, expect another 


gusher of donations to be coming in any day now.

Thanks to the Republican-controlled House, and to the applause of the firearms industry, even in the wake of San Bernardino and every other mass killing this year, the bill still bans federal funding for public-health scientists to study the causes of gun violence (and continues to allow people on the no-fly list to buy guns).

These are just a couple of the goodies being sold at the congressional big box store. We’re witnessing an orgy of predatory, omnivorous bipartisanship. To show us — all evidence to the contrary — that they are not dysfunctional and can collaborate to keep Republican fanatics like Senator Ted Cruz from shutting down the federal government again, the two political parties have mounted a raid on the US Treasury, largely for the benefit of the moneyed interests that bankroll their campaigns.

As Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a non-partisan watchdog, told The New York Times’ David Herszenhorn, “Anyone who wants to get anything done, who has already been frustrated by a virtually nonfunctioning Washington, is trying to cram whatever they can into this bill.”

The “whatever,” reports The Washington Post, includes some 50 expiring business and individual tax breaks that both Democrats and Republicans want to extend. As we suggested at the outset, in order to include tax breaks for children, college students and low-wage families, party leaders apparently have agreed to make some expiring business tax credits permanent. This has prompted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to rub his hands in glee and predict that this will make it easier next year — an election year, when more money is collected for campaigns — to achieve even further tax breaks for business.

It’s a bipartisan borrowing spree, says Maya MacGuineas, and it will add about a trillion dollars to the nation’s debt, as Democrats insist on spending more and Republicans refuse to raise taxes to pay the bills and cover the cost.

Meanwhile, behind the closed doors of those back rooms of Congress, the wheeling-dealing grew more frenzied as the clock ticked down. Wall Street wolves prowled the Hill seeking obliging politicians who would insert into the spending bill a rollback of reforms enacted after the financial crash of 2008. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was born of that crisis to do what its name implies, remains a constant target. Stealth mercenaries wanted to kill or cripple it, and promised tote bags of cash if it’s done by the next election.

There’s more. Had the food industry gotten its way, the spending bill would have gutted state laws requiring that genetically modified food be labeled. They were held at bay, but a second health safeguard was removed. Back in 2008, Congress passed a farm bill requiring food sellers to tag meat with the name of the country of origin. That requirement has just been scuttled. The website Talking Points Memo quotes a lobbyist for the US Cattlemen’s Association, which supports identifying the meat as a public safety measure: “…We could have Chinese chicken within the year on shelves and no one will know where it came from.” Perhaps some lonely but brave soul in Congress can insert a last-minute rider requiring that when the initial shipment of chickens arrives, they first be served to customers in the Senate and House dining rooms.

Beginning, we would suggest, with good old Senator Mitch McConnell of whom we were just speaking. The worst of all the sneak attacks on democracy unfolding right now on Capitol Hill has his itchy trigger fingerprints all over the bombsight. McConnell, who ever since he arrived has been auctioning Congress off piece-by-piece to the highest bidders, has seen to it that the spending bill includes two provisions to emasculate efforts by the Internal Revenue Service and the Securities and Exchange Commission to require public disclosure of large political donations by individuals and corporations.

In other words, as the Los Angeles Times’ Michael Hiltzik suggests, McConnell agrees not to shut down the government only if the millionaires and billionaires are permitted to continue buying the government in ever greater secrecy.

By such are we governed today: soulless puppets dangling from the rich man’s string, their wooden hands outstretched, palms upturned. As we speak they are writing in secret new rules to perpetuate the rule of the few.

How long do we suffer them?

How long?

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/34158-lurking-within-that-ominous-omnibus-spending-bill