[Vision2020] Yet another analysis of the GOP Tax Rip-Off

[Nicholas Gier]

This is from my union--the American Federation of Teachers--and even though
there is a focus on what teachers will lose, it also speaks to all ordinary
taxpayers.

>From the AFT President, Randi Weingarten:

Here are some examples of the “tough choices” the House GOP leadership and
Trump made to pay for this new set of tax giveaways for the wealthy. The
bill would:

   - Take away working families’ deductions that reduce their tax bill. It
   would eliminate deductions for costs of higher education, union dues and
   school supplies. Hypocritically, it would strike the $250 tax deduction
   used by the 99.5 percent of educators who spend hundreds, if not thousands,
   of dollars on their classrooms and their students.
   - Eliminate the century-old state and local tax deduction for
   individuals. However, in a smack to the face for working families,
   corporations would still be allowed to take this deduction. Overall, the
   proposal would hurt property values and every community that uses tax
   dollars to invest in essential services like schools, firefighters, police
   and sanitation.
   - Take a page from the Trump-DeVos playbook and redirect public dollars
   to support private schools by expanding 529 college savings plans to
   include private school tuition at the K-12 level. These tax-preferred
   savings accounts have no income limit, which means the bill would give
   wealthy individuals who are already sending their children to private
   schools a greater tax savings to do so.
   - Provide a meaningless $600 increase in tax credits for child care—the
   boost is meaningless because it is not refundable, so it would not help the
   lowest-income families. And just as concerning, the bill would require
   taxpayers to have a Social Security number in order to receive the child
   tax credit, leaving out thousands of previously eligible immigrant parents.
   It also would completely eliminate a tax credit for adoptive parents.
   - Cut the deduction of mortgage debt for newly purchased homes. Like
   eliminating the state and local tax deduction, this cut favors high-income
   Americans and wealthy corporations and hurts middle-class families. Capping
   mortgage interest at $500,000 for new home purchases means that home buyers
   in expensive markets would effectively lose this housing tax benefit moving
   forward.
   - Eliminate the medical expenses deduction used by Americans with large
   medical bills, including nursing home expenses, insurance premiums paid
   with after-tax dollars and other medical expenses.


-- 

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they
shall never sit in.

-Greek proverb

“Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity.
Immaturity is the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance
from another. This immaturity is self- imposed when its cause lies not in
lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without
guidance from another. Sapere Aude! ‘Have courage to use your own
understand-ing!—that is the motto of enlightenment.

--Immanuel Kant
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