Massive tax package offers breaks for just about everyone
Massive tax package offers breaks for just about everyone
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER 20 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — From finance companies and manufacturers to teachers and the working poor, there is a tax break for almost everyone in the massive package unveiled by congressional leaders.
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But don't get too excited. Only a few of those breaks are new.
Most have been around for years — even decades — and are renewed every year or two, but only temporarily. More than 50 of the tax breaks expired at the start of the year.
The package would make more than 20 of them permanent, providing certainty to millions of businesses and individuals.
The other breaks would be extended for shorter periods.
The bill would save taxpayers about $680 billion over the next decade, adding that amount to the national debt, according to congressional estimates.
The tax bill, as well as a government spending package also unveiled this week, takes several swipes at the IRS, limiting the agency's ability to issue new rules for tax-exempt groups.
Business leaders have been complaining for years that they can't be certain from year to year that their tax breaks will be renewed.
"I cannot tell you how many times I've visited with small businesses and farmers who tell me, 'Give me some certainty in the tax code and I can go create jobs,'" said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. "I'm excited about this huge win for families, for job creators, for certainty for our economy. I really think this is going to help us grow our economy."
"It's a significant tax relief measure and of course you know how Republicans like to cut taxes," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the package costs too much and favors businesses over families.
"In my view this is practically an immorality in terms of what it does, how it damages the future," Pelosi said Wednesday.
The White House indicated that President Barack Obama would sign the bill.
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"We are pleased that the deal will permanently extend tax credits that help working families make ends meet and pay for college, benefiting 24 million families a year," said White House spokeswoman Jen Friedman.
The tax package was negotiated mainly by Republicans from the House and Senate and Democrats from the Senate. It is unclear how many House Democrats will support it.
Ryan said the House will vote on the tax bill Thursday, sending it to the Senate.
Funding for the IRS would go up only slightly next year, to $11.2 billion. That's about $1 billion less than the agency received in 2010.
Also, the spending bill would prevent the IRS from issuing new rules for tax-exempt political groups next year. The IRS has been working on new rules since 2013, when agency officials acknowledged that agents had inappropriately singled out conservative groups for extra scrutiny.
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen has said the agency doesn't plan to finalize new rules for political groups until after next year's presidential election,
The tax package would let people who live in states without income taxes continue deducting local sales taxes when they file their federal returns. College students could keep their $2,500 tax credit for school expenses. Low-income people with three or more children could continue to claim a larger Earned Income Tax Credit.
Families that don't make enough money to pay federal income tax could continue to claim larger child tax credits.
Teachers could continue to deduct up to $250 a year if they spend their own money on classroom supplies and commuters could keep getting tax-free transit benefits from their employers.
Business groups praised the package, which would continue generous tax breaks for international finance firms, retailers and companies that spend a lot on research and development.
The generous R&D tax credit has been around since the 1980s, but it has always been temporary. The bill would expand it and make it permanent. The provision would save businesses $113 billion over the next decade, making it the single biggest tax break in the package.
Several provisions allow businesses to more quickly write off expenses for buying computers or equipment or to finance property upgrades. These provisions are important to restaurants and retailers.
Others make it easier for businesses and retirees to make tax-free charitable donations.
Still others encourage the use of alternative energy, including a tax credit for producing energy from wind.
Many of the tax breaks are obscure, including ones that benefit race horse owners, film producers and rum makers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Sen. Ron Wyden. D-Ore., has long championed a tax break for companies that make electric motorcycles (Oregon-based Brammo makes them). House Republicans killed the tax break last year after they blamed Wyden for helping to nix negotiations over a similar tax package.
The tax break would be revived and extended through 2016 in the new package.
http://news.yahoo.com/massive-tax-pa...162120680.html
Paul Ryan introduces traitorous spending bill after 2am in the morning.
See: Jeff Sessions: Paul Ryan's Omnibus Spending Bill Explains "Why Voters Are In Open Rebellion"
December 16, 2015
” In the dead of night after 2am this morning, Congressional leadership unveiled a more than 2,000 page 'omnibus' year-end funding bill which would, among other things: fully-fund the President's refugee expansion; fully-fund sanctuary cities; fully-fund the resettlement of illegal aliens youth and their families crossing the border; lock-in tax credits for illegal aliens; and quadruple the highly controversial H-2B foreign worker visa being used to replace Americans as truck drivers, construction workers, theme park employees, and in blue collar jobs across the nation.”
This traitorous spending bill cooked up by Paul Ryan and his un-American pals on Capitol Hill is sufficient cause for loyal Americans in the House to immediately challenge Paul Ryan’s speakership. And any member of Congress, Republican or Democrat, which votes to pass this notoriously evil bill needs to be primaried this coming election and gotten rid of just like Eric Cantor was kicked out of the House for his evil doings, but has since been rewarded for his un-American activities with a $3.4 Million Job on Wall Street.
Those of us who warned the “Freedom Caucus” and naïve “conservative” talk show hosts that Ryan was a snake, have been vindicated by this treacherous act of evil. The question is, will any members of the House unite in removing this snake from the Speakership?
JWK
Members of Congress who supported Paul Ryan as Speaker of the House supported our Global Governance Crowd and their FAST TRACK, WTO, NAFTA, GATT, CAFTA, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, all used to circumvent America First trade policies, while fattening the fortunes of international corporate giants who have no allegiance to America or any nation.
The Fair Share Balanced Budget Amendment
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Judy
We need to pass the FairTax Act of 2015 and end this disastrous income-based tax system .
Judy, contrary to popular belief, the FairTax Act of 2015 does not withdraw Congress' power to lay and collect taxes calculated from profits, gains, salaries and other incomes. However, The "Fair Share Balanced Budget Amendment" would if adopted!
JWK
If, by calling a tax indirect when it is essentially direct, the rule of protection could be frittered away, one of the great landmarks defining the boundary between the nation and the states of which it is composed, would have disappeared, and with it one of the bulwarks of private rights and private property. POLLOCK v. FARMERS' LOAN & TRUST CO., 157U.S. 429 (1895)