WE GOT THE DETAILS ON THE
COMPROMISE PLAN ATTEMPTING TO MELD THE HOUSE AND SENATE GOP
VERSIONS OF THE TAX BILLS, WHICH HAS THINGS THAT ARE DIFFERENT
FROM BOTH VERSIONS, WHICH IS EXPECTED, THE VERSIONS WERE
DIFFERENT SO YOU NEED A VERSION THAT'S IDENTICAL TO PASS IN
BOTH.
THIS IS WHAT THEY WILL ATTEMPT TO VOTE ON ON TUESDAY,
HERE ARE SOME OF THE DETAILS THAT STAND OUT.
WE TALKED ABOUT
THIS EARLIER THIS WEEK, IN THE SENATE VERSION THE TOP TAX
BRACKET WOULD STAY AT 39.6, I THINK IN THE HOUSE IT WAS 38,
THOSE ARE DIFFERENT, UNIQUE COMPROMISE, BY TAKING IT DOWN TO
37.
IT WILL ACTUALLY BE LOWER.
THE SENATE ACTUALLY HADN'T CUT
THE TOP TAX RATE SPECIFICALLY FOR THE WEALTHIEST INDIVIDUALS
BUT IN THE NEW VERSION IT WILL BE CUT.
IT DROPS THE CORPORATE
TAX RATE TO 21% FROM THE CURRENT 35, ONE PERCENTAGE POINT HIGHER
THAN IN THE SENATE VERSION OF THE BILL, A DRAMATIC CUT TO
CORPORATE TAXES.
IT HAS A 20% BUSINESS INCOME DEDUCTION FOR
THE FIRST APPROXIMATELY $300,000 IN INCOME EARNED BY PASS-THROUGH
BUSINESSES, THAT'S SOMETHING WE'VE TALKED A LOT ABOUT, THERE
ARE LEGITIMATE USES FOR THIS AREA OF THE TAX CODE BUT ALSO
ALLOWS A LOT OF WEALTHY INDIVIDUALS LIKE DONALD TRUMP
AND HIS FAMILY TO SORT OF PRETEND TO BE CORPORATIONS FOR
THE PURPOSE OF PERSONAL INCOME AND WILL ALLOW THEM TO PAY A
SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER TAX RATE THROUGH THIS.
THIS BILL, LIKE
THE SENATE BILL, CUTS THE MANDATE FOR OBAMACARE, IT IS
BELIEVED THAT IN THE MEDIUM-TERM THIS WILL KICK ABOUT 13 MILLION
PEOPLE OFF THEIR HEALTH INSURANCE, AND LONG-TERM MIGHT
UNDERMINE AND DESTROY THE ENTIRETY OF THE ACA.
IT
ELIMINATES THE CORPORATE ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX WHICH IS
ONE OF THE NODS TO FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY IN THE SENATE
BILL, THAT IS NOW GONE, THAT'S GOOD.
THE DEATH TAX, THE WAY
THEY CALL IT, IT'S ACTUALLY THE ESTATE TAX, WILL REMAIN, BUT THE
EXEMPTION FROM IT WILL BE DOUBLED, SO TECHNICALLY THERE
WILL STILL BE AN ESTATE TAX BUT YOU CAN SHIELD TWICE AS MUCH
MONEY FROM IT IF YOU ARE ONE OF THE WEALTHY PEOPLE WHO FALLS
UNDER THAT.
RUBIO GOT HIS INCREASE TO THE CHILD TAX
CREDIT, IT'S GOING UP TO $2000 PER CHILD FROM 1000, AND THE
PLAN WOULD LIMIT BUT NOT ELIMINATE STATE AND LOCAL TAX
DEDUCTIONS, WHICH IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST CHANGES THAT WILL AFFECT
MOST PEOPLE WATCHING THIS SHOW.
IT WILL ALLOW A DEDUCTION OF UP
TO $10,000 IN STATE AND LOCAL SALES AND INCOME AND PROPERTY
TAXES WHEREAS PREVIOUSLY THAT WOULD BE ELIMINATED.
SO THIS
BILL AS IT STANDS IS NOT ONLY STILL TARGETED AT WEALTHY
INDIVIDUALS AND CORPORATIONS, IT IS IN FACT, FOR THE PURPOSE OF
INDIVIDUALS, IT'S EVEN MORE LUXURIOUS.
>>A COUPLE TAKES ON THIS.
FIRST OF ALL, THE GIANT WINNERS HERE
ARE NOT INDIVIDUAL RICH PEOPLE, IT'S CORPORATIONS.
EVENTUALLY
THAT OF COURSE GOES TO CORPORATE EXECUTIVES, ETC., AND TO SOME
SHAREHOLDERS, BUT CORPORATIONS MAKE OUT LIKE BANDITS HERE.
IN
THIS FINAL VERSION THERE ARE SOME SLIGHT IMPROVEMENTS OVER
THE MORE DRACONIAN MEASURES, AND WE SHOULD GIVE THE DEVIL IT'S
DUE AND EMPHASIZE TWO OF THOSE, THE FACT THAT AT LEAST YOU CAN
KEEP YOUR STATE AND LOCAL TAX DEDUCTIONS UP TO $10,000, THAT
PROTECTS THE MIDDLE-CLASS A LITTLE BIT MORE.
>>THAT WOULD BE DEVASTATING IF THEY PUT THAT IN,
ESPECIALLY IN PLACES LIKE CALIFORNIA.
>>WHERE THAT SUNSET WHERE THE OTHER THINGS WILL STAY?
>>MY GUT WILL SAY THAT THE ONES TARGETING LOWER AND MIDDLE
INCOME INDIVIDUALS WILL, LIKE IN THE SENATE VERSION, SUNSET.
>>WE DON'T KNOW YET.
>>IT JUST CAME OUT YET.
>>PEOPLE ARE STILL TRYING TO PROBABLY DECIPHER THE
HANDWRITING IN THE MARGINS OF THE BILL.
>>AT LEAST IT'S A SLIGHT IMPROVEMENT, ANOTHER SLIGHT
IMPROVEMENT IS YOU WILL ONLY BE ABLE TO SHIELDS $22 MILLION IN
PERSONAL WEALTH FOR THE ESTATE TAX, IF YOU HAVE BILLIONS MOST
OF THAT WILL BE TAXED, IT'S NOT DONALD TRUMP BEING TAXED, IT'S
DONALD TRUMP, JR.
BEING TAXED.
>>YOU AREN'T TALKING ABOUT A HUGE NUMBER OF ESTATES THAT ARE
AFFECTED SO TO THINK THAT THIS SOMEHOW MAKES ALL THIS GREAT IS
RIDICULOUS, IT DOESN'T.
THERE AREN'T THAT MANY ESTATES THAT
ARE AFFECTED BY THIS.
THE CRIME IN HERE HAS TO DO WITH THE
PERMANENCE OF THAT CORPORATE TAX AND IT GOING DOWN TO 21%, EVEN
THOUGH THERE WAS A 1% CONCESSION BECAUSE INITIALLY IT WAS GOING
TO BE 20%, COME ON.
I THOUGHT IT WAS RIDICULOUS WHEN THEY WERE GOING BACK TO 22
AND I GUESS REPUBLICANS FIGURED OUT HOW TO GET IT LOWER.
ANYTHING ON MORTGAGE INTEREST?
>>I DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING, I READ THAT AT LEAST YESTERDAY THE
MASSIVE CHANGE TO HOW THEY TAX GRADUATE STUDENTS WAS BEING
DROPPED, THAT WOULD BE DEVASTATING.
I'M GLAD YOU
BROUGHT UP THE ESTATE TAX.
SOME OF THESE IT CAN BE DIFFICULT TO
KNOW IF IT AFFECTS YOU, IF IT DOESN'T ALL.
AND I KNOW BECAUSE
OF HOW THE ESTATE TAX -- THE SIMPLE WAY TO TELL IS, DO YOU
LIVE ON AN ESTATE?
I DON'T, SO I WON'T BENEFIT FROM THIS.
I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU.
>>NOT QUITE LITERAL BUT I LIKE YOUR POINT.
>>THE HEADLINE, CENK, YOU WENT TO THE MEAT OF THE CORPORATE
TAX, THE HEADLINE IS THIS OBAMACARE STUFF.
THAT WILL
ADVERSELY AFFECT MIDDLE CLASS PEOPLE.
AND I THINK THERE IS NO
QUESTION THAT THIS IS A WAY THAT THEY ARE ABLE, THAT THE
PRESIDENT SPECIFICALLY, CAN SAY WE WEREN'T ABLE TO DO IT
DIRECTLY WITH HEALTHCARE SO WE WILL SQUEEZE IT IN HERE.
THIS
ISN'T ANYTHING NEW WE ARE JUST LEARNING TODAY.
BUT THIS TO ME
IS THE MOST IMPACTFUL PART OF THIS AND I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE
MOST EGREGIOUS.
AGAIN ALSO WE SHOULD SAY WE KNEW THIS WOULD
HAPPEN.
WE KNEW THEY WOULD GET THIS DONE NO MATTER WHAT, I
DON'T THINK THERE WAS EVER A DOUBT.
EVERY VICTORY FROM THE
NUCLEAR DEAL TO OBAMACARE PROTECTION TO WHATEVER LITTLE
VICTORIES HAVE HAPPENED IN CONGRESS JUST BY VIRTUE OF THE
FACT THE PRESIDENT DIDN'T GET SOMETHING DONE, THIS WE
ALWAYS KNEW WAS SOMETHING THEY WOULD GET.
>>IT ALWAYS GREATLY ANNOYED ME WHEN RIGHT-WINGERS OR THE
MEDIA WOULD PRETEND THIS WAS UP IN THE AIR.
IT ISN'T, THIS IS WHAT THEY GOT PAID FOR, EVERY DONOR
WANTED THIS, THERE WAS NO WAY IT WASN'T GOING TO GET DONE.
THEY RUN THE COUNTRY.
>>RUBIO HAD BEEN SAYING HE WAS GOING TO HOLD IT UP.
>>I THINK RUBIO IS THE MOST POORLY ADVISED MEMBER OF THE
U.S. SENATE.
EVERY SINGLE TIME HE HAS A CHANCE TO SET HIMSELF
APART FROM A PACK THAT HE WANTS TO SET HIMSELF APART FROM
IF HE WANTS TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT, HE DOES THE
OPPOSITE OF WHAT HE SHOULD DO.
>>IN ADDITION, CORKER, WHO VOTED AGAINST THE PREVIOUS SENATE
VERSION OF THE BILL, THE REPUBLICAN, SAID HE WILL
VOTE FOR THIS.
>>OF COURSE HE WILL, IT WAS ALL A LIE.
HE CLAIMED HE CARED ABOUT
THE $1.5 TRILLION DEFICIT THIS CREATES, IT STILL CREATES THAT.
HE DOESN'T CARE.
>>DO WE KNOW, FLAKE WAS ON THE SIDE WHEN I LAST HEARD?
AT LEAST
SENATOR LUTHER STRANGE, WHO WAS ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE OF ALABAMA
EXCEPT THAT HE WASN'T, AND THERE'S A NEW SENATOR WHO WAS,
WILL BE ABLE TO VOTE ON THIS.
BUT GOING BACK TO CORKER,
YESTERDAY THERE WAS A POLL OUT OF TENNESSEE THAT SAID THAT PHIL
BREDISON, FORMER MAYOR OF NASHVILLE, WILL
RUNNING INTO
MARSHA BLACKBURN, BREDISON IS UP BY TWO POINTS.
AS SOON AS CORKER SAW THAT, THE MOMENT I SAW THAT POLE I
SAID WE LOST CORKER NOW, BECAUSE HE NEEDS TO GET POLITICALLY
A TAX CUT TO TENNESSEE THAT HE DIDN'T STAND IN THE WAY OF
SO REPUBLICANS LOOK LIKE THEY HELPED WITH TAXES, THAT WAS
MY FIRST READ IMMEDIATELY.
>>WE SHOULD HOPE THEY DON'T SEE THE DETAILS OF THIS THOUGH.
>>THERE WILL LOSE IN TENNESSEE.
THEY WILL LOSE EVERYWHERE, THAT
THE SEPARATE CONVERSATION, GREAT ANALYSIS ON THE POLITICS BY
MICHAEL, BUT THE HEART OF THIS, DON'T GET ME WRONG, I TOLD YOU
THE TINY LITTLE BIT THAT WAS SLIGHTLY BETTER THAN THE
HORRIBLE VERSION EARLIER, BUT THEY MOVED THE OVERTON WINDOW SO
FAR TO THE RIGHT BY TRUMP FIRST SAYING HE WOULD CUT CORPORATE
TAXES TO 15%, THEN 20, THEN 21, AND IT SEEMS LIKE, BOY, WHAT
CONCESSIONS.
THEY LOWERED IT FROM 35 TO 21.
>>THIS IS A HISTORIC TAX CUT FOR CORPORATIONS.
>>CORPORATIONS RUN THIS COUNTRY, OKAY?
THOSE ARE NOT OUR
REPRESENTATIVES, THEY ARE THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE CORPORATE
DONORS THAT HAVE TAKEN OVER THE BODY POLITIC COMPLETELY.
YOU
CAN'T GET RID OF TAXES, WE STILL NEED SCHOOLS, BRIDGES, WHAT THEY
DO IS THEY SHIFT THE TAXES ON TO YOU.
THAT'S WHY MICHAEL ASKED
ABOUT THE SUNSET PROVISION, BECAUSE IN 2017
THEY TAKE AWAY ALL THE BENEFITS THAT COME TO YOU BUT LEAVE
THE BENEFITS FROM CORPORATIONS.
>>2027.
>>YES, SORRY, 20 YEARS FROM NOW.
THAT MEETS EVERYONE MAKING UNDER
75,000 WILL GET A TAX INCREASE.
AND YOU CAN SEE HOW DISINGENUOUS
THEY ARE WITH ONE EXAMPLE, THE PASS-THROUGH TAX.
THE
PASS-THROUGH TAX IS A PERFECTLY GOOD, NORMAL THING, YOUNG TURKS
USED TO BE A PASS-THROUGH CORPORATION, SO WHAT DOES THAT
MEAN?
IT MEANS IT PASSES THROUGH AND YOU ONLY GET TAXED ONCE FOR
THE PEOPLE WHO ARE THE OWNERS OF THAT PRIVATELY HELD CORPORATION.
THAT'S LOGICAL, THAT IS FINE, THERE ARE DIFFERENT WAYS TO
DO CORPORATIONS.
>>EXPLAINED THAT A LITTLE BIT.
>>THE CORPORATION DOESN'T GET TAXED -- IF YOU ARE NOT AT
PASS-THROUGH, CORPORATE TAXES USED TO BE 35%, THEN YOU HAVE
YOUR OWN PERSONAL INCOME TAXES.
IF YOU ARE A CORPORATION DOING
GREAT, USED TO PAY 35% AND THE GUY, WHOEVER IS AT THE END OF
THAT, WILL PAY IN THE OLD DAYS AROUND 39%.
THAT IS ACTUALLY
DOUBLE TAXATION BUT THERE'S A GOOD REASON FOR THAT, BECAUSE
THE GUY IS NOT THE SAME THING AS THE CORPORATION.
BUT IF YOU ARE
A SMALLER BUSINESS, YOU SAY, YOU KNOW WHAT?
WE DON'T NEED TO TAX
THIS GUY TWICE, BOB IS THE OWNER OF XYZ PLUMBING.
>>HE'S BASICALLY THE CORPORATION.
>>HE IS XYZ PLUMBING.
YOU CAN PASS-THROUGH AND YOU WILL GET
TAXED, BOB WILL GET TAXED, BUT XYZ PLUMBING WON'T.
ITS SINGLE
TAXATION.
WHEN YOU GET LARGER, YOU AREN'T ALLOWED TO DO THAT,
ETC., BUT IN THIS BILL WHAT THEY DO IS OKAY, YOU ARE STILL
ALLOWED TO PASS THROUGH, NO ONE IS DISPUTING THAT, BUT THEN WE
ARE GOING TO LOWER IT.
WHY?
YOU ARE ONLY GETTING TAXED ONCE
ANYWAY, WHY DO YOU HAVE TO LOWER IT TO 20%? IF YOU DO THAT, EVERY
RICH PERSON IN THE COUNTRY WILL GO, 37%? WE ONLY LOWERED IT TWO
POINTS?
I'M NOW THE OWNER OF XYZ DENTISTRY, XYZ DOCTOR OFFICE,
XYZ LEGAL OFFICE, XYZ WHATEVER THE HELL ELSE I'M GOING TO
PRETEND TO HAVE.
>>XYZ STEAKS.
>>AND THEY WILL ALSO PASS-THROUGH INCOME AND THE RICH
JUST GOT THEIR TAXES CUT DOWN TO 20%.
IT'S OUTRAGEOUS, THEY TOOK
ALL YOUR MONEY AND GIVE IT TO THE RICH.