>> New Politico reporting indicates that congressional
Republicans are currently cooking up a plot to provide nearly
$3 trillion in additional tax cuts for the rich.
Now, this reporting came in the form of a newsletter that Politico puts out, and
here's what we know about it, according to Common Dreams and their report.
So Jake Johnson writes that Republicans on the House Ways and
Means Committee hope to finish work on their emerging tax legislation by June 16,
which, of course, is just over two weeks after the so called X-date.
The day on which the Treasury Department expects the federal government to run out
of money to cover its obligations unless Congress raises the debt limit or
President Joe Biden acts unilaterally, which we all know he will not do.
Now, here's what Politico's weekly tax letter specifically says.
Quote, Key parts of the tax cut package will likely include a full
restoration of research and development deductions, full bonus depreciation,
removing caps on business interest expenses or expensing.
And a doubling of the $1.08 million limitation on the section
179 deduction, which, like bonus depreciation,
allows a company to deduct an asset's cost up-front.
Now, you should know a little bit about the person drafting this legislation.
He is a longtime Republican lawmaker who has been on this effort wanting to cut
taxes because it not only benefits his corporate donors, it benefits himself.
Representative Vern Buchanan that's his legislation aimed at making
the 2017 Trump-GOP tax cuts for individuals and some businesses
permanent also has a strong likelihood of getting marked up in a broader package.
And Buchanan's bill, known as the TCJA Permanency Act,
currently has nearly 100 Republican co-sponsors in the House.
And I just want to remind you all that Republicans claim that they're concerned
about the deficit.
They're worried about government spending.
They're worried about how that would exacerbate the deficit.
And they're saying that while they simultaneously work on legislation
that would provide additional tax cuts to the rich and to corporations.
And look, this is a little scheme that Buchanan has been doing for a long time.
I direct you to a video from 2010 where he was whining and
crying about the same deficit related concerns.
Let's watch.
>> We talk about Greece and their challenges.
We're the next Greece if we don't balance the budget and
get serious about our national debt and our deficits.
Last year, $1.4 trillion in debt deficit.
This year we're expected to exceed 1.5 trillion.
We need to balance the budget now.
My first year, three and a half years ago, I introduced a balanced budget
amendment that just says we don't spend more than we take in.
We need to do that or we're gonna be the next Greece.
>> He's also one of the wealthiest members of Congress, so
of course he stands to benefit from those sweet, sweet tax cuts, Cenk.
>> Okay, so, guys, the issues here are indisputable.
So if you say you care about the deficit,
proposing a tax policy that would add $3.5 trillion,
way more than you're cutting, by the way.
Even if you get those cuts in the debt ceiling fight cannot possibly be justified
with being concerned about the deficit or the debt.
So if reporters were honest, they would say no,
the Republican Party does not prioritize the deficit or debt because it's a fact.
You can't say, hey, I want to put a $3.5 trillion hole in it, but golly gee,
I care a lot about it.
No, it shows you 100% clarity that it's not about the deficits.
It's about wealth transfer and wealth redistribution.
And it's taking from the lowest people who need food stamps, etc,
and giving to the highest.
So two-thirds of the tax cuts go to the top 20%.
The top 20% on average get no, I'm sorry,
the top 1% on average get 25 times bigger cut than the middle 20%.
>> That's right. >> Okay, so
this is another giant tax cut for the rich.
Now, why don't Republicans tell the truth?
Because how do you think that will play politically?
Guys, we'd like to rob the poorest and the middle class and the working class in
this country to give it to our donors, the richest people in the country.
Do you think that plays well, of course not.
So why don't reporters report facts about it?
Basically, when they don't, they are doing propaganda and
marketing on behalf of the Republican Party.
>> Look, I get a little irritated with Cenk when he makes broad criticisms of
the media without being specific.
However, this is a perfect example of Cenk being 1000% correct
because Politico didn't report this through their usual channels.
So if you go to Politico's website and you're looking for an article about this,
you'd be hard pressed to find it.
They sent this in the form of a newsletter, okay?
Which means you'd have to sign up for
the newsletter in order to get the reporting about this.
Thanks to Common Dreams replicating the reporting,
we're able to know about it, you're able to read about it.
If you're not signed up for Politico's newsletter.
It is ridiculous to hide this incredibly important information from the American
people by not reporting it through usual channels and
instead doing it through a newsletter.
>> And it's not just about Politico, hey, at least they reported it, right?
So in some way it's about the rest of all of the media.
Wait a minute.
You can see it from now on,
you don't have to worry about whether I'm right about the past.
So you will see articles about the debt ceiling fight.
You will see stories about it on TV.
See if any of the reporters, the news actors on television, or any of the so
called hard journalists at The New York Times, etc, all point out,
hey, by the way, they don't actually care about the debt.
Because in two weeks, they're gonna propose a $3.5 trillion hole in
the debt to give money to their rich donors.
You have to point that out for context.
If you don't give that context instead, by the way,
you will actively see them, right?
The Republicans who say that they care a lot about the deficit, the Republicans who
say they care a lot about the debt, well, that's just you're lying on their behalf.
Okay, guys, I'll give you more evidence.
Trump put $7.8 trillion onto the debt.
He created about $8 trillion hole.
So how can you possibly say that you care about deficits and
debt when you created that hole?
Bush and Trump just their tax cuts, not everything else,
just their tax cuts, $10 trillion.
The great majority of it going to the rich.
So the guys who care about the deficit and the debt had $10 trillion,
our money overall, to just give out no, it's okay.
Just give it back to the rich, because the poor rich need more.
>> So let me give you some more data in regard to who these tax cuts would
actually benefit.
Cenk had mentioned some data earlier, but I want to just really reemphasize that,
because this is just meant to redistribute wealth from the poorest to the richest.
So let's go to graphic four here.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimated earlier this month that
just 1%, 1% of the benefits of the TCJA Permanency Act, those are the tax
cuts that Buchanan wants to pass, would go to the poorest fifth of Americans.
The richest fifth by contrast,
would receive nearly two thirds of the tax benefits.
Also, this is going to cost the United States government quite a bit of money.
So, for instance, the Congressional Budget Office estimated last week that
extending the individual provisions of the 2017 tax cuts for the rich.
Which are currently set to expire in 2025, would add $2.5 trillion to
the deficit that Republicans claim to care so much about over the next decade.
And I should remind you that the original law made the cut to corporate tax
rates from 35% to just 21% permanent, okay?
And by the way, Bernie Sanders took to Fox News to write an op ed and air his
grievances about this, and I'm glad that he did it through Fox News, right?
You should let the Republican voters know about what their elected officials
are up to.
He writes, over and over again, we hear from the Republican leadership about how
deeply concerned they are about the large deficit and national debt that we have.
If that's the case, why are they pushing for
an extension of the Trump tax breaks that disproportionately benefit the wealthy and
large corporations and would increase the federal deficit by $3.5 trillion?
I mean, I think that it's smart to communicate that.
I just wish that the entirety of the Democratic Party were doing what Bernie's
doing and trying to get this information out to all voters, not just Democratic
voters, but also Republican voters who do not like these tax cuts for the rich.
The tax cuts polled poorly in 2017 as Trump was trying to garner support for
them.
But weird that most Democrats are silent about this, no.
>> So, guys, look on the polling of the tax cuts.
76% of Americans want tax increases on the rich.
Three quarters of the country, including a majority of Republicans, say,
I want you to increase tax on the rich.
What did Trump do?
The exact opposite.
What did Bush do?
The exact opposite.
What did Obama and Biden do?
The exact opposite.
And when they made Bush's tax cuts permanent, okay?
So no matter who's in charge, they do the exact opposite of what three quarters of
the country wants because 100% of their donors want tax cuts.
And that's how this game is played.
So that's among the reasons why I get so frustrated in the media.
But I'm going to give you one comment from one of our members because it's
a great point.
And I want to give credit to Ilhan Omar, too.
She did a great job of fighting back against this as well.
So a lot of times I ask progressives to fight back and
I pull my hair out that they don't.
In this case, they are fighting back and they're doing good job with the rhetoric,
etc, and pointing out the inconsistency.
Lou B writes in, no chance in Hell that Biden and
Democrats will bludgeon the GOP with a $3.5 trillion tax cuts and
then they split for the weekend ahead of the default, Dems can't fight.
See, that's why I love our members.
tyt.com/join to become a member because that's such a great point.
Why doesn't Biden in the middle of the debt ceiling fight go, hey, listen,
Politico wrote a story about it.
Apparently, they have this plan and
it's absolutely true they do that they're gonna put a $3.5 trillion hole in deficit.
Well, then obviously I'm not negotiating with them on the debt ceiling because they
don't care about the debt.
>> 100% yeah.
>> Guys, that would be so easy.
And it's not like it can't be done.
Bernie just did it in the op ed in the Fox News.
It's the easiest thing in the world.
You're not missing anything.
Biden is choosing not to do that.
So if you're a normie Democrat who was brainwashed by mainstream press into
thinking that Biden's a big fighter for you, okay, then I got a question for you.
Is it that Biden is the worst politician in the world and
he can't figure out the simplest thing ever?
Hey, why am I gonna give you guys all these cuts from the average American when
you're going to give it to the rich instead?
Or is he in on it?
He's always been in favor of those tax cuts for the rich.
And he's always been in favor of cutting spending for the average American.
You could look it up.
That is the exact history of his career.
But mainstream media kept that from you during the 2020 primaries because he said,
no, you can't hurt the guy who's leading.
And they pretended that he was quote, FTR 2.0.
What a freaking joke.