The left is terrified that this will actually work. Pelosi and Schumer are losing their shit. The bat crap crazy shit coming out of their mouths is testimony to their pathetic desperation. They lost an entire generation plus after the Reagan tax cuts because it worked. Here we go again and they know it.
Kicking Bob Corker
The press gives him the Beltway Skinner Box treatment.
The Editorial BoardDec. 18, 2017 7:22 p.m. ET
Sen. Bob Corker in Washington, Nov. 29. Photo: MICHAEL REYNOLDS/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
By
The Editorial Board
Senator Bob Corker changed his mind last week and announced his support for the final tax reform bill, and so naturally the Tennessee Republican is being subject to a media horse-whipping. Witness the reporting about an alleged “Corker kickback.”
A story in the International Business Times claimed over the weekend that the GOP snuck a tax break for real estate into the conference report and suggested this bought Mr. Corker’s vote. The unsubtle insinuation is that the GOP bill now includes a benefit for rich guys like Mr. Corker, President Trump and other Republicans with real-estate assets.
This must have been too good to check, and Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch corrected the record Monday about the origins of this supposed outrage. The provision deals with the taxation of “pass through” businesses that pay taxes at the individual rate—a sticking point in writing the reform. Small businesses deserve relief commensurate with rate reductions for corporations, and groups like the National Federation of Independent Business have been particular about the details.
Our view is that the GOP should lower the top rate on individuals to 28% and not bother with a new structure for taxing small businesses. But the GOP said this was politically unpalatable and decided to treat pass-throughs differently from individuals. The House lowered the top rate for business income to 25%; the Senate allowed for a 23% deduction against the top marginal income-tax rate.
The tax writers also wanted to avoid a structure that could invite wage earners to reclassify their earnings as business income and game the system to pay a lower rate. So the House stipulated what percentage of income could qualify. The bill also included a “prove out” for capital-intensive businesses to show they are making investments that deserve the lower rate. Mr. Hatch explains that the Senate didn’t include the capital formula and used different limitations.
House-Senate conferees took the Senate deduction to 20% and paired it with an iteration of the House’s idea of a formula for capital. Mr. Hatch noted the conference report “was derived from the House provision and is the product of a negotiation between the House and Senate tax-writing committees. It is that simple.” This is like the conferees agreeing to a $750,000 cap on mortgage interest when the House passed $500,000 and the Senate stayed at $1 million. It’s a compromise.
Yet the left’s insinuation is that this is a bribe for Mr. Corker, whose public objections to the tax bill have been about the federal deficit. Mr. Hatch's letter notes that pretty much any time Mr. Corker had something to say about pass-throughs, it was “to voice skepticism about the generosity of the proposals under consideration.” We can confirm this from our own frequent conversations with Mr. Corker as the tax debate proceeded.
This is a last gasp attempt to coax Mr. Corker to vote no, or barring that smear him as unprincipled. Most of the media and the political left operate on the Skinner Box principle that Republicans deserve punishment or reward depending on whether they help defeat conservative reforms. The real lesson of the kick at Bob Corker is how terrified the left is of a bill that could be a popular tax cut that helps the economy and lifts incomes.
Appeared in the December 19, 2017, print edition.
Kicking Bob Corker
The press gives him the Beltway Skinner Box treatment.
The Editorial BoardDec. 18, 2017 7:22 p.m. ET
Sen. Bob Corker in Washington, Nov. 29. Photo: MICHAEL REYNOLDS/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
By
The Editorial Board
Senator Bob Corker changed his mind last week and announced his support for the final tax reform bill, and so naturally the Tennessee Republican is being subject to a media horse-whipping. Witness the reporting about an alleged “Corker kickback.”
A story in the International Business Times claimed over the weekend that the GOP snuck a tax break for real estate into the conference report and suggested this bought Mr. Corker’s vote. The unsubtle insinuation is that the GOP bill now includes a benefit for rich guys like Mr. Corker, President Trump and other Republicans with real-estate assets.
This must have been too good to check, and Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch corrected the record Monday about the origins of this supposed outrage. The provision deals with the taxation of “pass through” businesses that pay taxes at the individual rate—a sticking point in writing the reform. Small businesses deserve relief commensurate with rate reductions for corporations, and groups like the National Federation of Independent Business have been particular about the details.
Our view is that the GOP should lower the top rate on individuals to 28% and not bother with a new structure for taxing small businesses. But the GOP said this was politically unpalatable and decided to treat pass-throughs differently from individuals. The House lowered the top rate for business income to 25%; the Senate allowed for a 23% deduction against the top marginal income-tax rate.
The tax writers also wanted to avoid a structure that could invite wage earners to reclassify their earnings as business income and game the system to pay a lower rate. So the House stipulated what percentage of income could qualify. The bill also included a “prove out” for capital-intensive businesses to show they are making investments that deserve the lower rate. Mr. Hatch explains that the Senate didn’t include the capital formula and used different limitations.
House-Senate conferees took the Senate deduction to 20% and paired it with an iteration of the House’s idea of a formula for capital. Mr. Hatch noted the conference report “was derived from the House provision and is the product of a negotiation between the House and Senate tax-writing committees. It is that simple.” This is like the conferees agreeing to a $750,000 cap on mortgage interest when the House passed $500,000 and the Senate stayed at $1 million. It’s a compromise.
Yet the left’s insinuation is that this is a bribe for Mr. Corker, whose public objections to the tax bill have been about the federal deficit. Mr. Hatch's letter notes that pretty much any time Mr. Corker had something to say about pass-throughs, it was “to voice skepticism about the generosity of the proposals under consideration.” We can confirm this from our own frequent conversations with Mr. Corker as the tax debate proceeded.
This is a last gasp attempt to coax Mr. Corker to vote no, or barring that smear him as unprincipled. Most of the media and the political left operate on the Skinner Box principle that Republicans deserve punishment or reward depending on whether they help defeat conservative reforms. The real lesson of the kick at Bob Corker is how terrified the left is of a bill that could be a popular tax cut that helps the economy and lifts incomes.
Appeared in the December 19, 2017, print edition.
