Dotard J Trump in Indiana Pushing Another Pile of Shit

Why did he have to go to Indiana to make that announcement?

Here are the key reasons Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are making Indiana a focus of efforts to get a tax reform plan through Congress.

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If Republicans can win over eight Democrats — particularly Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly — they can block a filibuster, which would let them pass longer-lasting tax cuts.

  Indy Star

Senator Donnelly has a telephone.

When Americans for Prosperity — the grassroots arm of the political network controlled by billionaires Charles and David Koch — kicked off a nationwide tour for a “fairer, flatter and simpler” tax code in August, Indiana was the first stop. The group held events in Indianapolis and Fort Wayne. They have more activities planned — including door knocking and phone calls — to their base of 70,000 Hoosier activists.

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Another group, a coalition of businesses and associations advocating for a cut in the corporate tax rate, has also been active in Indiana.

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One of Pence’s top boasts about his four years as Indiana’s governor is that he enacted the largest income tax cut in the state’s history. That’s true in terms of a rate cut, but it was modest and it only had to beat one other cut to claim the title of largest. The rate was cut 5 percent to 3.23 percent, after pushback from the state legislature to Pence’s initial call for a 10 percent cut.

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Don’t forget that Indiana has been good for Trump. His decisive victory in the primary effectively ended the nomination battle last year.

So, he's giving them the pleasure of his presence as a reward?

Whatever.

What about the tax reforms he's hawking?

Trump [...] cast his tax plan as an economic imperative and the fulfillment of a promise to his coalition of working-class supporters to deliver benefits in the form of lower taxes, better jobs and higher wages. But the president offered few details about how working people might benefit from a plan that has explicit and substantial rewards for wealthy people and corporations, including the elimination of taxes on large inheritances and deep reductions in the rates paid by businesses large and small.

  NYT

Do you think his base will figure it out?  Me neither.  I think they'll double down blaming immigrants and blacks when they can't figure out why they're worse off than ever before.

“If this framework is all about the middle class, then Trump tower is middle-class housing,” said Senator Ron Wyden.

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Republican congressional leaders and senior White House officials have said privately they expect to use special budget rules that would allow them to get the bill through Congress without Democratic support.

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At a House retreat on Wednesday morning, Representative Kevin Brady of Texas, the Republican chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, walked members through the framework and talked about the importance of coming together to fix the tax code.

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When Rep. Peter Roskam of Illinois, the tax policy chairman on the committee, detailed plans to dump the A.M.T. and estate taxes, the audience in the room erupted in cheers.

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On the individual side, the plan would collapse the tax brackets from seven to three, with tax rates of 12 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent, administration officials said. The current top rate is 39.6 percent and the lowest rate is 10 percent.

So that sounds like the people in the lowest bracket - i.e., the poorest people - are going to see their taxes go up even as the wealthier people see a reduction in theirs. Nice.

The plan aims to simplify and cut taxes for the middle class by doubling the standard deduction to $12,000 for individuals and to $24,000 for married couples. That would allow people to avoid a complicated process of itemizing their taxes to claim various credits and deductions. It would also increase the child tax credit from $1,000 to an unspecified amount and create a new $500 tax credit for dependents, such as the elderly, who are not children.

I think we need to see some specifics and some independent analyses.

The changes to taxation for companies would be equally dramatic. The proposal calls for reducing the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent, a shift that is intended to make American companies more competitive with their counterparts around the world.

On Wednesday, Mr. Trump said his earlier calls for a corporate tax rate of 15 percent — which he repeated as recently as this week — was simply a negotiating tactic.

“I wanted to start at 15 so that we got 20,” Mr. Trump said. “20 is a perfect number.”

Oh, of course, sir! We know you didn't lose! You're a winner!

I'm not even going to bother with the historic chart of taxes and the corresponding state of the union.

It will be left to Congress to create safeguards that prevent wealthy individuals from incorporating as pass-through businesses, which would tax their income at a lower rate.

In other words, that won't happen.

Perhaps the most major yet murky shift on the business side is the move from a worldwide tax system to a territorial tax system. In theory this means that companies would not be taxed on their overseas earnings, but to prevent erosion of the tax base, Republicans plan to impose some form of tax on foreign profits at a rate that has yet to be determined.

And do you think they'll have that spelled out by the time they ask for a vote on this doozy of a plan?

Administration officials did not provide a cost estimate for the plan.

Gee what a surprise.

Studies of similar plans produced by Mr. Trump and House Republicans have been projected to cost $3 trillion to $7 trillion over a decade.

And where's that coming from? Not "defense".

The Republicans pitching the plan say economic growth will compensate for lost revenue.

Sure.

This is more "trickle down" voodoo. Exactly what you would expect from Republicans and billionaires.