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Time to send Rothfus into overdue retirement; Joe Bosh (JB); Beaver County Times; January 23, 2018.
JB is secretary of the Beaver County Democratic Committee’s (BCDC) executive board.
This letter appears to be part of a mini-blitz of letters-to-the-editor from the BCYD and the Beaver County Democratic Committee (BCDC) published by the BCT. Go here for the details.
The BCT usually notes when an author is in a leadership position of a politics-oriented organization, but did not in this case. It’s likely the BCT relies on prior knowledge and/or self-reporting.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“Last week, U.S. Rep. Keith Rothfus sent out a taxpayer-funded campaign mailer on the recently passed tax bill. The mailer paints a rosy picture of the benefits to individuals and families, but leaves out a few important details.”
[RWC] There’s little difference between this letter and the others in this BCDC and BCYD mini-blitz. Therefore, please read the other letters for most of my comments.
“First and foremost, any tax cuts to individuals and families are temporary. Over the next few years, these tax cuts will slowly fade away and end altogether in 2025. By 2027, 53 percent of Americans will actually see a tax increase.
“Second, this bill increases the deficit by $1.46 trillion by giving a permanent 14-percentage-point cut to corporations, and repealing the alternative minimum tax. The bill also fails to close the major loopholes, like the Carried Interest Rule, which distinguishes between regular income and interest, allowing hedge fund managers to pay a lower tax rate than the rest of us. The tax code is already rigged for the rich; the Tax Policy Center estimates that 80 percent of this bill’s benefits go to the top 1 percent.”
[RWC] The TPC is a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, both left-leaning thinktanks.
As for repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), not exactly. According to NPR, “When it first took effect in 1970, the AMT was intended to keep the superwealthy from dodging all taxes by taking too many deductions. Congress passed the AMT after the Treasury revealed that 155 high-income households had not paid a dime of federal income taxes.” Today, the AMT nails about five million taxpayers because it didn’t/doesn’t properly index the tax to account for inflation. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) ditched the AMT for businesses but not for individuals.
I don’t know if “80 percent of this bill’s benefits go to the top 1 percent,” but here’s something JB chose not to mention. According to the Tax Foundation (TF), “In 2010, 41 percent of all tax returns filed had no income tax liability. This represents over 58 million income tax filers.” You can’t cut the income tax paid by someone who pays no income tax.
“Finally, this bill’s changes to our health-care system are projected to cost 13 million people their insurance by 2027, and premiums are expected to increase by 10 percent for everyone else.”
[RWC] Even if the figure is correct, 10% is chump change compared to what I encountered after Obamacare became law. Effective January 1, 2017, my medical insurance premium increased 57%, continuing an ugly annual trend. Even though I monkeyed with co-pays, deductibles, and so on to cut benefits, and hopefully my premium, my medical insurance premium increased 283% since Obamacare was signed into law in 2010.
“When trying to discern who Rothfus was fighting for when voting for this bill, we need only compare the benefits. We get crumbs in the short term and tax hikes in the long term to pay for huge and permanent tax cuts for the rich.
“This year, I plan to thank Rothfus by sending him into a long-overdue retirement.”
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