Official Republican talking points for the 2017 tax cuts have leaked

[yllus]

The sheet on how to handle the various criticisms of the Republican tax cut bill (just released!) is now available in PDF form. It appears straightforward - just say "that's not true" and say the cuts help everyone, but offer no numbers, charts or expert opinion to back it up. The actual PDF is available at the link below.

Some examples of the sleight of hand: The talking points circulated by the Republican Party to sell its new tax bill refer to taxpayers earning $450,000 a year as “low- and middle-income.”

Vox - “That’s just not true”: the very simple GOP playbook for defending their tax plan

Overhauling the nation’s tax code will be a perilous business for Republicans in Congress, who are unveiling their tax overhaul Thursday. Every part of their plan is likely to come under fire from somebody. The GOP, for its part, has already prepared its counteroffensive.

The playbook is pretty straightforward: Deny the most potent attacks are true.

Is this just a tax cut for wealthy people? “No.”

Most of the cuts will go to the wealthy! “That’s just not true.” (A Tax Policy Center analysis of an earlier Republican outline found “those with the very highest incomes would receive the biggest tax cuts.”)

It’s an attack on the middle class! No, it’s “a direct and immediate boost for middle-income Americans who have been struggling to get by.”

On a few subjects, the Republican talking points neglect some important nuances.

For example, on the charge that the House Republican bill will change the popular mortgage interest deduction, the GOP counters with “that’s not so.” However, while it’s true the bill does not change the deduction for existing mortgages, it would introduce a cap at $500,000 for new purchases.

The game plan here is clear: Simply deny the worst attacks on the bill while promising a little something for everybody.
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For reference, this is what the expected after-tax income effects are expected to be:

And in case anyone in the U.S. still pretends to care about your federal deficit, this would be the effect:

Finally, Vox has a handy chart of where the tax cuts are coming from up:

 

[FIVR]

It will work because Americans are idiots

 

[realibrad]

So is it correct to say that everyone is getting reduced taxes except the bracket of the top 1% in terms of rate?

 

[fskimospy]

So is it correct to say that everyone is getting reduced taxes except the bracket of the top 1% in terms of rate?

Why would you focus on rate though? It seems like the most important thing to focus on is that percentiles 0-80 are getting an increase in after-tax income of about 0.3-0.5%. Percentiles 80-95 are getting their taxes hiked by a similar amount, and the top 1% is getting an enormous income boost of around 8-10%. Now those numbers are based on the old framework, but that seems fairly similar to the current one. As the Republicans haven't actually released the bill it's hard to get more exact than this.

It does look like their plan for this is the same as their plan for health care, which is to simply use bald faced lies about what their bill does.

 

[FIVR]

Bald face lies will work this time because McCain and Collins won't be thinking about all the people they'll kill, instead they'll think of all the donations they got from these rich people and how much more they'll get next time.

 

[fskimospy]

It also appears this bill can’t be enacted in its current form as its costs vastly exceed the $1.5 trillion in additional debt they budgeted for.

They basically appear to have responded to the hard choices needed to get costs under control by not making them.

The party of fiscal responsibility!

 

[FIVR]

Tax cuts never killed anybody. Hence, the GOP can vote agains the interests of the middle class and their constituents in order to help the rich. Nobody will die. Rich get richer. So what?


That is their rationale, and that is why... barring some other insane Trump actions... this will pass.

 

[K1052]

It also appears this bill can’t be enacted in its current form as its costs vastly exceed the $1.5 trillion in additional debt they budgeted for.

They basically appear to have responded to the hard choices needed to get costs under control by not making them.

The party of fiscal responsibility!

So it would seem. Probably why some of the middle class stuff looks to be temporary.

Biz groups are already coming out against this and they're not even to hearings/markup yet. And this is just for the House bill which the Senate wouldn't piss on if it was on fire. Huge huge mess coming.

 

[brycejones]

So it would seem. Probably why some of the middle class stuff looks to be temporary.

Biz groups are already coming out against this and they're not even to hearings/markup yet. And this is just for the House bill which the Senate wouldn't piss on if it was on fire. Huge huge mess coming.

Its a bigly tax cut, the best ever, it will be yuge growth will zoom to 15% so much winning you'll be wondering where to spend the winning.

 

[J.Wilkins]

No need to do anything but close the loopholes, it effectively taxes the most wealthy that do not do jack shit with those money for the economy and increases spending by the middle class which is money going right into the economy.

Improve infrastructure and go with a better solution to healthcare that is less expensive BY FAR than what you have and you'll save even more in the long run which could be used to perhaps decrease the large national debt.

If you don't, you'll need a world war reset to function once China is tired of playing second fiddle.

 

[soulcougher73]

I always find it funny that the so called fiscally responsible party is always the worst when it comes to math and numbers. But that also stays in tune with them being the biggest hypocrites ever to walk the face of the earth.

 

[Jhhnn]

Bald face lies will work this time because McCain and Collins won't be thinking about all the people they'll kill, instead they'll think of all the donations they got from these rich people and how much more they'll get next time.

McCain knows there will very likely be no next time for him.

 

[fskimospy]

One sort of funny thing about this is that people have pointed out they are removing the adoption tax credit, meaning they are literally raising taxes on orphans to fund tax cuts for the rich.

Not sure who thought of that one but the optics are...poor.

 

[Jhhnn]

Why would you focus on rate though? It seems like the most important thing to focus on is that percentiles 0-80 are getting an increase in after-tax income of about 0.3-0.5%. Percentiles 80-95 are getting their taxes hiked by a similar amount, and the top 1% is getting an enormous income boost of around 8-10%. Now those numbers are based on the old framework, but that seems fairly similar to the current one. As the Republicans haven't actually released the bill it's hard to get more exact than this.

It does look like their plan for this is the same as their plan for health care, which is to simply use bald faced lies about what their bill does.

Get ready for it all to trickle down!

It'll flood capital markets with windfall profits chasing returns that aren't there to create a nice big bubble & more looting opportunities for the financial elite of Wall St.

Deficits? Deficits don't matter if they arise from tax cuts for the Rich. Ask Dick Cheney. Ask Tom Delay.

 

[FIVR]

McCain knows there will very likely be no next time for him.

True. He is the most likely defector.


But it will take more than McCain to sink this and most of the other senators still plan to stay in politics.

Supposedly they have some of the "red state democrats" on board already. That pretty much makes McCain irrelevant.

 

[zinfamous]

So is it correct to say that everyone is getting reduced taxes except the bracket of the top 1% in terms of rate?

sure, if you want to be known for being a disingenuous spreader of spurious, grey area information, if not outright lies.

 

[J.Wilkins]

So is it correct to say that everyone is getting reduced taxes except the bracket of the top 1% in terms of rate?

No, SOME people in the middle class will get a tiny reduction and some will get a tiny raise in taxes, it evens out to be just about the same as always but in the top, everyone gets a MASSIVE tax reduction.

Poor people don't pay federal taxes so all they get is no healthcare.

 

[K1052]

True. He is the most likely defector.


But it will take more than McCain to sink this and most of the other senators still plan to stay in politics.

Supposedly they have some of the "red state democrats" on board already. That pretty much makes McCain irrelevant.

Corker, Flake, and Paul are among the known possible problem Senators on this push from the deficit perspective. Other members will possibly have problem agreeing on the policy side.

I'll believe that they have D senators on board when I see it. Thus far their caucus has stuck together on big issues.

 

[bshole]

The sheet on how to handle the various criticisms of the Republican tax cut bill (just released!) is now available in PDF form. It appears straightforward - just say "that's not true" and say the cuts help everyone, but offer no numbers, charts or expert opinion to back it up. The actual PDF is available at the link below.

​

For reference, this is what the expected after-tax income effects are expected to be:

And in case anyone in the U.S. still pretends to care about your federal deficit, this would be the effect:

Wow an after-tax income increase for the top 1% of 8.5%. For people in the bottom 95%, an after-tax income increase of 0.5% to 1.2%. In a decade the "benefit" to the lower rungs shrinks to near nothing or actually turns negative while it increases for the top 1%. Biggest fuck you to the American people yet.

This is draining the swamp and they will probably get away with it. As long as they give their voters somebody to hate, they will be satisfied.

 

[realibrad]

I do believe my sarcasm was missed.

I don't see how they reduce tax revenue without going over that 1.5 though.

 

[JSt0rm]

Apparently a bunch of the middle income tax credits sunset in 5 years but the wealthy tax breaks are permanent.

 

[theeedude]

Apparently a bunch of the middle income tax credits sunset in 5 years but the wealthy tax breaks are permanent.

Only if GOP stays in power, otherwise, they will all be repealed.

 

[JSt0rm]

Only if GOP stays in power, otherwise, they will all be repealed.

That’s a big bet. I’d say 20% of the country are lost in fake news. That’s a big voting block.

 

[theeedude]

That’s a big bet. I’d say 20% of the country are lost in fake news. That’s a big voting block.

Fun stuff is coming down the pipe though that will sober many of them up.

 

[JSt0rm]

Fun stuff is coming down the pipe though that will sober many of them up.

I have a few on Facebook and it’s not gonna make them believe. They are lost.