Tag Archives: tax

Alternet: Trump fiddles while America burns — What we’re left with is a child tyrant’s policies, putting our economic survival in jeopardy.

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Originally published April 07, 2025

After markets crashed globally in response to Trump’s tariffs, slipping into bear territory on Monday before wobbling up, down and back up again, the White House issued a tone deaf slapback about Trump’s golf game, saying, “[t]he President won his second round matchup of the Senior Club Championship today in Jupiter, FL, and advances to the Championship Round tomorrow.”

As Americans watch their retirement accounts drop, Trump has spent one-third of his 76 days back in office on the golf course, indicating he couldn’t care less. No one from his administration has faced critical questions about his “Liberation Day” strategy, and it appears Trump used ChatGPT to generate the whole thing.

…

The Wall Street Journal predicts that market values will likely continue to fall. Neither Navarro nor Trump seem to understand that factory owners can’t switch their locations overnight; investment strategies aren’t that nimble and take years to develop. They’re also tone deaf to the fact that foreign and domestic corporations need the rule of law to invest safely, and are repelled by Trump’s hatchet attacks on judges, lawfirms and the judiciary.

Financial markets, predictably, are reeling. Despite Trump’s false messaging that “tariffs are tax cuts,” everyone outside the MAGA bubble knows tariffs are a regressive tax paid by working-class Americans.

By all indicators, Trump has not considered any of the complexities needed to develop a strategic trade package, and says he “couldn’t care less” about the price of cars. Like a child with a singular focus on his playmate’s toy, Trump has been so fixated on 19th century tariffs and 19thcentury imperialism that rational policy discussions have stopped.

What we’re left with is a child tyrant’s policies, putting our economic survival in jeopardy.

Trump fiddles while America burns

https://www.alternet.org/alternet-exclusives/trump-golf-2671687324

Bloomberg: Key Republican Hopes ‘Revenge’ Tax Will Be a Never-Used Deterrent

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House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith on Friday defended the provision, called Section 899, which calls for increasing income tax rates on foreign individuals and companies from countries whose tax policies the US deems “discriminatory.

A key House Republican tax negotiator said he hopes the so-called “revenge” measure in President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill targeting foreign investors will be a deterrent that is never deployed. 

So the next time a narcissist fruitcake like Trump fibs his way into the Oval Office, he will have another tool with which to destroy our economy and alienate any friends that we might have left. Many wise foreign investors and business will simply avoid doing business in the U.S.A.

Bloomberg: Key Republican Hopes ‘Revenge’ Tax Will Be a Never-Used Deterrent

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-30/key-house-republican-hopes-revenge-tax-on-foreign-investors-will-never-be-used

CNBC: House Republican tax bill skipped ACA credits — marketplace health insurance will get pricier without them

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  • Premium tax credits under the enhanced Affordable Care Act were not included in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” that House Republicans passed on Thursday.
  • Without action from Congress, the subsidies are on track to expire by the end of 2025.
  • “Pretty much everyone, almost everybody who’s buying their own health insurance, now would see their costs go up,” said Cynthia Cox, vice president and director of the program on the ACA at KFF.

But the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” is missing something health care advocates hoped to see: an extension of the insurance premium tax credits under the enhanced Affordable Care Act that are set to expire at the end of the year. The credits’ absence is notable as the bill includes other proposed changes to the ACA marketplace, experts say.

The ACA’s enhanced premium credits help make health insurance policies through the marketplace more affordable. Eligible applicants can use the credit to lower insurance premium costs upfront or claim the tax break when filing their return. 

Instead of a lower-income person paying 2% of their income on their premium, they pay nothing, according to KFF, a health policy research nonprofit. 

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Without the extension, nearly all subsidized ACA enrollees can expect their monthly premiums to rise, said Cynthia Cox, vice president and director of the program on the ACA at KFF.

Yet another way to hurt the poor!

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/23/big-beautiful-tax-bill-skipped-aca-credits.html

NSNBC: Trump isn’t cutting red tape. He’s creating more of it for average Americans.

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Trump plans would make it harder to get Medicaid, register to vote and pay your taxes.

But when it comes to average Americans, the president and his allies in Congress are fine with making it harder to file your taxes, receive benefits, access government services or register to vote.

Consider a few recent examples:

• The Trump administration plans to end an IRS pilot program that allowed some taxpayers with simple returns to file their federal taxes online for free. 

• In the megabill comprising much of Trump’s first-year agenda, House Republicans are moving ahead with new work requirements to qualify for health insurance through Medicaid.

• The Trump administration developed a plan (since rescinded) to require more Americans applying for Social Security to visit offices in person to prove their identities.

• Another Republican bill would require ID such as a passport or a birth certificate to register to vote (and a marriage certificate, too, if you’re a woman who changed her name).

Let’s call this what it is: red tape — needless box-checking, form-filling and drudgery that accomplishes nothing except making it harder for Americans to get what they need.

Opinion | Republican red tape
Trump plans would make it harder to get Medicaid, register to vote and pay your taxes.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-medicaid-social-security-red-tape-rcna207999

Explicame: Trump proposes $50 tax on every $1,000 sent in remittances

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Also billed as the Republican’s “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” and bullshit like this subtitle:

… the bill actually continues tax cuts for the wealthy on the backs of the working poor, those living hand to mouth, paycheck to paycheck. Buried starting at page 327 of 389 is a new 5% tax on remittances sent to family & friends overseas. This 5% tax is on top of the income taxes and the 15.3% (yes, the actual amount is twice the deduction that appears on your check stubs!) social security and medicare taxes that the sender has already paid, plus 2-4% in currency exchange fees.

Amidst the buzz surrounding the ambitious fiscal plan revealed by Republicans this week, a particular proposal has flown under the radar yet holds the potential to severely impact millions of workers and their families both within and outside the United States: a new tax on remittances sent abroad, costing up to $50 each month.

This initiative is part of the ‘ways and means bills,’ as termed by lawmakers aligned with President Donald Trump. The legislative package seeks to extend and expand tax exemptions implemented during his first term while introducing a series of public spending cuts. However, among the numerous provisions, the remittance tax stands out for its immediate and silent social impact.

The proposal specifically calls for a 5% tax on remittances sent from the United States. This levy would fall on the sender, meaning the worker in the U.S. who sends money to their home country to support loved ones, with an amount of $50 for every $1,000 sent.

With this tax, a monthly transfer of $300 could cost the worker an additional $15 in taxes, a figure that may seem small in macroeconomic terms but represents a significant expense for households living paycheck to paycheck.

Trump proposes $50 tax on every $1,000 sent in remittances
In a sweeping fiscal plan unveiled by Republicans, a proposed tax on remittances could significantly impact millions of workers and their families.

https://www.explica.me/en/News/Trump-proposes-50-tax-on-every-1000-sent-in-remittances-20250516-0016.html

GOP’s “big beautiful bill” would tax payments that many immigrants send back home
The bill would impose a 5% tax on remittance payments, with exceptions for most transfers made by U.S. citizens.

https://www.marketplace.org/story/2025/05/14/gops-big-beautiful-bill-would-tax-payments-that-many-immigrants-send-back-home

Apparently there are a few Republicans who think the bill is not so big and beautiful.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5304927-trump-agenda-shaky-congress

GB News: [F’]Elon Musk’s brother launches extraordinary public attack on Donald Trump

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It’s a dog-eat-dog world:

Elon Musk’s younger brother has launched an extraordinary public attack on Donald Trump after the President issued retaliatory tariffs on the world last week.

Kimbal Musk, 52 – a businessman and restaurateur – owns The Kitchen Restaurant Group and is a sitting board member of Tesla.

Now, Kimbal has hit out at Trump’s tariffs, deeming the retaliatory action a “structural, permanent tax on the American consumer”.

Taking his criticism one step further, he branded the Republican the “most high tax American President in generations”.

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“Through his tariff strategy, Trump has implemented a structural, permanent tax on the American consumer.

“Even if he is successful in bringing jobs on shore through the tariff tax, prices will remain high and the tax on consumption will remain the form of higher prices because we are simply not as good at making all things,” he added.

Elon Musk’s brother launches extraordinary public attack on Donald Trump
Elon Musk’s younger brother has launched an extraordinary public attack on Donald Trump after the President issued retaliatory tariffs on the world last week. Kimbal Musk, 52 – a businessman and restaurateur – owns The Kitchen Restaurant Group and is a sitting board member of Tesla. Now, Kimbal has hit out at Trump’s tariffs, deeming the retaliator…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/elon-musk-s-brother-launches-extraordinary-public-attack-on-donald-trump/ar-AA1CxIPj