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United States News Title: More than 80 per cent of a Republican tax provision hidden in the coronavirus relief act will go directly to millionaires and billionaires Daily Mail Nearly 82 percent of a Republican tax provision hidden away in the coronavirus relief fund will go directly to the nation’s millionaires and billionaires, a non-partisan congressional body reported Tuesday. The clause, entered into the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act by Senate Republicans, temporarily suspends a limit to the amount that owners of ‘pass through’ structured businesses can deduct against their non-business income – including capital gains – to reduce their tax liability. Analysis by the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) discovered the suspension overwhelmingly benefits high earners, with hedge-fund investors and real estate businesses set to be the biggest winners. JCT determined that just three percent of the benefits will go to Americans earning less than $100,000 per-year. ‘This analysis shows that while Democrats fought for unemployment insurance and small business relief, a top priority of President Trump and his allies in Congress was another massive tax cut for the wealthy,’ said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, who prompted the probe, after the report was published Tuesday. ‘Congress should repeal this rotten, un-American giveaway and use the revenue to help workers battling through this crisis.’ Acknowledging the overwhelming financial and health complications the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic is posing to working class families in particular, Whitehouse added that ‘it’s a scandal for Republicans to loot American taxpayers in the midst of an economic and human tragedy.’ Suspending the limitation is set to cost taxpayers in excess of $90 billion this year alone, coming as part of a series of tax amendments that’s expected to add nearly $170 billion to the national deficit by 2030. The JCT’s report also highlighted the impact of another tax change in the CARES Act that allows firms to write off 100 percent of their losses, rather than 80 percent as a 2017 Republican tax law had previously allowed. The CARES Act was approved in Congress last month and includes hundreds of billions of dollars to increase unemployment benefits, send $1,200 checks to families across the country, and provide small businesses with immediate relief. Also included was more than $500 billion in tax cuts, including a payroll tax holiday as well as tax incentives for employers who keep workers on the payroll. The JCT’s analysis came after Whitehouse and Doggett sent a letter to the president’s administration, requesting information that could explain the origin of the GOP provisions to the relief package. The investigation was also prompted after reports surfaced that Trump, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and real estate investors in the president’s ‘inner circle’ could also be key beneficiaries of the tax giveaways listed in the legislation Attempting to contextualize the impact of the tax changes on Tuesday, Rep. Lloyd Doggett pointed out that ‘for those earning $1 million annually, a tax break buried in the recent coronavirus relief legislation is so generous that its total cost is more than total new funding for all hospitals in America and more than the total provided to all state and local governments. ‘Someone wrongly seized on this health emergency to reward ultrarich beneficiaries, likely including the Trump family, with a tax loophole not available to middle class families,’ Doggett continued. ‘This net operating loss loophole is a loser that should be repealed.’ Fellow Congressional Democrat Barbara Lee also jumped to criticize the ‘Trojan horse’ provision, blasting Republicans for sneaking in ‘tax breaks and corporate giveaways for their wealthy friends’, instead of ‘giving relief to Americans who are struggling to make ends meet’. ‘We should be prioritizing the needs of working-class Americans — not millionaires,’ she said on Twitter. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread |
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