President Obama threatened to veto a tax deal last week that would provide extended tax cuts to corporations while leaving the poor empty-handed. Not only do corporations get an economic boost, but the deal also increases the deficit, reported New Republic.
The tax-extenders deal will cause Congress to lose out on $400 billion. If the GOP does, in fact, wins this tax deal, the deficit will increase “by permanently lowering government revenues, making it harder to finance liberal policies in the future.” Although the overall revenue loss is one percent, that amount make a large impact.
Liberals have been trying to close the carried-interest loophole “which allows hedge fund managers to pay the taxes on their wage income at the lower rate for capital gains.” However, closing that loophole would raise just over $17 billion over a decade, barely denting the $400 billion loss caused by the tax deal.
New Republic also noted that, in order to make up the loss, the gas tax would have to skyrocket by 200 percent. In addition, there would have to be a final transactions tax, which would raise $180 billion.
The end product of the tax deal would be corporations having more money to make business investments, which would only make them more money. There’s virtually nothing to help the poor. The only provision that would help low-income families, for an earned income and child tax credit, is being threatened by the GOP in retaliation for Obama’s immigration order.
As things currently stand, the deal’s negotiators have gone back to rework the deal to avoid a possible veto. However, it’s likely that the president will maintain his position if the deal remains to slanted towards corporate gain.
Not only is the GOP trying to take money from the poor, but they’re also trying to rob our government of money by helping corporations. However, they don’t care. They’re already in power and receiving their paychecks and campaign money.