"Taxpocalypse" Now - Preventing tax hikes and cutting spending should b
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All on Fri Dec 6 17:05:00 2024
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“First, do no harm” is as good an approach for legislators as it is for physicians. Therefore next year’s Republican Congress should make sure to prevent tax hikes that are now scheduled for the end of 2025. Many provisions of the Trump tax reform of 2017 are due to expire then, and it would do a
world of economic good to remove uncertainty and assure individuals and businesses that they will not be facing higher tax burdens. Unfortunately
this issue already seems to be sliding down the Beltway priority list.
The Journal’s Richard Rubin notes:
Senate Republicans are considering quick legislation early next year
to strengthen border security, energy production and the military while
saving a tax-policy fight for later in 2025, laying out a two-step
process for passing President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda without any
Democratic help.
Sen. John Thune (R., S.D.), the incoming majority leader, outlined the
approach to GOP lawmakers Tuesday as the party prepares to take control
of the House, Senate and White House in January. Lawmakers would aim to
move a targeted bill within 30 days after Trump takes office Jan. 20
and then spend more time working on taxes and other issues, according
to a person familiar with Thune’s remarks in a closed-door meeting.
This approach, which contrasts with the plans of many House Republicans, is questionable for a number of reasons. On issues like border enforcement and enabling energy production, there is a great deal the president can do administratively while Congress deliberates. Not so with tax reform.
Meaningful action requires changes in law.
Such action is definitely needed. “A Taxpocalypse of Rising Rates Is Coming
For Americans,” says the headline on a piece by Eric Boehm, who writes for Reason:
When the new session of Congress opens on January 3, the clock will
already be ticking toward the most important set of fiscal decisions
lawmakers will make this decade.
Decisions made through the end of 2025 will determine the fate of
literally trillions of Americans’ dollars. Will they remain in wallets,
bank accounts, and retirement portfolios, or will they flow to the U.S.
Treasury to fund wars and welfare?
This “fiscal cliff” is eight years in the making. The 2017 Tax Cuts
and Jobs Act (TCJA) revamped both the federal corporate and individual
income tax codes. But while the new, lower, corporate income tax rate
(and associated changes) were made permanent, many changes to the
individual tax code were temporary. That includes the higher standard
deduction… and the lower tax rates… Under the TCJA, the top marginal
rate was reduced from 39.6 percent to 37 percent—with rates for other
tax brackets falling similarly.
As legislators act to prevent harm to taxpayers, they can also pursue a wellness program to ensure taxpayer health in the future. This means restraining spending.
Speaking of the libertarians at Reason and ideas for spending cuts, editor Katherine Mangu-Ward playfully goes a little overboard in publishing an “Abolish Everything” issue of the magazine. Still, she provides some welcome food for thought in writing:
“Pick at random any three letters from the alphabet, put them in any
order, and you will have an acronym designating a federal agency we can
do without.” This quip was true when Milton Friedman said it many
decades ago, and it’s gotten only more true over the many years that
George Will has been quoting it in his columns and speeches.
The Constitution laid out a clear vision for the role of the federal
government, one limited in both scope and power. Yet the government
has drifted far from this blueprint. Departments and agencies now exist
that would be unrecognizable to the Founders. Despite trillions in
taxpayer dollars and decades—or even centuries—of meddling, these
agencies have hampered economic growth, violated human rights, and
eroded civil liberties...
We aren’t making the case for anarchism (at least at the moment),
merely hoping to highlight that the federal government was never
supposed to be all things to all people. It’s time to take a hard look
at which agencies have earned their place and which are long past their
expiration date.
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Let's go Brandon!
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