Iwamoto deserves support
Mahalo for your excellent article about Kim Coco Iwamoto (TGI Dec. 26) who is seeking the office of Lieutenant Governor. She is passionate about social justice, education, the environment and the creative industries. She is intelligent and will carry out her platform with a great deal of heart, commitment to the people, and action!
Carol Kouchi Yotsuda, Kauai
Tax cuts will be good for America
Democrats and progressive activists have not been magnanimous in their tax cut defeat. They continue to parrot the misleading talking point that 83 percent of tax cut savings will go to the top 1 percent and that 86 million Americans will see their taxes increased as a result.
These numbers are based on the faulty assumption that the significant individual tax cuts in the legislation will expire. In reality, no Congress would eliminate the legislation’s provisions that bring long overdue relief to ordinary taxpayers. These include the doubling of the zero tax bracket, doubling of the child tax credit, and elimination of the 15 percent tax rate in favor of a vastly expanded 12 percent rate. Even Socialist Bernie Sanders was forced to recently admit these tax cut provisions are good.
The tax cut reality is much different than the Democrat rhetoric. According to the left-of-center Tax Policy Center, over 80 percent of Americans will receive tax relief in 2018 and only 4.8 percent — the vast majority of whom are wealthy — will see a tax increase. The wealthiest 1 percent will actually see their share of federal taxes paid increase as a result of this legislation.
Fortunately this is one of the rare policy debates that will be settled objectively as tax cuts begin to show up in paychecks as soon as February. If Democrats keep up their 83 percent and 86 million arguments then, they will not only sound like sour grapes but also completely out of touch with reality.
Alfredo Ortiz, President and CEO Job Creators Network
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Thank you Mr. Ortiz! A voice of reason in a sea of biased liberal animosity! Thank you!
Great Article! For those who don’t know, the Republicans would have been happy to make the individual tax cuts permanent, but under Senate rules, they would have needed 60 votes, which they did not have. Democrats could have easily chipped in a few votes to make the tax cuts permanent. They probably should have done so for their own sake, because now the public will need to keep voting Republican to make sure the tax cuts don’t expire in ten years.
P.S. I did not see the comments on my Dec 12th letter until later. One person commented that I must be rich to be in favor of the tax cuts. My real concern is that I want America to do well. You probably would not think that I am rich. I drive a 2006 Honda and live with my wife in a 2 bedroom, 1 bath space without an ocean view. However, I do consider myself rich, along with the rest of America’s middle class, who I think are very rich, compared to how most people live around the world and throughout history. I am also very thankful that I can live in a beautiful, high-cost place like Kauai and that my five children are or were able to attend very good universities. Mark Beeksma
Note that Goldman Sachs announced today that they will pay $5 billion in extra taxes this quarter to transfer money home to the U.S., because of the new tax bill.
On a static basis, the new tax bill was estimated to reduce tax revenue by $1.5 trillion over ten years. An official dynamic analysis (including an estimate of the effects of extra economic growth due to the tax bill) estimated it will cost $0.5 trillion over ten years, or $50 billion per year. If just one company is paying an extra $5 billion in taxes just this month because of the tax bill, it is clear this estimated $50 billion per year estimated shortfall nationwide can easily be covered.
Keep in mind that Obama wasted around $1,200 billion in just three years in stimulus money that only yielded modest economic growth that probably would have happened anyway. To be fair, Bush 43 also wasted money as stimulus money, but not as much as Obama.
Well, since no one is speaking against the tax cuts…
The “extra” money Goldman Sachs is paying is kind of “smoke and mirrors” in that they were not paying taxes that they actually owed prior to the passing of this bill. In other words, it is a tax amnesty where tax cheats are provided an incentive to repatriate their profits at a much reduced rate. Apple is going to do the same thing.
This repatriated money is “suppose” to stimulate our economy. But anyone watching the stock market over the last year knows that there is no need to stimulate the economy. In fact, it is quite near the point where it will “boil over” and we will once again experience the stagflation of the Ford Presidency.
The money that is suppose to be invested is going to go to what exactly? The oligarchs have been buying up any enterprise that might turn a profit and consolidating them all into one company to create a monopoly that will be able to charge whatever they want. There will be no competition.
Whether or not Obama wasted money matters little, but the recession came in 2008 (anyone recall Treasury Secretary Paulson being scared out of his mind that the American Economy was about to collapse?) It ended under Obama. Trump is just riding the Obama recovery wave.
But then it is kind of silly to give much credit to the President for the state of the economy. After all, our money is under control of the private bankers at “the Fed” or the Federal Reserve.
It does appear that we are at the end of a new “boom cycle” and that “the bust” is coming. With much of America’s income being concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer people and so very many who have been left behind unable to find employment that pays much above that skimpy minimum wage. There is no reason to believe that corporations are going to create jobs they don’t need.
The Republican tax bill was put together by lobbyists. No member of Congress had any opportunity to read it. It is a give away to those “makers” who already own everything.
Next year, Paul Ryan will be coming for “entitlements” to pay for the tax cut. Kiss your Social Security check goodbye.
It remains to be seen how the tax cut affects various segments of America. However, Home Depot has announced a $15 billion buyback of its stock, which is expected to soar. If this translates to more jobs and higher wages, that can be a good thing for workers. It’s already apparently a good thing for Home Depot….which had a role in creation of the Job Creator Network.
Most of the people who don’t like this new tax law are part of the 47% of this nation who don’t pay any taxes at all and are carried by productive tax-paying citizens. So reducing taxation cuts into the 47%’ers “free stuff”.