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Trump’s hastily passed tax law is error-riddled

Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2018 11:07 am
by Bob Juch
After years of dishonestly whining that the Affordable Care Act was written in secret and rushed through Congress with insufficient debate, Congressional Republicans and the Trump administration cobbled together their tax legislation in December and rushed it through Congress. Now, it appears, America is paying the price for their shoddy work.

Desperate to pass the bill — which contained massive tax cuts for President Trump and the very rich, and tax increases for many poor and middle class families — with only Republican votes, the GOP majority was forced to make deals and amendments on the fly. Indeed, USA Today reported in December that the Senate actually passed its version of the bill with last-minute alterations that were “handwritten into the margins.”
One problem, known as the “grain glitch,” is that the bill contained a massive deduction for farmers who sell to cooperatives, but offers no such deduction if they sell their crops to independent agribusinesses. Another drafting error in the bill means that restaurants and retailers who do renovations will have to deduct their costs over 39 years, instead of the intended 15 year period.

Unlike the legislation itself — which was rammed through under the budget reconciliation so as to require only 51 votes in the Senate — any legislative fixes will require some Democratic support. But Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) told The Times that his party will demand substantive changes as well: “We’re not just going to sit down and fix the things they did badly because they did it in the dead of night with lobbyists at the table.”
https://thinkprogress.org/trumps-hastil ... 16d3e06cd/

Re: Trump’s hastily passed tax law is error-riddled

Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2018 12:22 pm
by BackInTex
Every tax bill has "errors". Nothing new here.

Re: Trump’s hastily passed tax law is error-riddled

Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2018 1:57 pm
by jarnon
Can they make a deal, like fixing one error in Obamacare for each error in the tax law? Probably not; it would take too much cooperation.

Re: Trump’s hastily passed tax law is error-riddled

Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2018 4:12 pm
by Bob Juch
jarnon wrote:Can they make a deal, like fixing one error in Obamacare for each error in the tax law? Probably not; it would take too much cooperation.
What errors are there in the ACA?

Re: Trump’s hastily passed tax law is error-riddled

Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2018 7:17 pm
by mrkelley23
Bob Juch wrote:
jarnon wrote:Can they make a deal, like fixing one error in Obamacare for each error in the tax law? Probably not; it would take too much cooperation.
What errors are there in the ACA?
All the ones Democrats tried to fix and the Republicans obstructed at every turn. Here's a few if you're really curious and not just trying to score points.

Re: Trump’s hastily passed tax law is error-riddled

Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2018 10:07 pm
by Bob Juch
mrkelley23 wrote:
Bob Juch wrote:
jarnon wrote:Can they make a deal, like fixing one error in Obamacare for each error in the tax law? Probably not; it would take too much cooperation.
What errors are there in the ACA?
All the ones Democrats tried to fix and the Republicans obstructed at every turn. Here's a few if you're really curious and not just trying to score points.
That article mentions just, "Some things need fixing," without specifics and doesn't imply there were errors, just things some disagree with.

Re: Trump’s hastily passed tax law is error-riddled

Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2018 1:39 am
by Bob78164
Bob Juch wrote:
mrkelley23 wrote:
Bob Juch wrote: What errors are there in the ACA?
All the ones Democrats tried to fix and the Republicans obstructed at every turn. Here's a few if you're really curious and not just trying to score points.
That article mentions just, "Some things need fixing," without specifics and doesn't imply there were errors, just things some disagree with.
There were a number of technical errors, as is usual. One of them became the focus of a Supreme Court case, taking the position that the law didn't authorize subsidies on state exchanges. Another was the omission of appropriations for cost-sharing payments to insurance companies -- those are the subsidies Donny ended (on the ground that they're not authorizing), which is one of the causes of higher premiums. What wasn't usual was the Republicans' unified stand against fixing any of them.

I think it's exactly right that Democrats should refuse to contribute any votes to fix a bill that was written and passed, not just without any Democratic votes, but via a secret process that shut out any Democratic input. (In contrast, for those who may wish to re-write history, the Affordable Care Act was passed via an open process that extended over a year and invited Republican participation at every step along the way.) At a minimum they should make sure to extract real concessions in exchange. If Republicans want to use their power to completely shut Democrats out of the law-making process, I have no problem with my party ensuring that they reap what they have sowed. --Bob

Re: Trump’s hastily passed tax law is error-riddled

Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2018 6:55 am
by BackInTex
Bob Juch wrote:
jarnon wrote:Can they make a deal, like fixing one error in Obamacare for each error in the tax law? Probably not; it would take too much cooperation.
What errors are there in the ACA?

Other than the fact that it is unconstitutional? Plenty. But they will all be moot within the next year, maybe two.

Re: Trump’s hastily passed tax law is error-riddled

Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2018 10:25 am
by jarnon
Bob Juch wrote:
jarnon wrote:Can they make a deal, like fixing one error in Obamacare for each error in the tax law? Probably not; it would take too much cooperation.
What errors are there in the ACA?
I found another article:
How Democrats Would Fix Obamacare

Bob’s right that most of the obvious errors have been fixed, and these are proposals to change provisions that don’t work as well as intended. Another fix that I think is needed is to provide better insurance options in states that haven’t expanded Medicare.

Re: Trump’s hastily passed tax law is error-riddled

Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2018 1:04 pm
by Bob Juch
The stupidity of Trumpcare: Government will spend $33 billion more to cover 8.9 million fewer Americans, as premiums soar
Those fiscal geniuses in the White House and Republican-controlled Congress have managed to do the impossible: Their sabotage of the Affordable Care Act will lead to 6.4 million fewer Americans with health insurance, while the federal bill for coverage rises by some $33 billion per year.

Also, by the way, premiums in the individual market will rise by an average of more than 18%.

Heck of a job.
More: http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik ... story.html

Re: Trump’s hastily passed tax law is error-riddled

Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2018 1:25 pm
by BackInTex
Bob Juch wrote:
Also, by the way, premiums in the individual market will rise by an average of more than 18%.
That's a significant reduction in the rate of increase.