The Patriot Post Digest 4-27-2017

________________________________________
The Patriot Post Digest 4-27-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
________________________________________

Mid-Day Digest

Apr. 27, 2017

IN TODAY’S EDITION

We take a separate look at Trump’s tax reform proposals for individuals and corporations.
And where does that money go? Lavish benefits for government employees, for one.
Daily Features: Top Headlines, Cartoons, Columnists and Short Cuts.

THE FOUNDATION

“Unequal taxes oppress one species of property and reward another species.” —James Madison (1792)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Who’s Up for Paying Lower Taxes?1

You wanted tax reform? Well, it’s gonna be yuge, that we can tell you. The best. That was close to what Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said Wednesday in announcing President Donald Trump’s tax reform plan — it would be “the biggest tax cut and the largest tax reform in the history of our country.” He’s not really exaggerating. We have more on the corporate tax plan and how it will boost the economy here2, so let’s focus for the moment on individual reform.

There are a few key aspects: First, instead of the seven current income tax brackets, there would be just three — 10%, 25% and 35%. What income levels those apply to has not yet been determined. Second, the plan eliminates most deductions except the popular ones for mortgage interest, charitable donations and retirement savings. Instead, the proposal doubles the standard deduction for married couples to $24,000. Thus, more folks would earn more tax-exempt income and fewer people would itemize, simplifying tax filing and saving all kinds of time and money. Third, two of the most hated taxes of all would die — the alternative minimum tax and the death tax.

One deduction elimination that may not go over so well is the one for state and local income taxes. Those rates can be particularly high in blue states like New York and California, and while leftists want other people to pay high taxes, they won’t like having their bill raised a little. But this deduction essentially functions as a subsidy for high-tax states, and those of us who live in income-tax-free states like Tennessee won’t mind no longer granting this favor to New York.

Primarily, however, eliminating most deductions goes a long way to combatting the predictable leftist attack line — “tax cuts for the wealthy.” First of all, the higher income brackets pay most of the income taxes (the top 20% pay 84% of them), so of course rate reductions will benefit them most. But the deductions also benefit them most. People in the lower brackets don’t tend to itemize, so eliminating deductions and raising the standard deduction … wait for it … cuts taxes for the poor. In our view, the only downside to this is that even fewer Americans will pay federal income tax and more people will have no “skin in the game.” Political reality, however, leaves little hope for a tax system with a broader base.

Under the circumstances, we’re impressed with Trump’s proposal and we hope he works a little art of the deal to get it passed. Our economy needs it.

Want the Big Bucks? Join the Government3

A new analysis shows that the public-private sector wage disparity has not improved. In fact, it’s worsened4. Previously, the CBO, based on 2005-2010 data, calculated that public sector employees were compensated at a roughly 16% better rate than commensurate private sector workers. That disparity is now up to 17%, according to 2011-2015 data.

And check this out5, via Government Executive: “Federal employees with bachelor’s degrees as their highest level of education earned an average of 5 percent more in wages than their private sector counterparts, 52 percent more in benefits and 21 percent more in total compensation. Federal workers with a high school diploma or less earned a 34 percent more in wages than those in the private sector, 93 percent more in benefits and 53 percent more in total compensation.” As nice as it must be to have a higher base pay as a government worker, it seems the primary catalyst for the increasing disparity is the extremely lucrative benefits. Meanwhile, those of us in the private sector are struggling just to pay for health insurance.

An aside and caveat: There are extremely hard workers who earn their pay as public servants. Military personnel are government workers, and many others do admirable work. The problem is we have people like the EPA employee6 who browse porn all day and IRS employees who steal from taxpayers7. When you factor in the total job security that government workers have and then lump in extra pay and benefits, the private sector simply can’t compete. Notwithstanding the fact there are public sector people who do their jobs well and work hard, the inherent imbalance is glaring. And as much as Democrats rail against the gender wage gap, don’t expect any demands to balance the public-private sector wage disparity.

Top Headlines8

House GOP unveils bill extending government shutdown deadline a week. (CBS News9)

Trump tells Mexico, Canada he won’t terminate NAFTA “at this time.” (The Hill10)

FCC begins process to rollback net neutrality rules. (NPR11)

ESPN layoffs should be a wake-up call about politicizing sports. (National Review12)

ESPN publishes poetry tribute to fugitive cop killer. (The Federalist13)

Ann Coulter cancels Berkeley speech after losing conservative groups' support. (USA Today14)

University of California President Janet Napolitano hid $175 million while raising tuition, paying excessive salaries. (Hot Air15)

New CMP video: Planned Parenthood executive haggles over compensation for organ sales … again. (Hot Air16)

Senators told North Korea nuclear threat is urgent. (The Washington Free Beacon17)

U.S. military begins installation of missile defenses in South Korea. (ABC News18.)

Policy: House health care bill is moving in the right direction. (The Daily Signal19)

Policy: Energy revolutions hidden in plain sight: shale crushes solar. (Real Clear Energy20)

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report21.
Don’t Miss Alexander’s Column

Read U.S. Army — Courageous Men of Faith and Character Need Not Apply22. Dr. Mark Green’s nomination as secretary of the Army should be approved by the Senate without reservation.

If you’d like to receive Alexander’s Column by email, update your subscription here23.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
Trump’s Corporate Tax Reform Would Grow the Economy Bigly2

By Allyne Caan

The long-awaited Donald Trump tax plan is out. And let’s just say, it’s shocking. At least to those (read: Democrats) convinced that all money belongs to the government and Americans are simply given an allowance at Washington’s pleasure.

(We cover personal income tax reform here1.)

Key in the president’s proposal is a federal corporate income tax rate reduction from 35% to 15%. Now mind you, even without combining the federal corporate tax rate with the average tax rate among states, the U.S. has the highest corporate income tax rate24 among the 35 industrialized nations comprising the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. What’s more, among all nations, we rank third highest — behind Puerto Rico (39%) and the United Arab Emirates (55%). There’s a bronze medal worth forfeiting.

Oh, but remember the Left’s call for “economic patriotism” among corporations25? How dare companies leave the country for lower tax rates! Well, now Trump is giving them a reason to stay — or to repatriate the estimate $2.4 trillion in offshore money — and leftists can’t handle it.

After all, lowering tax rates violates the Left’s most important fundamental economic assumption: All wealth belongs to the government, and they allow us to keep some of it — when they can “afford” to do so. For Trump and conservatives (not to mention for anyone who lives in reality), the money belongs to those who earned it. We generate it through producing goods and services and trading them for profit. Even if the “we” means the corporations the Left loves to hate (except when it involves bagging $400,000 for a speech26, that is).

Now, faced with Trump’s idea that job creators should actually be able to keep more of their own money, the Left is reacting with typical (and rather entertaining) apoplexy.

________________________________________
The Patriot Post Digest 4-27-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
Free Email Subscription
________________________________________

The Washington Post, for example, lamented27 that Trump wants the rate cut “even if it swells the national debt.” The Post reports that “independent budget experts say [the reduction] could cost the federal government $2.4 trillion over a decade.”

Let’s step back for a minute. First, we’re glad the Post was such a budget hawk during Barack Obama’s tenure, too (you can stop laughing now). Second, letting corporations keep more of what they earn is going to cost the government? Talk about Common Core math. Further, remember when Obama came into office and spent a trillion dollars on that smashing failure of an economic “stimulus” package? Oh, and recall how much of that money went to the administration’s cronies28? The Leftmedia was just fine with that.

Never mind ObamaCare’s impact on the debt.

Under Obama, the deficit quadrupled to $1.6 trillion in one year. Naturally, he blamed George W. Bush. Yet, the Post is hyperventilating that Trump’s plan will supposedly “cost” $2.4 trillion over a decade.

That’s assuming the projection is anywhere close to true. The forecast predicts lost tax revenue based on a static analysis — i.e., deliberately not accounting for economic growth created by lower rates. Yet Investor’s Business Daily reports29, “Back in 2015, the nonpartisan Tax Foundation ran the numbers and concluded that cutting the corporate rate to 15% would boost GDP by 3.7% and actually increase federal revenues by 0.3%.” It’s tough to measure how much of a boost the economy would receive from companies keeping 20 percentage points more of their revenue. They could hire more, pay employees more, create more products, buy more office space, spend on better research and development, and the list goes on. It’s certainly a reason to hope for GDP growth of better than 3%, which is something Obama never ushered in.

Furthermore, The Wall Street Journal notes30, “Trump would make small businesses like S corporations and other pass-throughs that now pay through the individual tax code eligible for the 15% rate. Tax parity among all companies is a useful goal, not least because owner-operated companies are an engine of hiring and growth.” Many of those small businesses pay the top 39.6% individual rate.

Finally, as leftists discovered just this week31, tariffs cost consumers money, not corporations. The same is true of corporate taxes. The Cato Institute’s Michael Tanner explains32, “We should understand that corporations are largely collectors of taxes, rather than payers. The vast majority of corporate taxes are simply passed through, ultimately paid by investors, consumers, or employees.”

All told, this kind of thinking is foreign to the Left, as their government-control-freak mentality can’t even grasp that corporations will do a better job of economic growth than Washington. But if history (not to mention logic) is any indicator — they will. Oh, they certainly will.

Of course, to unleash private sector growth, the tax cut must make it through Congress. The House GOP has called for cutting the corporate rate from 35% to 20%, so obviously compromise is going to have to happen on the numbers. And the preference of House Speaker Paul Ryan and other Republicans is for any reform to be revenue neutral. We’d prefer deficit neutral — that tax reform would be followed by spending reform. Unfortunately, Trump isn’t interested in that, and there are too many special interests dictating things to Congress. That leaves starving the beast with “unpaid for” tax cuts.

Still, here’s the bottom line: For eight years, corporations (that aren’t perfect) were scapegoated as the root of all evil. And leftists bask in this class warfare rhetoric that lets them avoid facing their own policies' abject failures. Now, for the first time in a while, momentum is on the side of entrepreneurs and job creators. And the Left is scared witless at the threat this poses to their agenda.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

Selling Out America for a Deal With Iran33 — Obama lied about the Iranians he released — they were much more dangerous than he wanted us to know.
Hypocritical UN Lectures America on Health Care34 — Of the UN, Trump says “there is such tremendous potential, but it is not living up.” No kidding.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Gary Bauer: Robed Radicals35
Hans von Spakovsky: Why Judge Orrick’s Ruling Won’t Block Federal Action on Sanctuary Cities36
Victor Davis Hanson: Will 2020 Be Another 1972 for Democrats?37

For more, visit Right Opinion38.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Hans von Spakovsky: “It seems that [Judge William Orrick] has issued an injunction against his own imaginary view that the government would use Section 9(a) to cut off a broad range of federal entitlement funding, instead of simply the discretionary grant programs at the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security. Thus, the exception to the injunction described by Orrick seems to allow the Trump administration to go ahead with what it has actually been planning to do all along: cut off eligibility to grant programs like the two specifically mentioned by the inspector general in his 2016 memorandum that already require compliance with Section 1373. So while this injunction order has been painted as a big loss for the administration, it actually doesn’t seem to fit that definition. Sanctuary cities are still going to suffer the consequences of their lawless behavior. They’ll lose some federal discretionary funds from the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security.

SHORT CUTS

For the record: "Bill Nye isn’t interested in a scientific debate about global warming — how much is occurring, the measurement techniques at issue, the sensitivity of the climate to carbon emissions, the range of factors that affect the climate. He wants you to accept his version of the truth — not just that global warming is happening, but that massive government intervention is necessary in order to avert imminent global catastrophe.” —Ben Shapiro

Dezinformatsiya: “[John Wayne] stands tall at the National Rifle Association’s National Firearms Museum — true, only as a cardboard cutout of himself. But the cardboard fantasy of the good guy gunning down the bad guy is what makes the museum work as an enjoyable escape from the life-and-death reality of American gun carnage. There are thousands of ingenious, gleaming rifles and handguns in displays about America’s gun-rich history of colonialism, immigration, expansionism and vigilante justice. But it is the gallery devoted to Hollywood and its guns and good-guy shooters that best illustrates the power of fantasy now driving the modern gun rights debate.” —New York Times' Francis X. Clines

Friendly fire: “I think we got to be accepting. It looks judgmental to people. It looks like we know better. We got to be open and we can’t eliminate a large swath of the country because they want to be with us on these other issues.” —Democrat Rep. Tim Ryan on the intra-party abortion rift39

Non Compos Mentis: “We received a bit of good news — not just for Democrats but for the country — that the president is easing off his demands for a border wall in the government funding bill. The money is better used elsewhere. If the wall is $50 billion dollars, you could use that money to give just about every American broadband.” —Chuck Schumer

Demo-gogues: “Republicans should not want to shut down the government, and they are the only ones who have the power to shut down the government. And you do not want to shut down the government of the most powerful nation on earth. Think of the humiliation of the United States throughout the world if you Republicans shut down the government.” —Sen. Patrick Leahy

And last… “The problem in America is not that the rich earn too much. The problem is that there aren’t enough of them to pay for all the government the Left wants.” —Gary Bauer

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Managing Editor Nate Jackson

Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way in defense of Liberty, and for their families.