It's Brookings

...and Brookings is "left leaning", but that don't make 'em wrong.

Like Colbert said: "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."

(I just wish this kind of stuff could come from an author with a name other than Looney, y'know?)

Anyway:

THE ISSUE: House and Senate Republicans are working on a tax bill that will overhaul several parts of the U.S. tax code. By introducing new complexities to the tax code, the new bill creates tax sheltering opportunities for many Americans, especially the wealthy and those with good financial advisers.

- the first 3 points -

• By taxing wage income and business income at different levels, the bill adds complexity to the tax code and creates many new opportunities for more sophisticated and well-advised taxpayers to reduce their tax burdens.
• One of the least desirable parts of the bill is a provision that allows pass-through business owners to deduct 23 percent of their income before they calculate their taxes. This would result in very large differences in the tax burden of taxpayers in very similar circumstances.
• For example, if a plumber makes $60,000 a year as wages paid by an employer, he or she will pay 60 percent more in income taxes than if that plumber had been a sole proprietor or self-employed and takes advantage of the pass-through rate.
• The most sophisticated taxpayers and the highest income taxpayers will have a multiplicity of choices about how to structure their income and businesses in order to reduce taxes the most.

But let's get really real - if these jokers wanted to cut taxes for working families, they'd be  doing exactly that.  It's not about "relief", and anybody living within driving distance of a smart phone knows that.

It's also not about simplifying the Tax Code - not when it installs new ways for Corporations to avoid paying their fair share, which only increases an already pretty severe slant against the Workin' Guy.

These jagoffs are setting a deficit time bomb that they'll be using as the excuse they need to dismantle the main economic safety features which, for a good 80 years, have proven essential to making sure we have a properly-functioning middle class.

Paul Ryan has already tipped his hand by saying 2018 is when they'll be taking a nice big whack at Medicare.

We'll see what happens with Ryan. Rumors about his probable departure have intensified of late, but that could easily be a shot at gaining a bit more leverage - dunno. There are so many flips and turns and double-, triple-, and fourple-crossing that goes on, it's not really possible to keep up.

As always, the sausage-making continues apace.