Healthcare

Senate GOP’s Deathcare Bill Gives Rich People Back Pay

Written by SK Ashby

The Senate GOP's Deathcare bill will limit (not improve or expand) access to health care because the whole thing is really just a vehicle for cutting taxes for the rich.

To demonstrate that fact, the Senate bill includes a provision that would retroactively grant tax breaks for investment income.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Like in the House bill, that tax would be repealed as of Jan. 1, 2017, dropping the top capital-gains tax rate to 20% from 23.8%. Under that measure, people who sold assets earlier this year, even before they knew if the tax cut would happen, would benefit. Retroactive tax cuts like this don’t create an incentive and can yield windfall gains for people who already made decisions.

Someone who recorded a $1 million capital gain on a stock sale in January would get a $38,000 tax cut as a result of the bill.

Republicans say these taxes have hurt the economy, but it clearly hasn't if they want to reimburse rich people for investments they've already made!

A three percent tax did not stop anyone from investing. We're still in the middle of an historic stretch of continuous job growth that begin after Obamacare was passed. The stock market is soaring. The economy is not in perfect shape, but it's pretty good right now, historically speaking.

That may be all about to end if Republicans pass their bill. It will wreck the economy just give the rich a tax cut they'll barely notice on their balance sheets.