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Open thread Dec. 24, 2021

Dan Crawford | December 24, 2021 9:51 am

Comments (7) | Digg Facebook Twitter |
7 Comments
  • Fred C. Dobb says:
    December 24, 2021 at 3:16 pm

    Manchin twill support version of tax on billionaires

    Senator Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., told the White House last week that he would support some version of a tax targeting billionaire wealth as part of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better economic agenda, according to three people familiar with his private offer.

    Despite its endorsement from the most conservative Democrat, the tax on billionaires still faces long odds to approval as part of the final legislation, as it has been greeted skeptically by other Democratic lawmakers in both the House and Senate. It was also left out of the House Democrats’ version of Build Back Better after Manchin publicly criticized it in October. …

    • Fred C. Dobbs says:
      December 24, 2021 at 3:56 pm

      Manchin’s offer to the White House – details of which The Washington Post reported earlier this week – included a list of spending and revenue proposals that he supports. Manchin listed the tax on billionaire wealth as an option toward the bottom of his list, the people said. It is unclear whether Manchin’s plan included a revenue estimate. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private offer.

      Manchin’s inclusion of the measure reflects the potential common ground that remains between the president and the senator in his party most uneasy about the White House’s sprawling economic agenda, which could cost as much as $2 trillion over 10 years and remake significant parts of the American economy. Alan J. Auerbach, an economist at the University of California at Berkeley, has been advising Manchin personally about tax policy, two people familiar with the matter said. Auerbach declined to comment. 

      But other considerable obstacles remain.

      For months, Manchin has been largely supportive of the White House’s tax and revenue plans, focusing his criticisms on spending measures he says are poorly designed and that would trigger more inflation and explode the national debt. Those concerns have yet to be resolved. But Manchin is not the only Democrat with policy issues that remain unaddressed. 

      … the new “surtax” … would impose a 5 percent levy on top of income earned above $10 million in a given year and an additional 3 percent levy on income above $25 million per year. Roughly 22,000 people, or 0.02 percent of U.S. households, would be affected by the measure.

      The surtax as drafted would apply to both ordinary income and capital gains income. Exempting pass-through entities from that measure could deprive Democrats of billions of dollars they are counting on to ensure their plan does not add to the national debt. It is unclear whether Sinema will make the request conditional for advancing the broader economic legislation. …

  • Fred C. Dobbs says:
    December 24, 2021 at 3:58 pm

    … the new “surtax” that would impose a 5 percent levy on top of income earned above $10 million in a given year and an additional 3 percent levy on income above $25 million per year. Roughly 22,000 people, or 0.02 percent of U.S. households, would be affected by the measure.

    The surtax as drafted would apply to both ordinary income and capital gains income. Exempting pass-through entities from that measure could deprive Democrats of billions of dollars they are counting on to ensure their plan does not add to the national debt. …

  • coberly says:
    December 24, 2021 at 11:32 pm

    I guess I dislike Manchin as much as anybody.  But if he says his objection to BBB is the child tax credit..I’d be willing to cut that so it only goes to , say, the bottom 20 or 40%.  I think the rest of us can make do.

    If nothing else, this would flush him out.

    Meanwhile the “patriotic deficit emergency surtax” is something I have been  calling for since I first heard about the great big huge evil deficit (and the staggering huge burden on our children national debt).

    I can’t make what these guys say add up. I think they are playing with us.

  • coberly says:
    December 24, 2021 at 11:36 pm

    Tell you the truth, I think I’d be willing to cut the whole child tax credit and go back to welfare as we knew it.  Letting the mothers stay home is not politically correct, but it would be good for the kids (and for their moms) (and dads).

    • Fred C. Dobbs says:
      December 25, 2021 at 9:10 am

      Manchin cites a blind trust to justify climate votes. But much income from his family’s coal company isn’t covered.

      (This needs to ‘get sorted’ before Manchin is to be trusted on anything.)

      • Fred C. Dobbs says:
        December 25, 2021 at 9:13 am

        In Sen. Joe Manchin III’s hilly West Virginia home county, his family’s business has made millions by taking waste coal from long-abandoned mines and selling it to a power plant that emits air pollution at a higher rate than any other plant in the state.

        That enterprise could have taken a hit under a key part of President Biden’s climate agenda, a $150 billion plan to push coal plants toward cleaner energy. One lawmaker, though, played a central role in killing that proposal: Manchin, who has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars annually from the family coal company while using his role as a Democratic swing vote in a 50-50 Senate to dictate Biden’s policies. … (Washington Post – Dec 13)

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