Anonymous wrote:Those of us who pay for private also pay taxes for public. I would hardly say people who homeschool are rich.

Anonymous wrote:So now rich people can protect unlimited amounts of money tax free in 529 accounts to pay for private school and homeschooling. But local taxes paid for public schools is not deductible.

No one makes you put your kids in private school or, even worse for the kids and our country, home "school." You moochers siphon money off the public schools all the time and now you want us to pay for your selfish little inculcating mind control camps?

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Anonymous wrote:What's crazy to me is that Feinstein had to get the lobbyists' amendments snuck over to her from K St but no one saw the actual bill until an hour before voting.

They passed something that they didn't even read. WTF.

Yeah. Who would ever Do THAT?

Those of us who pay for private also pay taxes for public. I would hardly say people who homeschool are rich.

Anonymous wrote:So now rich people can protect unlimited amounts of money tax free in 529 accounts to pay for private school and homeschooling. But local taxes paid for public schools is not deductible.

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Anonymous wrote:The 2018 election is going to be a bloodbath for the GOP crime syndicate.

I don't know, dude. Now their handful of Trillionaire Oligarch Overlords have even more money to use to fuck up our elections.

They’ll just bribe the left next time and you suckers will be appeased. It’s a rigged game.

No, we won't. The Democrats actually do try to solve problems. They have a big money problem, but they've been willing to address campaign finance reform and other sources of big money.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The 2018 election is going to be a bloodbath for the GOP crime syndicate.

I don't know, dude. Now their handful of Trillionaire Oligarch Overlords have even more money to use to fuck up our elections.

This plus the middle class tax increases don’t kick in for a few years. They probably figure that like frogs in water that is slowly heated up we won’t notice our tax bill slowly increasing as deductions disappear and their chained CPI pushes middle class families into higher tax brackets

Anonymous wrote:What's crazy to me is that Feinstein had to get the lobbyists' amendments snuck over to her from K St but no one saw the actual bill until an hour before voting.

They passed something that they didn't even read. WTF.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The 2018 election is going to be a bloodbath for the GOP crime syndicate.

I don't know, dude. Now their handful of Trillionaire Oligarch Overlords have even more money to use to fuck up our elections.

Then let's fuck them up. This bill steals outright from the least of us to give to BILLIONAIRES.

Forgive me, Jeff, as I know you hate Louise Mensch and think she's a conspiracy theorist kook) f the entire GOP is under a RICO investigation for accepting money from Russia and specifically Ryan and McConnell have been implicated in laundering money, this is even more obscene and has a definite last days of Rome feel. We WILL undo this before the whole country gets Kansased.

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Anonymous wrote:And with the repeal of the individual mandate, if that survives the version that comes out of the conference committee, does it spell the death knell of the ACA?

Yes. That's the insurance market death spiral. The whole system topples without the individual mandate.

The individual mandate was so weak (enforced through a relatively small penalty) that it was death spiraling anyway. I can choose between $10,0000 in premiums or a penalty of around $1500. And lots of moderate earners are choosing to do the latter. You needed a REAL penalty for not buying in, but that was ruled unconstitutional because you can't force private citizens to buy a private product.

The point was that the R Senators wouldn't vote for it as a stand alone but were fine once it was hidden in the tax bill. Not a lot of political courage there.

OK, I'll give you you that. But it is still true that the mandate was ineffective.

So... let's make it worse (???).

All it does is kill it a year ahead of schedule. It was so untenable for moderate earners, driving them off the insurance rolls, that it would have been dead by 2020'anyway.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The 2018 election is going to be a bloodbath for the GOP crime syndicate.

I don't know, dude. Now their handful of Trillionaire Oligarch Overlords have even more money to use to fuck up our elections.

They’ll just bribe the left next time and you suckers will be appeased. It’s a rigged game.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And with the repeal of the individual mandate, if that survives the version that comes out of the conference committee, does it spell the death knell of the ACA?

Yes. That's the insurance market death spiral. The whole system topples without the individual mandate.

The individual mandate was so weak (enforced through a relatively small penalty) that it was death spiraling anyway. I can choose between $10,0000 in premiums or a penalty of around $1500. And lots of moderate earners are choosing to do the latter. You needed a REAL penalty for not buying in, but that was ruled unconstitutional because you can't force private citizens to buy a private product.

So, Medicare for All would fix this right up.

No argument from me. But universal care would still have issues. Still, better than this mess we have now.

Problem is, Congress would never go for it. They've all been bought off by the insurers.

Anonymous wrote:"Some measures are barely connected to the realm of taxation, such as the lifting of a 1954 ban on political activism by churches and the conferring of a new legal right for fetuses in the House bill — both on the wish list of the evangelical right." - NYT

This is what you get when you vote Republican.

And people DID vote Republican, and these are things that represent their values. Not saying I agree with it (particularly the two examples you gave above), but they put people in office to represent them. Same thing with Democrats.

The whole reason for lower-middle income paying more (the lower don't pay in) is the abolishment of the 10% bracket. Congress figured that by doubling the standard deduction, the lower-middles would make it back up (since the vast majority do take the standard). But there is a donut hole of those who do itemize, and by starting their taxes at 12% on the first $10,000, there's a shift upward.

As for the upper-middles complaining that they can't deduct the mortgage on second homes, or the complete mortgage on their $1.5 million first home, suck it up. (As my liberal neighbors said to me when I complained about my obscene health premiums, "you can afford it.") My sympathies lie with the minority of ower-middles who will pay (slightly) more.

Anonymous wrote:The 2018 election is going to be a bloodbath for the GOP crime syndicate.

I don't know, dude. Now their handful of Trillionaire Oligarch Overlords have even more money to use to fuck up our elections.

The 2018 election is going to be a bloodbath for the GOP crime syndicate.

What's crazy to me is that Feinstein had to get the lobbyists' amendments snuck over to her from K St but no one saw the actual bill until an hour before voting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And with the repeal of the individual mandate, if that survives the version that comes out of the conference committee, does it spell the death knell of the ACA?

Yes. That's the insurance market death spiral. The whole system topples without the individual mandate.

The individual mandate was so weak (enforced through a relatively small penalty) that it was death spiraling anyway. I can choose between $10,0000 in premiums or a penalty of around $1500. And lots of moderate earners are choosing to do the latter. You needed a REAL penalty for not buying in, but that was ruled unconstitutional because you can't force private citizens to buy a private product.

The point was that the R Senators wouldn't vote for it as a stand alone but were fine once it was hidden in the tax bill. Not a lot of political courage there.

OK, I'll give you you that. But it is still true that the mandate was ineffective.

So... let's make it worse (???).