Tornado Alley (PROG)

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4 winners and 4 losers from the Republican tax bill

"rooster, Gary Cohn On Tax Cuts: CEOs Are “Most Excited Group” | All In | MSNBC"

Winners: tax accountants, Donald Trump, and corporate America.

By Tara Golshan Updated Dec 20, 2017, 12:56pm EST

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...tax increase in 2027 for more than half of all Americans — 53 percent, according to an analysis from the Tax Policy Center.



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Winner: Donald Trump

There’s no question that this is a big victory for President Donald Trump — both personally and politically.

After Republicans spent the greater part of the year pushing unsuccessfully to repeal Obamacare, tax reform was the last frontier for major legislative change in Trump’s first year in office — a reality that served as a major motivator to get the tax bill done by Christmas.

But in addition to getting a legislative win under his belt, this tax bill is also good for Trump and those in his family, personally.

Trump and his administration have continued to insist that high earners like Trump would not benefit from this tax bill. The “rich will not be gaining at all” with the tax bill, Trump said. Another time he promised that bill would cost him a “fortune.”

That’s not true.

Trump, and the ultrarich like him, would benefit in several ways. First, the tax bill cuts the top individual tax rate to 37 percent from 39.6 percent. Next, it also increases the exemption on what Republicans call the “death tax” — the 40 percent tax (after deducting donations and spousal gifts) on the wealth of deceased persons before it’s distributed to their heirs — from $11 million to $22 million for married couples.

Trump would also benefit from the tax bill’s “pass-through” provision, which Republicans say is aimed at helping small businesses, but also give wealthy investors, like Trump, a major windfall.

Currently, owners of pass-through companies, like LLCs, partnerships, sole proprietorships, and S corporations — the Trump Organization, for example — are taxed as personal income. The Republican tax bill will now give pass-through businesses a 20 percent deduction, in addition to cutting the top individual tax rate.

The Trump Organization is a large pass-through; the holding company owns golf courses and hotels and pulls in about $9.5 billion in annual revenue. But because it is exempt from the corporate income tax, and its profits are instead taxed upon distribution to shareholders, this tax break for pass-through income is a huge win for the Trump family — and the many other businesspeople who structure their companies like this.

As Vox’s Dylan Matthews explained, there are some provisions in the proposal meant to prevent rich individuals from using this tax break as a way to shelter income, but they only limit the benefit in many cases. In fact, the final tax bill extends the pass-through deduction even to pass-throughs that aren’t paying wages or creating jobs — in other words, wealthy real estate investors like Trump or Jared Kushner benefit from the new law.

Winner: individual taxpayers — for the short term

https://www.vox.com/2017/12/20/16790040/gop-tax-bill-winners