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The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) released a report estimating that cutting the corporate tax rate, as proposed in the Republican tax framework, would increase average household earnings by at least $4,000. The report has been widely criticized, for its methodology and conclusions, by a broad range of economists, academics, and policy experts.
Earlier this month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its final rule on small-dollar and payday loans establishing much needed borrower safeguards and protections to help families break out of the payday debt cycle. For far too long, the payday loan lenders—who have more branches nationwide than Starbucks—operated with little oversight, depleting consumers’ bank accounts along the way. New consumer protections take commonsense steps to prevent predatory lenders from targeting vulnerable working Americans.
Under the GOP tax plan in 2018 alone, those getting high incomes at the top 1 percent of earners would see an average tax cut of $129,000 and those earning the top 0.1 percent of incomes would get a cut of more than $722,000. Meanwhile, nearly 8 million working households will actually see an average tax hike of $794.
This invoice reflects annual premium increases and increased costs for health care. The bill is for three people on the individual market, one on CHIP, and one on Medicare. The charges reflect annual health care costs under President Trump and Republicans in Congress.
For over 50 years, Medicare has provided health coverage to seniors and people with disabilities, enabling them to lead healthy lives and receive the care they need. Unfortunately, rather than taking steps to strengthen Medicare, the Republican budget cuts nearly $473 billion from Medicare over the next ten years.
This week, the Republicans have put forth a budget resolution that attacks the health care and financial security of 5.5 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s. The budget cuts a trillion dollars from Medicaid and more than $470 billion from Medicare, undermining the critical programs that Americans with Alzheimer’s and their families depend on. These draconian cuts would pull the rug out from millions of Americans and force them to scramble to pay for the treatment they need.
Despite the President’s and Republican Congress’s failure so far to deliver on their agenda, expectations of policy changes and big tax cuts for top earners and big business have pushed the U.S. stock market to highs now verging into bubble territory. The price-to-earnings ratio, or PE, provides a measure of investors’ expectations of future corporate profits. Stock valuations relative to corporate earnings in S&P 500 companies have never risen above 28 without a sharp and severe stock market correction lurking around the corner. Only three times in U.S. history has the PE risen above 28: (1) on the eve of the Great Depression, (2) on the eve of the Dot-Com bubble bursting, and most recently (3) when Donald Trump took office.
While working families across America struggle to make ends meet, the top 1 percent have reaped the benefits of a growing economy, with their share of all income nearly doubling to 20 percent since 1980. President Trump and Congressional Republicans say their new tax plan will put more money in the pockets of working Americans by providing them with real tax relief. Instead, it gives more in tax cuts to wealthy Americans and stacks the deck even further against the vast majority of households.
Latinos continue to be one of the fastest growing minority groups in the United States, and account for a combined $1.3 trillion in economic activity. Latinos are also more likely than the general population to become entrepreneurs. However, the unemployment rate for Latino workers stands at 5.1 percent compared to 3.7 percent for white workers.
The road to tax reform will be long and winding with many bumps and turns along the way. But, where you start the journey matters and can reveal a great deal about priorities. The framework released by the White House and Congressional Republicans delivers major benefits to large corporations and wealthy individuals – at the expense of virtually everyone else. Rural Americans are barely an afterthought.