Law BBB/ Inflation Reduction Act: Signed into Law

[Lead]

Updated Post 8/6/22
Been taking awhile to get to this but the tax side of the bill that concerns me is the minimum tax on corporations. Sure, you can have something like this but the way it's done can have unintended consequences. The bill ties the alternative calculation to book income. By linking the world of reporting that is relied on by investors, debt issuers, managers, etc with the world of tax compliance, you can get unnecessary pressure now from those reporting financials to try to massage income lower for a more favorable tax bill. But even outside of that individual pressure, those who make make the rules for GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) in the US now have a power to impact taxation rather than the government. Their considerations for a policy change now directly impacts taxation rather than just the goal of making financials transparent and useful to those relying on them. Now one agency that regulates GAAP is the SEC, a federal agency. But the other is FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board) which is a private agency. So in other words, this AMT proposal blurs taxable income and book income together and shifts some of those handling the definition to non-governmental officials who aren't even tasked with crafting good tax policy when determining what book income should be.

This is something the accounting community had concern for last year when it initially was being proposed. The AICPA (American Institute of CPAs) sent a letter to the Senate Committee of Finance and the House Ways and Means Committee about the issues that could arise from it. This is somewhat my a gripe I have with how this and many bills come through. There was behind the scenes discussions with two senators (Schumer and Manchin) and then we get a bill released that is getting voted on within a week or so of the agreement. Completely bypassing committees and combing through the details. Sure, Schumer and Manchin are using resources to try to make a good bill and likely borrowing from other iterations but this AMT part seems like ignorance in process for the greater goal of a political win trying to make corporations pay their fair share. What's even more interesting is Sinema got part of the AMT proposal adjusted to not ding manufacturers for the change as they would've gotten impacted a lot from not having bonus depreciation so that shift alone shows that maybe they should realize there are different goals that should be carefully look at between taxable and book income and it shouldn't be blended the way it is. Different audience and different purposes.

Some stuff to read up on this if you are interested:
The Summary Provisions related to Tax in the Inflation Reduction Act
AICPA Letter to Congress on Concerns of the AMT change
Meet the accountants who may become the new power brokers of taxes by New York Times
How the 15% US Minimum Corporate Tax Would Work by Bloomberg
What Is Biden’s Minimum Book Income Tax on Corporations? by The Tax Policy Center
Explaining the GAAP between Book and Taxable Income by The Tax Foundation

On the note of further items in on the tax side of the bill, here's a breakdown of the IRS funding portion. Beyond just enforcement, there are other things people might be more agreeable to, like modernization (like most agencies in the federal government, the IRS is very outdated with some of the technology they use) and a 9 month deadline on a plan to create their own e-filing system. They somewhat have a program like this but it largely got co-opted by turbo tax and some others and didn't help those who should've benefited. I'm all for the government getting the IRS to a place with most returns are fairly automated. Tons of American's really only have a W-2 when they file and even when they don't, there is a lot of required reporting outside of income to the IRS. Most countries use that reporting to populate a return, send it in the mail to the person, and have them either agree to the filing along with the amount due/refund or elect to edit it with something they missed. It's baffling we don't do this yet with no optimistic proposal in sight.

What The IRS Funding In The Inflation Reduction Act Means For Taxpayers
Forbes

Part 3 of H.R. 5376 spells out the specific allocations to the IRS to enhance the agency’s resources and improve compliance efforts. The breakdown is as follows:
Taxpayer services: $3,181,500,000;
Enforcement: $45,637,400,000;
Operations support: $25,326,400,000;
Business systems modernization: $4,750,700,000;
Task force to design free, direct e-file system: $15,000,000;
Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration: $403,000,000;
Treasury Office of Tax Policy: $104,533,803;
Tax Court: $153,000,000; and
Treasury departmental offices for oversight and implementation support to help the IRS implement the IRA: $50,000,000.
Total: $79,621,533,803

I get cynicism about any progress. The projects could certainly go bad but I think a key bipartisan thing should be lets get the routine agencies the federal government runs to work efficiently. That saves Americans time, stress and money in the long term.

 

[Lead]

Updated Post 8/4/22
So we get a Manchin/ Schumer compromise and despite Sinema not being involved, the bill itself seems pretty catered to what you’d expect her to want. She’s former Green Party and most of the funding is for green initiatives. On the tax side, the biggest piece is a corporate minimum tax of 15% which she wanted in BBB last fall. Well now she might not be to sure about that piece. She wants the carried interest piece axed and also might come for the minimum. Now I do see fair criticisms for the minimum tax but that’s for another post. Point here is I think we won’t see a vote before recess on this because Sinema likely wants to do a round of negotiations/ headlines like Manchin got, even when it might be conflicting with things she wanted just a few months ago.


Sinema raises concerns about proposed tax in Democrats' bill as lobbying intensifies for her vote
CNN

Republican senators and the business community are mounting a full-court press on Sen. Kyrsten Sinema to sink -- or substantially change -- the Democrats' economic package, arguing in private conversations that the new tax increases would hurt companies in her home state of Arizona.

And in a private call with business groups on Tuesday, Sinema asked a question about the bill's proposed 15% minimum tax on corporations that gave them some hope for optimism.

 

[Lead]

Updated Post 7/27/2022
Looks like a reconciliation bill is coming after about a year and a half of negotiations with Manchin. This is more than just the original agreement on prescription drugs. Also deals with energy, corporate tax changes, and deficit reduction.


Build Back Better is, in fact, back
Vox

On Wednesday, Manchin put out a statement in support of a new compromise, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which addresses everything from prescription drug costs to corporate taxes to the climate. The new bill, which Democrats released a one-page factsheet for, contains significantly less than what the party previously pushed for in Build Back Better, but is far more expansive than the reconciliation package Manchin signed onto a few weeks ago.

As of earlier this month, Manchin was only on board for a bill that would lower prescription drug costs and extend ACA subsidies. He’d argued that doing anything more would increase inflation and hurt the economy.

Updated Post 7/6/2022
So hard to say if this still counts as Build back better but it looks like months of closed negotiations between Schumer and Manchin has finally reached an agreement. We should be seeing something soon for a scaled down bill of BBB today.

Report: Schumer, Manchin Agree on Reconciliation Bill
National Review

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) is poised to submit a reconciliation bill to the Senate parliamentarian on Wednesday. According to Punchbowl News, the text of the bill will reflect an agreement among all Senate Democrats on lowering prescription-drug costs.

The deal is part of a larger Democratic project to potentially resurrect Build Back Better, the massive spending bill championed by the Biden administration, and follows weeks of conversations between Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.). Manchin ended previous negotiations over the spending bill after the House of Representatives passed it in December, citing concerns over inflation, but expressing an interest in continuing to negotiate over some aspects of the bill.

Schumer and Manchin’s agreed-upon bill still must undergo a “Byrd Bath” review process to ensure it is consistent with the Senate’s reconciliation rules.

Updated Post 1/22/2022
So BBB might gear back up now as Machin has said he is willing to come back to the table and there are already rumors on House and Senate dems being more willing to compromise on what he might want. Though the rest of congress was hard to budge, it appeared to ultimately be the WH that made Manchin quit negotiations as he made an offer not including CTC and the WH rejected it and then leaked alleged comments that Manchin didn't like CTC because bad parents would spend it on drugs. This seemed like it was a hard shut on any talks here and bridges were burned but maybe not. Election reform bills failed so the Senate might be moving to something else now.

Manchin says he's ready to talk. Can Democrats sell him on a new 'Build Back Better'?
NBC News

Democrats are working to resuscitate President Joe Biden’s top domestic priority after it flatlined last month amid opposition from Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., a pivotal vote with the power to make or break the ambitious bill.

The path to a deal revolves around the elusive question of what the West Virginia centrist can support that will be acceptable to the rest of the party. The White House and Senate Democratic leaders have struggled for months to solve that puzzle, and it remains an open question as to whether they still can.


Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said the time has come to make “major decisions” and pass a climate and social policy bill after a freeze in discussions amid a tense Senate debate on voting rights.

Democrats Start to Sketch Out Revived Build Back Better Package
Wall Street Journal

Democrats began to revive their efforts to pass a major child-care, healthcare and climate package as lawmakers started to accept that they would have to further cater to Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) in hopes of reaching a deal on a scaled-back plan.

After Mr. Manchin said last month that he was opposed to the party’s roughly $2 trillion plan, dooming its chances in the 50-50 Senate, the party largely pivoted away from the package for several weeks. Now, after the failure of a separate push on elections legislation, Democrats are again turning to the economic plan, which President Biden said Wednesday the party might cut into separate pieces.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) on Thursday said that Democrats wouldn’t seek to pass multiple pieces of legislation because of the procedural problems it could pose. But the party will likely have to further scale back its ambitions, she said.

500B in Carbon reduction spending and some healthcare initiatives and universal pre-K. This lines up with things Manchin wasn't opposed too in negotiations so it makes sense it appears to be what remains.

Other roadblocks might persist though. I can't recall where Manchin stood on SALT
'No SALT no deal': Democrats vow to block Build Back Better bill without tax break
Reuters

Several U.S. House members from President Joe Biden's Democratic Party are threatening to block a renewed push for his Build Back Better spending bill if it does not include the expansion of a federal deduction for taxes paid to states and local entities.

Expanding the deduction, known as SALT for State and Local Taxes, has been a demand of lawmakers in higher-tax states such as California, New Jersey and New York, especially in suburbs where Democrats seek to retain control in Nov. 8 elections.


"We support the president’s agenda, and if there are any efforts that include a change in the tax code, then a SALT fix must be part of it. No SALT, no deal," members Tom Suozzi of New York and Mikie Sherrill and Josh Gottheimer, both of New Jersey, said in a joint statement late on Thursday.

The SALT deduction, part of the U.S. income tax code from its inception more than a century ago, was restricted to $10,000 in a 2017 Republican tax law.

 

[Lead]

Updated Post 12/20/21
MANCHIN STATEMENT ON BUILD BACK BETTER ACT

Today, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) released the following statement on the Build Back Better Act.

“For five and a half months, I have worked as diligently as possible meeting with President Biden, Majority Leader Schumer, Speaker Pelosi and my colleagues on every end of the political spectrum to determine the best path forward despite my serious reservations. I have made my concerns clear through public statements, op-eds and private conversations. My concerns have only increased as the pandemic surges on, inflation rises and geopolitical uncertainty increases around the world.

“I have always said, ‘If I can’t go back home and explain it, I can’t vote for it.’ Despite my best efforts, I cannot explain the sweeping Build Back Better Act in West Virginia and I cannot vote to move forward on this mammoth piece of legislation.

“My Democratic colleagues in Washington are determined to dramatically reshape our society in a way that leaves our country even more vulnerable to the threats we face. I cannot take that risk with a staggering debt of more than $29 trillion and inflation taxes that are real and harmful to every hard-working American at the gasoline pumps, grocery stores and utility bills with no end in sight.

“The American people deserve transparency on the true cost of the Build Back Better Act. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office determined the cost is upwards of $4.5 trillion which is more than double what the bill’s ardent supporters have claimed. They continue to camouflage the real cost of the intent behind this bill.

“As the Omicron variant spreads throughout communities across the country, we are seeing COVID-19 cases rise at rates we have not seen since the height of this pandemic. We are also facing increasing geopolitical uncertainty as tensions rise with both Russia and China. Our ability to quickly and effectively respond to these pending threats would be drastically hindered by our rising debt.

“If enacted, the bill will also risk the reliability of our electric grid and increase our dependence on foreign supply chains. The energy transition my colleagues seek is already well underway in the United States of America. In the last two years, as Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and with bipartisan support, we have invested billions of dollars into clean energy technologies so we can continue to lead the world in reducing emissions through innovation. But to do so at a rate that is faster than technology or the markets allow will have catastrophic consequences for the American people like we have seen in both Texas and California in the last two years.

“I will never forget the warning from then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, that he delivered during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing during my first year in the Senate. He testified that the greatest threat facing our nation was our national debt and since that time our debt has doubled.



“I will continue working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to address the needs of all Americans and do so in a way that does not risk our nation’s independence, security and way of life.”

Statement from Press Secretary Jen Psaki

Senator Manchin’s comments this morning on FOX are at odds with his discussions this week with the President, with White House staff, and with his own public utterances. Weeks ago, Senator Manchin committed to the President, at his home in Wilmington, to support the Build Back Better framework that the President then subsequently announced. Senator Manchin pledged repeatedly to negotiate on finalizing that framework “in good faith.”

On Tuesday of this week, Senator Manchin came to the White House and submitted—to the President, in person, directly—a written outline for a Build Back Better bill that was the same size and scope as the President’s framework, and covered many of the same priorities. While that framework was missing key priorities, we believed it could lead to a compromise acceptable to all. Senator Manchin promised to continue conversations in the days ahead, and to work with us to reach that common ground. If his comments on FOX and written statement indicate an end to that effort, they represent a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position, and a breach of his commitments to the President and the Senator’s colleagues in the House and Senate.

Senator Manchin claims that this change of position is related to inflation, but the think tank he often cites on Build Back Better—the Penn Wharton Budget Institute—issued a report less than 48 hours ago that noted the Build Back Better Act will have virtually no impact on inflation in the short term, and, in the long run, the policies it includes will ease inflationary pressures. Many leading economists with whom Senator Manchin frequently consults also support Build Back Better.

Build Back Better lowers costs that families pay. It will reduce what families pay for child care. It will reduce what they pay for prescription drugs. It will lower health care premiums. And it puts a tax cut in the pockets of families with kids. If someone is concerned about the impact that higher prices are having on families, this bill gives them a break.

Senator Manchin cited deficit concerns in his statement. But the plan is fully paid for, is the most fiscally responsible major bill that Congress has considered in years, and reduces the deficit in the long run. The Congressional Budget Office report that the Senator cites analyzed an unfunded extension of Build Back Better. That’s not what the President has proposed, not the bill the Senate would vote on, and not what the President would support. Senator Manchin knows that: The President has told him that repeatedly, including this week, face to face.

Likewise, Senator Manchin’s statement about the climate provisions in Build Back Better are wrong. Build Back Better will produce a job-creating clean energy future for this country—including West Virginia.

Just as Senator Manchin reversed his position on Build Back Better this morning, we will continue to press him to see if he will reverse his position yet again, to honor his prior commitments and be true to his word.

In the meantime, Senator Manchin will have to explain to those families paying $1,000 a month for insulin why they need to keep paying that, instead of $35 for that vital medicine. He will have to explain to the nearly two million women who would get the affordable day care they need to return to work why he opposes a plan to get them the help they need. Maybe Senator Manchin can explain to the millions of children who have been lifted out of poverty, in part due to the Child Tax Credit, why he wants to end a program that is helping achieve this milestone—we cannot.

We are proud of what we have gotten done in 2021: the American Rescue Plan, the fastest decrease in unemployment in U.S. history, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, over 200 million Americans vaccinated, schools reopened, the fastest rollout of vaccines to children anywhere in the world, and historic appointments to the Federal judiciary.

But we will not relent in the fight to help Americans with their child care, health care, prescription drug costs, and elder care—and to combat climate change. The fight for Build Back Better is too important to give up. We will find a way to move forward next year.

Updated Post per @Death By Samson 12/19/21
Manchin says he 'cannot vote' for Build Back Better: 'I've done everything humanly possible'

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., declared Sunday that after months of negotiations he has determined that there is no way he can support the massive social spending bill known as the Build Back Better Act.

Speaking with "Fox News Sunday," Manchin said that he has spoken with President Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.,

"I've done everything humanly possible," Manchin said, talking about how hard he has worked to try to reach an acceptable compromise on the bill.

In the end, however, he said that between ongoing inflation, the national debt, "geopolitical unrest," and the COVID-19 pandemic, the bill being pushed by his fellow Democrats was too much.

"When you have these things coming at you the way they are right now … I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation," he said, stating that if he cannot explain to his constituents why he would vote for a bill, then he cannot vote for it, despite all the work he and other Democrats have put into trying to make it work.

"This is a no," he said. "I have tried everything I know to do."

It looks like BBB is dead. Manchin is done with it.

Updated Post 12/18/21
So no BBB in 2021. Kinda became clear from the Biden/ Manchin meetings. Seems like Manchin is close to just stopping talks entirely from how that all played out.

The delay has some implications. First, Dems didn’t use their second reconciliation vote in 2021, which only required getting 50 votes. Part of what is making some of this bill crazy is it packs in a lot of stuff all in one bill. The alternative of piecing these out in say 3 bills and getting them addressed through 2021 and 2022 is less likely now. I think that’s a missed opportunity but that ship sailed a long time ago I suppose. Second is the child tax credit is going to revert back to its 2020 rules, with some being non-refundable, the credit being a lower amount, and the monthly payments from the IRS going away. I’ve said before that I think democrats should’ve made this the main focus in how to restructure this credit to be expanded permanently and financially sustainable instead of all the other things they’ve been trying to get through also. Or at the very least, get the credit to 2025 when a bunch of the Trump tax provisions expire so it has to be weighed in with some of those expirations.

Senate wraps for the year, punting Build Back Better, voting rights
The Hill

The Senate wrapped up its work for the year, with Democrats punting work on Build Back Better and a debate over changing the rules into 2022.

The Senate adjourned for the year early Saturday morning after a marathon of votes that lasted throughout the day Friday, into a rare all-night session and threatened to drag into next week without an agreement.

The Senate will now return to Washington on Jan. 3, absent seconds-long, constitutionally mandated sessions over the holidays where no votes will occur and only one senator will be present.

Updated Post 12/13/21
Not too many updates here. The senate (as usual), waited until end of year to handle a lot of the routine work which took up floor time the past few weeks. Stuff like Defense spending renewals and debt ceiling raises have been getting handled.

In terms of BBB, Democrats have been going through the process of seeing what can and can’t be included for a 50 vote bill with the senate parliamentarian. They’ve previously done a few of these as they are trying to find a way to angle addressing immigration. I don’t see it ever working the way they are trying to do it so the house bill will likely lose those aspects of the senate bill were to pass.

Outside of that, the CBO issued estimates of the cost of the bill with no expirations on the benefits in the bill, showing around a 3T addition to the deficit over ten years. Manchin has been waiting on seeing this report and is appearing surprised of the costs despite there previously being a bunch of analysis showing this outside of the CBO. Graham mentioned he think this will sway Manchin away from the bill since he already had concerns about slowing things down due to the inflation spikes this year. Biden is set to meet with Manchin again with the goal to pass the bill before Christmas. Manchin has mentioned this could go into 2022.

One other thing is the house bill still has family leave in it and the Senate bill likely would lose that as Manchin wasn’t supportive of it, in the event anything passes at all.

 

[Lead]

Updated Post 11/23/21
So with the bill now in the Senates court, Senator Cornyn is now requesting a scoring of the BBB with all provisions in it as if they were permanent. Most dives into this estimate the bill is actually north of 4T and adds 2T to the deficit if it’s factored in this way. Having the CBO weigh in on likely would just cement that and take away from narrative that this bill pays for itself.

Cornyn Asks for CBO Score of Build Back Better without Gimmicks
National Review

Senator John Cornyn today asked the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation to provide a score of Democrats’ Build Back Better legislation with all provisions made permanent. In a letterto the CBO director and the chief of staff of the JCT, the Texas Republican writes, “I am concerned that the CBO score of H.R. 5376 is artificially low because of a number of timing gimmicks. Specifically, the legislation includes a number of arbitrary sunsets and expirations of several expensive programs, which disguise the true cost of making these policies permanent.”

Updated Post 11/18/21
CBO estimate came out saying the bill would add 160B to the deficit. Treasury and CBO disagree on the amount of increased revenue from increased IRS enforcement, with CBO estimating 207B and Treasury saying 400B. Funny thing is a similar thing happened with BIF in the senate when GOP senators were trying to cover spending without tax increases. On of the offsets was additional enforcement so I even wonder if they factor that in BIFs increase already. Maybe that got scrapped in the last version. It’s all foggy now but I think at one point it was taken off the table.
This is the CBO letter about the 207B in additional revenues from IRS audits
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2021-11/57620-IRS.pdf

A vote was expected but delayed a day with McCarthy's floor speech.

Kevin McCarthy gives longest House floor speech in history delaying Build Back Better vote
CNN

House Democrats pushed back a vote on President Joe Biden's plan to dramatically expand the social safety net after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy stalled floor action with a record-breaking marathon speech that stretched into the early hours of Friday morning.

McCarthy, a Republican from California, started his speech at 8:38 p.m. ET, and stopped speaking early Friday morning after eight hours and 32 minutes, making his remarks the longest House floor speech in history.

Bill ultimately went through. Passed 220-213 and on to the Senate.

Updated Post 10/23/21
Looks like there might be a deal approaching for reconciliation. No details but supposedly above 1T which makes be think it's max 1.5T due to Manchin's hardline on it. Pelosi stated 90% is addressed and agreed upon at this point.

“There are many decisions that have to be made, but more than 90 percent of everything is agreed to and written,” Pelosi told reporters after the House’s final votes of the week Friday.

Details that matter here is what items get cut/ eliminated from the initial plan. There's a variety of things happening in the bill from possible Child Tax Credit expansion, Medicare expansion, green energy spending, family leave, etc but that was all at 3.5T with the first two items not even being budgeted out for the full 10 years. Seems like Medicare is going to be one of the clear ones to take the hit and it makes sense because they had it phasing in so late in the 10 year outlays to so the true impact of the deficit spending it will lead to. The CTC will be interesting because Biden seems clearly for the non-work requirement while Manchin has stated he want to keep that in place. Family leave also looks to be moving toward 4 weeks instead of 12 weeks.

For example, Biden said that the party's proposal for paid family leave would last four weeks, instead of the 12 weeks that proponents of the package originally sought. In addition, Biden revealed that both Sinema and Manchin oppose expanding Medicare to include dental, vision and hearing.

Dems see a $1 trillion-plus deal within reach — but not until next week
Politico

Democrats are inching closer to a deal on President Joe Biden's social spending plan, though likely not until next week.

Biden had breakfast with Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday as Democrats close in on a deal on Biden’s social spending plan, prompting an upbeat assessment from the California Democrat. Still, several sources with knowledge of the intensifying talks said they doubted a deal could come together anytime this week given where things stand between Biden and Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.).

Updated Post 9/18/21
I haven't been tracking this as much as I was expecting too but main updates about budget reconciliation (Build Back Better Act)

-Schumer and senate democrats submitted a proposal for DACA recipients having a pathway to citizenship which is still awaiting a decision from the Senate parliamentarian. I don't expect it to go through but I think this is one of those things where they can say they tried. Budget reconciliation only takes 50 votes in the Senate but it's meant to be constrained to budget and debt. Their proposal ties costs that would be necessary to process immigration fees for the DACA recipients. Again, I don't see how this should go through.
-Many democrats are looking to reinstate the SALT deduction into tax law. It was previously stripped down with a cap (10k) when the Trump tax bill went through. It obviously disproportionately affects bluer/ high tax state residents. Expenditure for the deduction is about 85 billion annually.
-Old news but Manchin has called for this all to slow down and that it likely isn't going to be all handled by the end of September as democrats originally intended. Both him and Sinema both have stated they won't be okay with a 3.5T bill but haven't stated where the right number is. Manchin alluded to maybe 1-1.5T
-Mentioned in the other thread specifically about CTC but the House is looking to have the expanded CTC that was temporary for only 2021 extended until 2025 when a lot of other tax provisions expire.
-It's possible the provisions for the Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2021 might be put in reconciliation as well. This mainly expands limits and adds more flexibility to people looking to save for retirement and builds off a bill from a few years back.

Tax Foundation did their analysis on the bill at this point. A lot of info so check out the link
Build Back Better Act: Details & Analysis of the $3.5 Trillion Budget Reconciliation Bill
The Tax Foundation
Revenue: 1.06Trillion
Long-run GDP: -0.98%
Wages: -0.68%
FTE Jobs: -303,000


Original Post 7/3/21 (At the time, budget reconciliation was still farther out and the American Jobs / American Family Act seemed like the closest thing that would be in this bill. It has now been renamed to the "Build Back Better Act")
So with Biden's term, he had framed a three part plan. The COVID relief bill went through (part 1). An infrastructure bill which is still in limbo with the House and Senate at the moment (part 2). Lastly, there was the American Families Plan which is being referred to as the second reconciliation bill the Senate should see in July here. For awhile parts 2 and 3 were tied together but with the ability of possibly getting infrastructure through with bipartisan support, Biden seems open in splitting the 2T plan in two distinct pieces.

First piece of the plan addresses taxes, reversing a number of things from the Trump tax cuts in 2017.
Main takeaways from it:
Corporate Income Taxes (Jobs Plan)
-Raise the top marginal income tax rate from 37 percent to 39.6 percent.
-Increase Internal Revenue Service (IRS) funding for individual income tax enforcement and enact new reporting requirements for financial institutions.
-Increase corporate tax enforcement.

Business Tax Credits (Jobs Plan)
-Provide a tax credit for certain onshoring activity and deny expense deductions for offshored jobs.
would repeal certain credits and deductions for the fossil fuel industry.

International Taxes (Jobs Plan)
-Raise the tax rate on global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI) to 21 percent, calculate it on a country-by-country basis, and eliminate the exemption of a 10 percent return on tangible investment abroad (QBAI).
-Repeal the deduction for foreign-derived intangible income (FDII).

Individual Income Taxes (Families Plan)
-Raise the top marginal income tax rate from 37 percent to 39.6 percent.
-Increase Internal Revenue Service (IRS) funding for individual income tax enforcement and enact new reporting requirements for financial institutions.
-Extend through 2025 the American Rescue Plan's enhanced Child Tax Credit (CTC) of $3,600 for children under age 6 and $3,000 for children ages 6 to 17 subject to phaseouts for higher-income households.
-Make permanent the American Rescue Plan's expanded Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for workers without qualifying children, including doubled phase-in and phaseout rates and higher phase-in and phaseout income levels.
-Make permanent the expanded health insurance Premium Tax Credits provided in the American Rescue Plan.
-Make permanent the American Rescue Plan's expanded Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC), which covers up to 50 percent of qualifying childcare expenses up to $4,000 for one child and $8,000 for two or more children.
-Make permanent the American Rescue Plan's full refundability of the Child Tax Credit, eliminating the income phase-in of the credit.

Capital Gains and Dividends Taxes (Families Plan)
-Tax long-term capital gains and dividends as ordinary income for taxpayers with taxable income above $1 million.
-Tax capital gains at death for unrealized gains above $1 million ($2 million for joint filers).
-Limit 1031 Like-Kind Exchanges by eliminating deferral of gains above $500,000.
-Tax carried interest as ordinary income

Pass-Through Business Taxes (Families Plan)
-Expand the 3.8 percent Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT) to apply to all sources of income above $400,000, including active pass-through income.
-Make permanent the 2017 tax law's Section 461(l) limitation on pass-through business losses above $250,000 for single filers and $500,000 for joint filers.

More details here

American Families Plan Spending would include:
National Paid Family and Medical Leave ($225 billion over 10 years) - Biden’s proposal would guarantee 12 weeks of paid parental, family and personal illness/safe leave. The pay would be equal to two-thirds of the worker’s average weekly wages, up to $4,000 per month. Workers in the lowest wage cohort would have 80% of their average weekly wages replaced.
Provide Free Community College ($109 billion) - would offer two years of free community college to all Americans, including DREAMers. First-time students and workers who want to learn new skills would be able to use the benefit over a three-year period, and in some cases, up to four years for part-time students. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) would receive $39 billion to provide two years of subsidized tuition for students coming from families earning less than $125,000 and are enrolled in four-year programs. Pell Grant increases of $1,400 a year as well.
Free preschool to all three-and four-year-olds ($200 billion)
Nutrition Support ($45 billion)- expand access to nutrition for children
Child Care ($225 billion)- would cap the cost of low and middle-income families to no more than 7% of their income on “high-quality child care,” granting an estimated $14,800 in savings per year on child care expenses. Families eligible for the assistance would be those earning 1.5 times their state median income. Child care centers would also be given funding.
Unemployment Insurance- would automatically adjust the length and amount of unemployment insurance benefits workers can receive, depending on economic conditions. A fact sheet from the White House gives little specifics on this provision, but appears to give flexibility to Congress for it to easily adjust the length and amount of benefits in times of economic crises.

The jobs plan spending is mainly tied to the infrastructure bill(s) at this point so it's hard to determine what would still be apart of reconciliation at this point.


We should see debate and a vote this month on reconciliation. It ultimately is going to be negotiations between Democrats in order to get it through on the 50 vote threshold. I haven't seen much details yet about the internal debate other than the very high ceiling is 6T in proposals but the Biden plan (with infrastructure tabled as seperate) would be under 2.2T.

Thoughts on some of these provisions? Are there any you specifically could support? Overall, would you want this to go through and do you expect it to go through?

 

[Lead]

Democrats closing in on deal to unlock massive infrastructure bill
The Hill

Senate Democrats say they are close to a deal on a budget resolution that will pave the way for them to pass a sweeping, multitrillion-dollar bill later this year.

"The Senate Budget Committee is close to finalizing a budget resolution which will allow the Senate to move forward with the remaining parts of the American jobs and families plan," Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said, referring to President Biden's two infrastructure proposals.

Schumer met with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the chairman of the panel, and committee Democrats on Monday night for roughly two hours.

Word is the reconciliation bill will be around ~3.5T, much higher than the original 2.2T, especially considering the bipartisan bill has some of that 2.2T in it.

 

[Natural Order]

 

[Lead]

This is a gigantic spending package. Anyone saying the filibuster prevents anything from being possible in the legislator isn’t paying attention. If they lock 50 votes for this, it will be one of the most significant pieces of legislation in a decade at least in terms of dollars and the amount of areas it touches on.

 

[Lead]

I think later this week, we will get to see the details and how they changed from Biden’s original plan. One piece to look at is corporate tax rates and if the raises stayed in or stayed as high as initially proposed. The corporate rates were tied to the jobs plan which were offsetting infrastructure spending specifically.

 

[I Am Legion]

The spending is out of control. The last stimulus should have never went out and the extra on Unemployment should have been removed months ago. Businesses cant hire people....SO many places with signs up offering big money for menial work. Wendys is offering 17 an hour to work the monkey register by me. People are sitting home collecting....should have never paid people more in unemployment than they make at work. The stimulus lasted too long, many got it that didnt need it and just banked it.
You know taxes had to be raised for all of the programs, but you need to incentivize businesses to stay on US soil not over tax them. Small businesses need tax breaks, are always promised them, never get them.
I could wack most of this shit in half:
Free Preschool for 3 year olds is over 200 Billion dollars. Kindergarten is free, 3 year olds if they need pre school that should be on the parents. Pre school is just play dates, that's insane.
Free Community College-109 Billion---Its already cheap, and already free for poor minorities. Cut that in half. I live in NY and CC is only 2k a semester. Wendy's pays 17 an hour, figure it out.
Child Care over 200 billion: Incentivize companies to provide it for their workers, more convenient and costs way less. Cut this in half.

Charge a home ownership and property tax for Foreign buyers. Just like every other country does. The Chinese are buying up half of big cities, all the real estate around colleges, no issues. Tax the shit out of that. You buy a billion dollar skyskraper in Manhattan, what could those additional taxes do for the local homeless?

 

[Lead]

The spending is out of control. The last stimulus should have never went out and the extra on Unemployment should have been removed months ago. Businesses cant hire people....SO many places with signs up offering big money for menial work. Wendys is offering 17 an hour to work the monkey register by me. People are sitting home collecting....should have never paid people more in unemployment than they make at work. The stimulus lasted too long, many got it that didnt need it and just banked it.

Unemployment will have some good studies at the state level in the next year because of some opting out early. What interesting is Manchin had to fight to get benefits to go only to September. They were originally going to be longer. I still like the idea of automated triggers in place though so that system which also would include lower the benefits as certain recovery goals are met.

 

[Lead]

Just interested in thoughts here, if you had to spend on one no matter what, would you take the family leave or the universal preschool? Looks like similar price tags and I think some of the same arguments are made for both of them, though I strongly lean toward family leave over pre-k if having to choose one or the other.

 

[shockaholic12]

The spending is out of control. The last stimulus should have never went out and the extra on Unemployment should have been removed months ago. Businesses cant hire people....SO many places with signs up offering big money for menial work. Wendys is offering 17 an hour to work the monkey register by me. People are sitting home collecting....should have never paid people more in unemployment than they make at work. The stimulus lasted too long, many got it that didnt need it and just banked it.
You know taxes had to be raised for all of the programs, but you need to incentivize businesses to stay on US soil not over tax them. Small businesses need tax breaks, are always promised them, never get them.
I could wack most of this shit in half:
Free Preschool for 3 year olds is over 200 Billion dollars. Kindergarten is free, 3 year olds if they need pre school that should be on the parents. Pre school is just play dates, that's insane.
Free Community College-109 Billion---Its already cheap, and already free for poor minorities. Cut that in half. I live in NY and CC is only 2k a semester. Wendy's pays 17 an hour, figure it out.
Child Care over 200 billion: Incentivize companies to provide it for their workers, more convenient and costs way less. Cut this in half.

Charge a home ownership and property tax for Foreign buyers. Just like every other country does. The Chinese are buying up half of big cities, all the real estate around colleges, no issues. Tax the shit out of that. You buy a billion dollar skyskraper in Manhattan, what could those additional taxes do for the local homeless?

Went to CC in NY over summer to get more credits, it was not that cheap. Fuck, just the books for a semester were more than my rent for a month back then. Incentivize all these companies across the country to totally revamp their childcare policy....you forget to explain how to pull off the monumental task. Day care isn’t just for the kids, it’s so the parent/parents can have careers and kids since that’s what the economy demands now.

 

[I Am Legion]

Went to CC in NY over summer to get more credits, it was not that cheap. Fuck, just the books for a semester were more than my rent for a month back then. Incentivize all these companies across the country to totally revamp their childcare policy....you forget to explain how to pull off the monumental task. Day care isn’t just for the kids, it’s so the parent/parents can have careers and kids since that’s what the economy demands now.

There are 25 CC in NY under 5k, thats without aid. If your income is under 30k it is cut in half. Books are never paid for by the Government, and most schools now dont even use them, its all downloads. My daughter hasn't bought a book in over a year.
As for the companies providing child care being "monumental"....like this bill isnt? 225 billion isn't monumental? Being able to drive to work, drop your kid off at the same facility, visit them at lunch etc, is what some companies already do. Give these companies and ones that dont a tax credit to facilitate it. Guess what else it does? Create more jobs. The day care industry is absurdly expensive, now its affordable, and will work with your commute. Also 12 weeks paternity for moms AND Dads is insane. We never had that. The primary care giver, and the other one should get a limited amount but not 3 months.

 

[I Am Legion]

Just interested in thoughts here, if you had to spend on one no matter what, would you take the family leave or the universal preschool? Looks like similar price tags and I think some of the same arguments are made for both of them, though I strongly lean toward family leave over pre-k if having to choose one or the other.

Family leave...3 year old pre school is playdates. Parents today are finding out some kids are not mature enough for Kindergarten and hold them out another year even after years of pre school.

 

[Lead]

Family leave...3 year old pre school is playdates. Parents today are finding out some kids are not mature enough for Kindergarten and hold them out another year even after years of pre school.

Yea, I don’t think there’s much benefit to back pre-k in terms of development. At most, you could argue it allows for both parents to return to the workforce quicker.

 

[MMAisGod]

So with Biden's term, he had framed a three part plan. The COVID relief bill went through (part 1). An infrastructure bill which is still in limbo with the House and Senate at the moment (part 2). Lastly, there was the American Families Plan which is being referred to as the second reconciliation bill the Senate should see in July here. For awhile parts 2 and 3 were tied together but with the ability of possibly getting infrastructure through with bipartisan support, Biden seems open in splitting the 2T plan in two distinct pieces.

First piece of the plan addresses taxes, reversing a number of things from the Trump tax cuts in 2017.
Main takeaways from it:
Corporate Income Taxes (Jobs Plan)
-Raise the top marginal income tax rate from 37 percent to 39.6 percent.
-Increase Internal Revenue Service (IRS) funding for individual income tax enforcement and enact new reporting requirements for financial institutions.
-Increase corporate tax enforcement.

Business Tax Credits (Jobs Plan)
-Provide a tax credit for certain onshoring activity and deny expense deductions for offshored jobs.
would repeal certain credits and deductions for the fossil fuel industry.

International Taxes (Jobs Plan)
-Raise the tax rate on global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI) to 21 percent, calculate it on a country-by-country basis, and eliminate the exemption of a 10 percent return on tangible investment abroad (QBAI).
-Repeal the deduction for foreign-derived intangible income (FDII).

Individual Income Taxes (Families Plan)
-Raise the top marginal income tax rate from 37 percent to 39.6 percent.
-Increase Internal Revenue Service (IRS) funding for individual income tax enforcement and enact new reporting requirements for financial institutions.
-Extend through 2025 the American Rescue Plan's enhanced Child Tax Credit (CTC) of $3,600 for children under age 6 and $3,000 for children ages 6 to 17 subject to phaseouts for higher-income households.
-Make permanent the American Rescue Plan's expanded Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for workers without qualifying children, including doubled phase-in and phaseout rates and higher phase-in and phaseout income levels.
-Make permanent the expanded health insurance Premium Tax Credits provided in the American Rescue Plan.
-Make permanent the American Rescue Plan's expanded Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC), which covers up to 50 percent of qualifying childcare expenses up to $4,000 for one child and $8,000 for two or more children.
-Make permanent the American Rescue Plan's full refundability of the Child Tax Credit, eliminating the income phase-in of the credit.

Capital Gains and Dividends Taxes (Families Plan)
-Tax long-term capital gains and dividends as ordinary income for taxpayers with taxable income above $1 million.
-Tax capital gains at death for unrealized gains above $1 million ($2 million for joint filers).
-Limit 1031 Like-Kind Exchanges by eliminating deferral of gains above $500,000.
-Tax carried interest as ordinary income

Pass-Through Business Taxes (Families Plan)
-Expand the 3.8 percent Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT) to apply to all sources of income above $400,000, including active pass-through income.
-Make permanent the 2017 tax law's Section 461(l) limitation on pass-through business losses above $250,000 for single filers and $500,000 for joint filers.

More details here

American Families Plan Spending would include:
National Paid Family and Medical Leave ($225 billion over 10 years) - Biden’s proposal would guarantee 12 weeks of paid parental, family and personal illness/safe leave. The pay would be equal to two-thirds of the worker’s average weekly wages, up to $4,000 per month. Workers in the lowest wage cohort would have 80% of their average weekly wages replaced.
Provide Free Community College ($109 billion) - would offer two years of free community college to all Americans, including DREAMers. First-time students and workers who want to learn new skills would be able to use the benefit over a three-year period, and in some cases, up to four years for part-time students. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) would receive $39 billion to provide two years of subsidized tuition for students coming from families earning less than $125,000 and are enrolled in four-year programs. Pell Grant increases of $1,400 a year as well.
Free preschool to all three-and four-year-olds ($200 billion)
Nutrition Support ($45 billion)- expand access to nutrition for children
Child Care ($225 billion)- would cap the cost of low and middle-income families to no more than 7% of their income on “high-quality child care,” granting an estimated $14,800 in savings per year on child care expenses. Families eligible for the assistance would be those earning 1.5 times their state median income. Child care centers would also be given funding.
Unemployment Insurance- would automatically adjust the length and amount of unemployment insurance benefits workers can receive, depending on economic conditions. A fact sheet from the White House gives little specifics on this provision, but appears to give flexibility to Congress for it to easily adjust the length and amount of benefits in times of economic crises.

The jobs plan spending is mainly tied to the infrastructure bill(s) at this point so it's hard to determine what would still be apart of reconciliation at this point.


We should see debate and a vote this month on reconciliation. It ultimately is going to be negotiations between Democrats in order to get it through on the 50 vote threshold. I haven't seen much details yet about the internal debate other than the very high ceiling is 6T in proposals but the Biden plan (with infrastructure tabled as seperate) would be under 2.2T.

Thoughts on some of these provisions? Are there any you specifically could support? Overall, would you want this to go through and do you expect it to go through?

This thread got lost in the shuffle of race war rage dominating the first page lol. I'll share some thoughts after seeing/reading this.

Corporate Income Taxes (Jobs Plan)
-Raise the top marginal income tax rate from 37 percent to 39.6 percent.
-Increase Internal Revenue Service (IRS) funding for individual income tax enforcement and enact new reporting requirements for financial institutions.
-Increase corporate tax enforcement.

Mixed. I like the income tax rate increase. Very reasonable number likely to improve things. I strongly dislike "funding for individual income tax enforcement" as I feel that has always targeted forcing regular Joe's to "not get over" because they don't want to spend the energy enforcing it on the wealthy. I like additional reporting requirements for financial institutions.

Business Tax Credits (Jobs Plan)
-Provide a tax credit for certain onshoring activity and deny expense deductions for offshored jobs.
would repeal certain credits and deductions for the fossil fuel industry.

Like this one a lot if done right.

International Taxes (Jobs Plan)
-Raise the tax rate on global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI) to 21 percent, calculate it on a country-by-country basis, and eliminate the exemption of a 10 percent return on tangible investment abroad (QBAI).
-Repeal the deduction for foreign-derived intangible income (FDII).

I've argued this point on this very forum so I obviously love this.

Individual Income Taxes (Families Plan)
-Extend through 2025 the American Rescue Plan's enhanced Child Tax Credit (CTC) of $3,600 for children under age 6 and $3,000 for children ages 6 to 17 subject to phaseouts for higher-income households.
-Make permanent the American Rescue Plan's expanded Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for workers without qualifying children, including doubled phase-in and phaseout rates and higher phase-in and phaseout income levels.
-Make permanent the expanded health insurance Premium Tax Credits provided in the American Rescue Plan.
-Make permanent the American Rescue Plan's expanded Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC), which covers up to 50 percent of qualifying childcare expenses up to $4,000 for one child and $8,000 for two or more children.
-Make permanent the American Rescue Plan's full refundability of the Child Tax Credit, eliminating the income phase-in of the credit.

Of course extend, I don't like phaseouts based on "higher income". Obviously because I don't want to be in a phased out conversation, but I feel unless you're a millionaire everyone needs their money for different reasoning. Agree with all the permanent nature of the proposals here however.

Capital Gains and Dividends Taxes (Families Plan)
-Tax long-term capital gains and dividends as ordinary income for taxpayers with taxable income above $1 million.
-Tax capital gains at death for unrealized gains above $1 million ($2 million for joint filers).
-Limit 1031 Like-Kind Exchanges by eliminating deferral of gains above $500,000.
-Tax carried interest as ordinary income

Disagree with death gains tax. Indifferent on carried interest as ordinary income. Agree with the rest.

Pass-Through Business Taxes (Families Plan)
-Expand the 3.8 percent Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT) to apply to all sources of income above $400,000, including active pass-through income.
-Make permanent the 2017 tax law's Section 461(l) limitation on pass-through business losses above $250,000 for single filers and $500,000 for joint filers.

To "all" sources of income? I don't think I agree with such a definitive term, especially at the 400k range.
Strongly, strongly, strongly disagree with making the 461 (I) limitation permanent.

National Paid Family and Medical Leave ($225 billion over 10 years) - Biden’s proposal would guarantee 12 weeks of paid parental, family and personal illness/safe leave. The pay would be equal to two-thirds of the worker’s average weekly wages, up to $4,000 per month. Workers in the lowest wage cohort would have 80% of their average weekly wages replaced.

Agree with everything except the "up to 4k a month". That's too low imo, as some families make more but also sustain a higher cost of living, so shouldn't be penalized for it.

Provide Free Community College ($109 billion) - would offer two years of free community college to all Americans, including DREAMers. First-time students and workers who want to learn new skills would be able to use the benefit over a three-year period, and in some cases, up to four years for part-time students. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) would receive $39 billion to provide two years of subsidized tuition for students coming from families earning less than $125,000 and are enrolled in four-year programs. Pell Grant increases of $1,400 a year as well.

Is this pandering? Currently, a low income family student with good grades already gets into college for free, so I'm not sure what this changes other than giving HBCUs more money. When I was in Baruch which is a good business college there were some people who were going there for free after all the scholarships/grants/aid/etc, and that was in the mid 2000s. Not at all how I'd handle this.

Free preschool to all three-and four-year-olds ($200 billion)

Lol no.

Nutrition Support ($45 billion)- expand access to nutrition for children

Need more details, maybe.

Child Care ($225 billion)- would cap the cost of low and middle-income families to no more than 7% of their income on “high-quality child care,” granting an estimated $14,800 in savings per year on child care expenses. Families eligible for the assistance would be those earning 1.5 times their state median income. Child care centers would also be given funding.

Strongly disagree here for too many reasons to list.

Unemployment Insurance- would automatically adjust the length and amount of unemployment insurance benefits workers can receive, depending on economic conditions. A fact sheet from the White House gives little specifics on this provision, but appears to give flexibility to Congress for it to easily adjust the length and amount of benefits in times of economic crises.

Strongly disagree. Something needs to be concrete and consistent, and make an adjustment if needed afterwards. The absolute last thing we need is "the flexibility of Congress" dictating how much economic relief is given out at any given time.


Overall mixed imo, but leaned towards the better side of mixed. Still needs some work though imo.[/quote][/quote]

 

[shockaholic12]

There are 25 CC in NY under 5k, thats without aid. If your income is under 30k it is cut in half. Books are never paid for by the Government, and most schools now dont even use them, its all downloads. My daughter hasn't bought a book in over a year.
As for the companies providing child care being "monumental"....like this bill isnt? 225 billion isn't monumental? Being able to drive to work, drop your kid off at the same facility, visit them at lunch etc, is what some companies already do. Give these companies and ones that dont a tax credit to facilitate it. Guess what else it does? Create more jobs. The day care industry is absurdly expensive, now its affordable, and will work with your commute. Also 12 weeks paternity for moms AND Dads is insane. We never had that. The primary care giver, and the other one should get a limited amount but not 3 months.

Give all the companies across the country a tax credit to start and continually run day care facilities from scratch? You think that will cost how much less? That's not feasible.

3 months is not insane. Look around the world at other first world paternity leave systems and notice they've done similar things for a long time successfully without economies failing whatsoever as a result. It clearly is completely sane. The fact politics in the US have convinced you that's crazy as an excuse to the fact the US is so far behind is what's actually crazy.

People in the US always whine about the family unit not being strong enough then when exposed to an opportunity to allow folks to actually spend a fraction of their non-retired adult life bonding and strengthening their family bond they screech "insane" at it.

 

[ElKarlo]

Yea, I don’t think there’s much benefit to back pre-k in terms of development. At most, you could argue it allows for both parents to return to the workforce quicker.

It’s daycare. It’s just often daycare attached to a kindergarten. 3 year olds are learning to not keep their pants. Any education they receive then can easily be caught to when they are in the 4 year old class. I’ve seen it all the time as a teacher here

 

[Lead]

This thread got lost in the shuffle of race war rage dominating the first page lol. I'll share some thoughts after seeing/reading this.



Mixed. I like the income tax rate increase. Very reasonable number likely to improve things. I strongly dislike "funding for individual income tax enforcement" as I feel that has always targeted forcing regular Joe's to "not get over" because they don't want to spend the energy enforcing it on the wealthy. I like additional reporting requirements for financial institutions.



Like this one a lot if done right.



I've argued this point on this very forum so I obviously love this.



Of course extend, I don't like phaseouts based on "higher income". Obviously because I don't want to be in a phased out conversation, but I feel unless you're a millionaire everyone needs their money for different reasoning. Agree with all the permanent nature of the proposals here however.



Disagree with death gains tax. Indifferent on carried interest as ordinary income. Agree with the rest.



To "all" sources of income? I don't think I agree with such a definitive term, especially at the 400k range.
Strongly, strongly, strongly disagree with making the 461 (I) limitation permanent.



Agree with everything except the "up to 4k a month". That's too low imo, as some families make more but also sustain a higher cost of living, so shouldn't be penalized for it.



Is this pandering? Currently, a low income family student with good grades already gets into college for free, so I'm not sure what this changes other than giving HBCUs more money. When I was in Baruch which is a good business college there were some people who were going there for free after all the scholarships/grants/aid/etc, and that was in the mid 2000s. Not at all how I'd handle this.



Lol no.



Need more details, maybe.



Strongly disagree here for too many reasons to list.



Strongly disagree. Something needs to be concrete and consistent, and make an adjustment if needed afterwards. The absolute last thing we need is "the flexibility of Congress" dictating how much economic relief is given out at any given time.


Overall mixed imo, but leaned towards the better side of mixed. Still needs some work though imo.

[/quote][/QUOTE]

Thanks for giving it all a look. It is frustrating when you do an OP like that and it just sinks like a rock ha. I knew it would eventually get bumped though once this case closer to a vote though so it’s all good.

Are you good with corporate rates being bumped? I don’t think I covered it in the OP cause I wasn’t sure how much they’d be needed with the bipartisan bill being separated but now that it’s being floated 3.5, my guess is they still are looking at hiking those rates.

I agree with you for the most part on the education pieces. I want to see what the additional 1.3T in spending really could be. The OP doesn’t yet reflect those increases.

It’s daycare. It’s just often daycare attached to a kindergarten. 3 year olds are learning to not keep their pants. Any education they receive then can easily be caught to when they are in the 4 year old class. I’ve seen it all the time as a teacher here

Yep, pretty much. I’ve just seen it argued it’s important for development when most of the studies I’ve seen about it state the gap becomes negligible by elementary school or around there.