Letter: GOP ‘tax reform’ for middle class? Don’t buy it

Posted 10/25/17

To the editor:

The Republicans would have us believe that their new “tax reform” is designed to help the middle class.

The following are just some of the glaring deceptions of this …

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Letter: GOP ‘tax reform’ for middle class? Don’t buy it

Posted

To the editor:

The Republicans would have us believe that their new “tax reform” is designed to help the middle class.

The following are just some of the glaring deceptions of this plan.

They are suggesting that reducing the number of tax brackets will simplify filing.  A ten year old child can navigate a fast food menu with more entries than we currently have.  This is merely an attempt to gerrymander the brackets so that the top income tiers would have more people in their bracket to lobby for lower rates.

Let’s look at the estate tax.  We need “… to protect millions of small businesses and the American farmers.” The threshold for estate taxes is over $5 million. There are not “… millions” with this large an estate.  If we want to protect more small farmers and businesses then raise this already generous threshold. We do not need to eliminate it altogether so that the top 1% can use this as a loophole to pass billions on to their heritors, and please do not call it a death tax unless you support a hereditary peerage system.

One of the more insidious elements is the elimination of depreciation vs immediate write-off of capital assets.  This would become a world class windfall for, among others, the real estate industry.  Those with enough wealth to employ a high priced tax accountant will have a field day with this one.  There are enough nuanced benefits in this “plank” to alone warrant the efforts for this phony benefit-the-middle-class tax overhaul.

Robert Rottman

Little Compton

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