Daily Deduction The best laid plans of candidates and lawmakers often go awry.
Renu Zaretsky
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Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has a Wall Street tax plan. She will propose a tax on high frequency trading that would target securities transactions with excessive levels of order cancellations. Is there a strong case for a financial transaction tax? TPC’s Len Burman considers it here. More on GOP candidate Bobby Jindals tax plan. The Louisiana Governor describes his proposal in his own words: He wants to starve Washington and feed the heartland. The thing is, his plan to cut federal revenue by $9 trillion won’t necessarily lead to decreases in federal spending. It might even lead to tax increases—a bit like what happened in Louisiana this past summer. “Take this job and shove it.” Heir apparent Kevin McCarthy withdrew his name from consideration in the face of opposition from GOP hardliners. And House Ways & Means committee chair Paul Ryan has ruled himself out. Ryan has made little secret of his interest in the speakership, but seems to be saying, “Not now.” Who can blame him? Still no state budget for Pennsylvania. The state’s House rejected Democratic Governor Tom Wolf’s proposed increases to tax hikes on personal income and natural gas drilling. Wolf remains optimistic, though it isn’t clear how he’ll proceed and when lawmakers can strike a deal. In Michigan, the states House approves taxing medical marijuana. Voters approved medical marijuana in 2008, and now the state’s Senate will consider a bill to require a state operating license to grow, process, sell, transport and test marijuana used for medical purposes. “Provisioning centers” would pay a 3 percent tax on gross retail income, on top of the state’s 6 percent state sales tax. The bill’s sponsor says the tax would go away if Michigan legalizes recreational marijuana. The Cadillac Tax: Why all the hate? TPC’s Howard Gleckman considers the excise tax on high cost health insurance plans. The 40 percent levy is due to go into effect in 2018, but unions, Republicans and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton want it repealed. “The debate over the Cadillac tax oozes with classic Washington hypocrisy. On one hand, pols decry the ever-rising costs of medical treatment (even when cost growth moderates as it has in recent years). On the other, they howl in outrage when anybody tries to do something about it.” But the House will likely vote to repeal it anyway.  Today the House Budget Committee will mark up a reconciliation package that would repeal the Affordable Care Act's healthcare tax provisions, including the aforesaid Cadillac tax. Interested in subscribing to the Daily Deduction, the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center summary of the day’s tax news? Sign-up here to get the Daily Deduction delivered to your inbox every morning. If you’d like to tell us about a new research paper or have any comments about our feature, write us at dailydeduction “at” taxpolicycenter “dot” org.