This week in the Senate: A possible vote on the BCRA. The Better Care Reconciliation Act, the Senate version of the House’s American Health Care Act, will get a CBO score early this week, perhaps as soon as today. The score will likely show that BRCA includes a trillion-dollar tax cut for mostly wealthy taxpayers and may cut Medicaid by at least as much as the $834 billion in the AHCA. More than half of Americans view the Affordable Care Act favorably, approve of Medicaid, and oppose the AHCA, according to a new poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Several senators are getting wobbly on his bill, but Senate Leader Mitch McConnell still wants a vote this week.
Is “20 or 30 years” temporary? GOP Senator Pat Toomey proposes to change budget reconciliation rules to allow a “temporary tax cut” of at least 20 years instead of the 10 currently permitted under the “Byrd rule.” Senate Finance Chair Orrin Hatch and House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows are supportive but House Speaker Paul Ryan and Ways & Means Chair Kevin Brady are not.
Little public support for raising the debt limit. A new poll by Politico’s Morning Consult says 57 percent oppose increasing the debt ceiling, the amount of money the US government can legally borrow. Some lawmakers want Congress to pass a bill before they leave for their August recess in about a month.
Tax reform is, as ever, hard… Even when one party controls the White House, Senate and House. Here’s a good explainer of the Republicans' tax overhaul woes, courtesy of The Washington Post.
Another IRS phishing scam, this time aimed at preparers. The IRS and state tax agencies are warning tax prep firms that crooks are using a pfishing scam to access e-filing data. The emails purportedly come from a software education firm and request e-services security information.
On a high note: Marijuana sales tax revenues are getting higher in Anchorage. The city collected $70,000 in April from nine stores. Anchorage voters approved a five percent tax on marijuana sales last year. While marijuana tax revenues have grown steadily in the city, they’ve dropped statewide since January. Alaska has collected $1 million during the six months stores have been open in the state, below projections. The problem: Growers have been unable to keep up with demand.
Millionaires in Massachusetts probably won’t move. The state may raise its income tax on earnings over $1 million if a constitutional amendment passes in 2018. Research shows that few wealthy residents would move as a result. For one thing, “the highest earners actually migrate less than the general population because the wealthy are more likely to be married, own businesses, and have school-age children that tie them to a particular place.” That’s according to a study by Stanford sociologists Cristobal Young and Charles Varner.
One millionaire may be moving, though. Televangelist Todd Coontz of North Carolina has been charged with three counts of failure to pay tax and four counts of aiding and assisting in filing false tax returns. He could face 15 years in prison. Among the charges: taking business expense deductions for travel that was also reimbursed and in some cases for trips he never took; and using his ministry to pay for personal boats and luxury cars.
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