Politico has the word: “Big businesses paying even less than expected under GOP tax law”. That’s right, according to Brian Faler, “Federal tax payments by big businesses are falling much faster than anticipated in the wake of Republicans’ tax cuts, providing ammunition to Democrats who are calling for corporate tax increases.”
It gets worse, says Brian: “The U.S. Treasury saw a 31 percent drop in corporate tax revenues last year, almost twice the decline official budget forecasters had predicted. Receipts were projected to rebound sharply this year, but so far they’ve only continued to fall, down by almost 9 percent or $11 billion.”
And that ain’t all: “Though business profits remain healthy and the economy is strong, total corporate taxes are at the lowest levels seen in more than 50 years.”
Who could have predicted this? Maybe New York Times columnist Thomas Edsall, who wrote two years ago “You Cannot Be Too Cynical About the Republican Tax Bill”. Or maybe a group of tax experts writing in the Minnesota Law Review, who put together a study of the Trump/Ryan tax “reform” under the title “The Games They Will Play: Tax Games, Roadblocks, and Glitches Under the 2017 Tax Legislation” when the legislation was first passed and since have been updating for your continued viewing pleasure and consternation, as a lobbyist-written travesty specifically concocted to give away the store continues to do just that.
As I complained bitterly when this piece o’ crap just passed the Senate, in violation of every legislative procedure and norm ever written, if a mere three Republican senators had taken a stand, not even on the content but merely on the constant violation of Senate procedure that occurred as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rammed this homage to larceny through the “Upper Chamber”, Donald Trump would have been significantly weakened. But that didn’t happen. The greed of America’s billionaires overcame every scruple they might have had—or might have pretended to have—over Donald Trump’s utter contempt for the rule of law, and their only concern was to belly up to the trough ahead of the rest, to grunt and rut in swinish delight. As they continue to do.
