Brooks writes about the changes to the tax code proposed by the Republicans. He doesn't like the Republican plan. If it is as he describes, I like it a lot.
Republicans think the whole country would be better off if we take money away from the Democrats’ rich people and give it to their own (more productive) rich people.COTTonLINE's not seeing much in the plan with which to disagree. It afflicts comfortable coastal liberals and comforts the afflicted in flyover country. Plus, it rewards residents of states with low tax rates and penalizes those in high tax states.
First, it caps the mortgage interest deduction at loan principal of $500,000 instead of $1 million. (snip) Only about 2.5 percent of Americans are paying off mortgages on homes valued over $500,000. These are mostly in places like California, New York, Boston and Washington, D.C.
Second, the Republican plan cuts the deduction for state and local taxes. In 2014, according to The Economist, nearly 90 percent of the benefit from this deduction flowed to those making more than $100,000 a year. Once again, this tax hike hits mostly those in high-tax blue states.
Third, the bill taxes investment income earned by private universities with at least 500 students and assets not directly tied to educational objectives of more than $100,000 per student. It imposes a 20 percent excise tax on nonprofit executives who make more than $1 million.
The Republican vision is that the corporate sector is more important to a healthy America than the professional and nonprofit sector. The Republican vision is that companies that thrive in the red states, like manufacturing and agriculture, are more important for the country than the industries that thrive in blue states, like finance, media, the academy and the movies.
