The recent Republican tax bill has a number of serious flaws. In order to fix them, the Republicans need help from Democrats because although the original bill was passed through reconciliation which requires 51 votes whereas the corrections will require 60 votes, which the R's do not have. The ObamaCare bill had similar issues and the R's refused to help the D's make the corrections and instead argued against some of the corrections all the way to the SCOTUS.
Should the D's take the high road and just concede and make the changes? Should they demand something in return like reinstatement of ability write off local taxes? Do the R's have the energy and will to really tackle the issue or are they moving on?
I think the D's should take the high road. I think the R's acted terribly on the Obamacare technical corrections (like the R's now want to make to the tax bill) and on the Garland nomination, but at some point one of the parties needs to take the lead on making government function and I think D's should start with helping the R's on this one.
Hera are a few of the issues with the current bill.
For instance:
Incentives for farmers to sell grain to co-ops is so high that independent silos are likely to go out of business.
"In a statement, Ibach urged Congress to level the playing field. “The aim of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was to spur economic growth across the entire American economy, including in the agricultural sector,” he said. “While the goal was to preserve benefits in Section 199A for cooperatives and their patrons, the unintended consequences of the current language disadvantage the independent operators in the same industry. We applaud Congress for acknowledging and moving to correct the disparity, and our expectation is that a solution is forthcoming.”
“The federal tax code should not pick winners and losers in the marketplace.” The statement was part of a release today from USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Greg Ibach, but that is exactly what changes to Section 199A in the new tax law do, creating a significant tax advantage for co-ops."
"The conservative Tax Foundation said that the flaw should be addressed quickly, saying that, if left in place, “the deduction would allow some farmers to effectively become tax-exempt.”
Leaders of independent grain companies from Oklahoma, Minnesota and South Dakota traveled to Washington in late February to make their case to lawmakers that a fix was urgently needed, warning that businesses like theirs could collapse or be sold."
https://www.agrimarketing.com/s/114651
https://www.agweb.com/article/usda-wants-fix-to-tax-bill-preference-for-co-ops/
https://www.agri-pulse.com/articles/10481-grain-elevators-desperate-for-tax-bill-fix
And
"A typo in another section prevents developers from fully deducting expenses from commercial real estate improvements like remodeling for 39 years, instead of immediately, as was the plan."
And
"... a lack of clarity could allow hedge funds and private equity firms to sidestep a provision that would prevent them from counting earnings from their investments as capital gains instead of income—commonly known as the “carried interest” loophole, as capital gains are taxed at a lower rate than income—unless they held the investments for at least three years. The law exempts corporations from this rule but doesn’t specify what kind of corporations, leading hedge fund managers to
rush to Delaware to create LLCs to duck the new restriction."
More reading.
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2018/...-Errors-Uncertainty-and-Opportunity-Democrats