Report on Lifeline Program: Spending on Improper Payments Rose Significantly
A government program with a long running history of waste and abuse was just caught red handed again.
The Federal Communications Commission Inspector General released a report that found that the percentage of improper payments from the Lifeline program rose from 2.93% to 21.93% from 2016 to 2017, accounting for an increase of $295.74 million in waste and fraud in just one year. The report explains the Universal Service Administrative Company’s procedures did not prevent individuals from receiving multiple Lifeline benefits, nor did it prevent ineligible consumers from receiving benefits from the Lifeline program. The report illustrates that FCC rules and Lifeline policies were not able to ensure that service providers received documentation on eligibility. The report identified the Lifeline program as one of four programs susceptible to significant improper payments.
What’s troubling is that these taxpayer dollars were improperly used and took away from funding for qualified low-income users. If the program is to exist at all, we need to be focusing on those who have no broadband access at all, and that means cutting wasteful spending on ineligible participants in the program.
Unfortunately, the program has a long history of abuse. After a three year investigation, in 2017, the Government Accountability Office could not confirm whether 1.2 million individuals enrolled in Lifeline were eligible for the program. In another case of Lifeline abuse, The FCC fined a provider $30 million for knowingly adding fraudulent subscribers to the Lifeline program.
For the 2019 calendar year the budget for the Lifeline program will increase to $2.33 billion as the budget is indexed for inflation yearly in accordance with the Consumer Price Index from the Department of Labor. The current budget for the program is $2.28 billion. This increases the amount of taxpayer dollars exposed to fraud.
The Lifeline program is administered by the USAC, established in 1985 as a fixed dollar subsidy to the carriers for low income Americans to afford basic phone service. Since 2016 the program has also provided reduced pricing for voice-data bundles or stand-alone broadband.
We need to close the digital divide. But the only way we’ll get there is by ensuring that waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars is minimized so those with no broadband service are prioritized.
Photo Credit: xburlesquegrotesquex
More from Americans for Tax Reform
Wyoming Lawmakers Vote To Advance Corporate Tax
Wyoming is one of two states that does not impose a corporate income tax on employers, but that could change in 2020. Earlier this year Wyoming lawmakers debated legislation, House Bill 220, that would institute a 7% state corporate tax. The Wyoming House of Representatives passed that bill but the Legislature adjourned without the state Senate doing likewise. However that proposed corporate tax, as was predicted at the time, did not die with the 2019 legislative session. The proposal is now back and primed to pass both chambers of the Wyoming Legislature in 2020.
This week the Wyoming Joint Revenue Committee approved a new version of the proposed corporate tax, which would apply to companies with more than 100 shareholders by a 9-4 vote. Were state lawmakers to enact a corporate tax in 2020, that would have Wyoming moving in the opposite direction of many states and nations, which have been cutting their corporate taxes in recent years.
While proponents of the proposed corporate tax portray the levy as a way to soak large corporations, the burden of a corporate tax would be borne by both business owners and workers. That’s why key non-partisan fiscal scorekeepers, such as the Congressional Budget Office and the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, have adjusted their methodology in recent years to account for the harm corporate taxes do to workers.
In addition to the tens of millions of dollars it is estimated the proposed corporate tax would siphon from employers to fill state coffers, the corporate tax advanced by Wyoming Revenue Committee members this week would also lay the groundwork for a personal income tax.
“The bill has a little-noticed feature in it that allows for the creation of a personal income tax,” explains Sven Larson, a senior fellow at the Wyoming Liberty Group, a Cheyenne-based think tank. “If this bill becomes law Wyoming will have the legal infrastructure in place for both a corporate and a personal income tax.”
In addition to the costs a corporate tax would impose on businesses and the negative impact it would have on the state economy, a corporate tax would cost Wyoming taxpayers millions of dollars just to collect.
“The system to collect these taxes would cost $10 million to set up and $3 million to maintain, along with $1.5 million for staff – costing essentially 10 percent of the rough revenue estimate annually,” the Casper Star-Tribune reported earlier this year as the corporate tax proposal worked its way through the Legislature.
There is a wealth of social science demonstrating that corporate taxes are one of the most economically destructive ways to fill government coffers. That’s why states across the country and nations across the globe have been cutting corporate tax rates and reducing their reliance on them in recent years.
The corporate tax isn’t the only tax hike threat facing individuals, families, and employers across Wyoming. State lawmakers in Cheyenne are also advancing tax hikes on property, sales, and nicotine. Altogether, 2020 is shaping up to be Taxmageddon in Wyoming.
Photo Credit: Roger Smith
Sanders and AOC lie about striking auto workers losing healthcare to push Medicare for All
Never let a serious crisis go to waste was the left’s maxim throughout the Obama years. Now Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are dusting off the old playbook and using the autoworkers’ strike against General Motors to push Medicare for All. Unsurprisingly, they’re doing so by falsely claiming thousands of workers have been stripped of healthcare by a greedy and nefarious corporation.
The United Auto Workers (UAW) union called a nationwide strike Monday after union leadership failed to reach an agreement with General Motors during contract negotiations. Almost 50,000 workers are now on strike. The following day, in accordance with the contract terms agreed upon by UAW leadership, GM revealed that it would cease healthcare coverage for striking workers.
Following the announcement, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez seized the opportunity to rail against GM and push for government-run healthcare. “This is straight barbarism,” the representative tweeted. “Yet another reason we insist on #MedicareforAll: so your healthcare won't be held hostage to negotiate lower wages."
Not to be outdone by his fellow socialist, Sen. Sanders weighed in by calling GM’s decision “cruel, outrageous” and the “type of corporate greed that the American people are sick and tired of.” At a campaign event that same day, Sanders criticized General Motors while plugging his signature healthcare policy. "Under Medicare for All, every American -- whether you're working, whether you're not working, when you are going from one job to another job -- it's there with you," said Sanders.
Of course, Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez fail to mention that UAW union leadership rejected GM’s publicly disclosed proposal which offered the union $7 billion in new investment at existing plants, would spare the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant from closure and create 5,400 more jobs. Workers would receive annual wage increases over the next four years, an $8,000 signing bonus per worker and an increased profit-sharing formula. Before talks broke down, GM had even agreed to maintain low healthcare premiums at 3% - a walk-back of the company’s earlier attempt to reportedly raise premiums to 15%.
Putting these facts aside, as Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez are wont to do, did some 50,000 workers really lose healthcare coverage as the two Democrats claim? Of course not.
In reality, GM’s decision to stop providing healthcare benefits to striking workers should come as a surprise to no one, least of all UAW’s members. During a strike, workers' healthcare benefits shift to being funded by the union’s strike fund. This is a primary reason workers pay union dues in the first place. In fact, UAW leadership has spent the summer educating its members on this point in preparation for a strike. A Frequently Asked Questions section on UAW’s website even details the benefits workers are provided from the union’s strike fund including medical coverage and prescription drugs. For workers enrolled in COBRA coverage, benefits are even made retroactive to the beginning of the strike.
Despite autoworkers maintaining medical benefits throughout the strike, Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez still spread the lie that GM is holding the healthcare of its workers hostage in order to push Medicare for All. All considered, UAW members have a fairly generous arrangement for employees refusing to work. Individuals working non-union jobs in the private sector would be shocked to receive healthcare benefits from their employer while declining to show up for work.
The great irony here is that the government-run healthcare plans that Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez tout as solutions for striking workers would actually take away the very benefit packages UAW members are striking to improve and eliminate their health insurance plans from the marketplace entirely. Any gains achieved by the autoworkers to their medical benefits would be forfeited under a Sanders presidency.
But why let the facts get in the way? Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have a crisis on their hands, and they can’t let it go to waste.
Photo Credit: Bernie Sanders
More from Americans for Tax Reform
Video: Media Fed Up with Elizabeth Warren Tax Dodge
Elizabeth Warren keeps dodging the middle class tax question, and a video released today by Americans for Tax Reform shows even the establishment media is getting fed up with her evasive answers.
ATR president Grover Norquist said: "If Elizabeth Warren will not admit the obvious—that her wild spending will require broad-based tax hikes on the middle class, will she ever tell the truth in a general election?"
See more:
Biden: End "Trump's Tax Cut for The Top Tenth of One Percent"
Booker: “My plan would reverse those toxic Trump tax cuts”
Stephen Colbert Calls Out Warren for Dodging Middle Class Tax Question
Video: Warren Dodges MSNBC’s Middle Class Tax Questions
Elizabeth Warren is Still Dodging the Middle Class Tax Question
Video: 2020 Democrats Promise Higher Taxes
Biden Caught Lying about GOP Tax Cuts
Bill De Blasio: “As President, I Would Issue a Robot Tax”
Bill De Blasio: “As President, I would issue a robot tax”
Kamala Harris Calls for Ban on Plastic Straws
Elizabeth Warren's Climate Plan Calls For "Reversing" GOP Tax Cuts
Sanders: We’re Going to “Absolutely” Raise the Corporate Tax Rate
Elizabeth Warren on Corporate Tax Cuts: “I really want to see them rolled back.”
Bill de Blasio Calls for Corporate Tax Rate Hike
Amy Klobuchar: Raise the Corporate Tax Rate to 25%
Biden on capital gains tax: “We should raise the tax back to 39.6 percent”
Kamala Harris Threatens to Repeal GOP Tax Cuts 3 Times in August
Joe Biden: “I’m going to eliminate most all” of GOP Tax Cuts
Cory Booker Calls for Repeal of "Toxic" GOP Tax Cuts
Marianne Williamson Joins Dems Calling for TCJA Repeal
Kamala Admits Her Plan Would End Employer Insurance
“Medicare for All” is a Middle Class Tax Increase, Say Dems
Elizabeth Warren Can’t Dodge the Middle Class Tax Question Forever
Dem Socialized Healthcare Plan Will Lead to Middle Class Tax Hikes
Supposed “Moderate” Democrat John Delaney Wants to Impose Carbon Tax on the American People
Klobuchar Suggests Capital Gains Tax Hike and “Doing Something” About TCJA
Kamala Harris Campaign Headquarters Located in Opportunity Zone Created by GOP Tax Cuts
Julian Castro: “We’re going to have to raise taxes.”
Biden and Harris: Raise the Corporate Tax Rate
Biden tweet: Ignore the fact I’ve already called for middle class tax hikes
Kamala Harris: “I Will Reverse” Trump’s Tax Cuts
Kamala Harris Calls for Repeal of Tax Cuts Four Times in Three Minutes
Julian Castro Caught Lying about GOP Tax Cuts
NYT: Bidencare Will be Funded by “rolling back” GOP tax cuts
Kamala Harris: I Will Repeal “That Tax Bill”
Cory Booker: “I do support” Imposing Carbon Tax on Americans
Harris: “We are Going to Repeal That Tax Bill”
Biden: I Will Raise Corporate Tax Rate to 28%
Kamala Harris Continues to Lie about Tax Cuts
Jay Inslee: “Repeal the Trump Tax Cuts”
Biden Running Ads to “Repeal Trump’s Tax Cuts.”
VIDEO: Ten Times Biden Threatened to Repeal Tax Cuts
Here’s what happens if Dems repeal tax cuts
VIDEO: 10 Times 2020 Democrats Have Threatened to Repeal TCJA
Kamala Harris: When I Enter Office "I Will Repeal" the TCJA
Biden: “First thing I would do as President is Eliminate the President’s Tax Cut.”
Bernie Sanders claims people would be “delighted to pay more in taxes”
Biden: Tax Cuts Will be “Gone” If I’m Elected
Kamala Harris: I Will Repeal Tax Cuts “on day one”
Biden again says capital gains tax is “Much too Low”
Biden: Capital gains tax “much too low”
VIDEO: Five Times Biden has Threatened to Repeal Tax Cuts
Biden: “First thing I’d do is repeal those Trump tax cuts.”
Joe Biden broke his middle class tax pledge
“Mayor Pete” Calls for Steep Tax Hike on Homes and Businesses
Kamala Harris Vows Repeal of Tax Cuts “on Day One”
Biden: “When I’m President, if God willing I am, we’re going to reverse those Trump tax cuts.”
Biden: End "Trump's Tax Cut for The Top Tenth of One Percent"
Joe Biden said he would end "Trump's tax cut for the top tenth of one percent," if elected, during the Workers Presidential Summit in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
"If I'm president of the United States, you're going to see the end of Trump's tax cut for the top tenth of one percent. It's going to be done. Not a joke!" Biden said.
In the past, Biden has said he supports a full repeal of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act:
“First thing I’d do is repeal those Trump tax cuts,” Biden said during a speech in South Carolina in May.
Later, he said he would “eliminate most all of” the Trump tax cuts:
“By eliminating just a few of the tax cuts,” Biden said in Iowa, then added, “I’m going to eliminate most all of them. No, you think I'm joking? I'm not."
Biden’s most recent comment could be understood to say that the top one-tenth of one percent of income earners would see a tax increase. If so, this would amount to a promise not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $1.6 million per year.
In any case, Biden's promise to repeal the tax cuts is a promise to raise taxes. If the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was repealed:
- A family of four earning the median income of $73,000 would see a $2,000 tax increase.
- A single parent (with one child) making $41,000 would see a $1,300 tax increase.
- Millions of low and middle income households would be stuck paying the Obamacare individual mandate tax.
- Utility bills would go up in all 50 states as a direct result of the corporate income tax increase.
- Small employers will face a tax increase due to the repeal of the 20% deduction for small business income.
- The USA would have the highest corporate income tax rate in the developed world.
- Taxes would rise in every state and every congressional district.
- The Death Tax would ensnare more families and businesses.
- The AMT would snap back to hit millions of households.
- Millions of households would see their child tax credit cut in half.
- Millions of households would see their standard deduction cut in half, adding to their tax complexity as they are forced to itemize their deductions and deal with the shoebox full of receipts on top of the refrigerator.
Even left leaning news outlets confirm the good news about the GOP tax cuts:
CNN: “The facts are, most Americans got a tax cut.”
CNN: "In fact, estimates from both sides of the political spectrum show that the majority of people in the United States of America did receive a tax cut."
New York Times: "Most people got a tax cut."
Washington Post: “Most Americans received a tax cut.”
FactCheck.org: "Most people got some kind of tax cut in 2018 as a result of the law."
FactCheck.org: "The vast majority (82 percent) of middle-income earners — those with income between about $49,000 and $86,000 — received a tax cut that averaged about $1,050.
H&R Block: “The vast majority of people did get a tax cut.”
New York Times also noted the “sustained -- and misleading -- effort by liberal opponents of the law to brand it as a broad middle-class tax increase.”
In Biden's home state of Delaware, households making the average income of $62,852 received an average tax cut of around $1,422, according to a recent Tax Foundation report.
Stay up-to-date on Democrat tax hike threats at www.atr.org/HighTaxDems.
See more:
Booker: “My plan would reverse those toxic Trump tax cuts”
Stephen Colbert Calls Out Warren for Dodging Middle Class Tax Question
Video: Warren Dodges MSNBC’s Middle Class Tax Questions
Elizabeth Warren is Still Dodging the Middle Class Tax Question
Video: 2020 Democrats Promise Higher Taxes
Biden Caught Lying about GOP Tax Cuts
Bill De Blasio: “As President, I Would Issue a Robot Tax”
Bill De Blasio: “As President, I would issue a robot tax”
Kamala Harris Calls for Ban on Plastic Straws
Elizabeth Warren's Climate Plan Calls For "Reversing" GOP Tax Cuts
Sanders: We’re Going to “Absolutely” Raise the Corporate Tax Rate
Elizabeth Warren on Corporate Tax Cuts: “I really want to see them rolled back.”
Bill de Blasio Calls for Corporate Tax Rate Hike
Amy Klobuchar: Raise the Corporate Tax Rate to 25%
Biden on capital gains tax: “We should raise the tax back to 39.6 percent”
Kamala Harris Threatens to Repeal GOP Tax Cuts 3 Times in August
Joe Biden: “I’m going to eliminate most all” of GOP Tax Cuts
Cory Booker Calls for Repeal of "Toxic" GOP Tax Cuts
Marianne Williamson Joins Dems Calling for TCJA Repeal
Kamala Admits Her Plan Would End Employer Insurance
“Medicare for All” is a Middle Class Tax Increase, Say Dems
Elizabeth Warren Can’t Dodge the Middle Class Tax Question Forever
Dem Socialized Healthcare Plan Will Lead to Middle Class Tax Hikes
Supposed “Moderate” Democrat John Delaney Wants to Impose Carbon Tax on the American People
Klobuchar Suggests Capital Gains Tax Hike and “Doing Something” About TCJA
Kamala Harris Campaign Headquarters Located in Opportunity Zone Created by GOP Tax Cuts
Julian Castro: “We’re going to have to raise taxes.”
Biden and Harris: Raise the Corporate Tax Rate
Biden tweet: Ignore the fact I’ve already called for middle class tax hikes
Kamala Harris: “I Will Reverse” Trump’s Tax Cuts
Kamala Harris Calls for Repeal of Tax Cuts Four Times in Three Minutes
Julian Castro Caught Lying about GOP Tax Cuts
NYT: Bidencare Will be Funded by “rolling back” GOP tax cuts
Kamala Harris: I Will Repeal “That Tax Bill”
Cory Booker: “I do support” Imposing Carbon Tax on Americans
Harris: “We are Going to Repeal That Tax Bill”
Biden: I Will Raise Corporate Tax Rate to 28%
Kamala Harris Continues to Lie about Tax Cuts
Jay Inslee: “Repeal the Trump Tax Cuts”
Biden Running Ads to “Repeal Trump’s Tax Cuts.”
VIDEO: Ten Times Biden Threatened to Repeal Tax Cuts
Here’s what happens if Dems repeal tax cuts
VIDEO: 10 Times 2020 Democrats Have Threatened to Repeal TCJA
Kamala Harris: When I Enter Office "I Will Repeal" the TCJA
Biden: “First thing I would do as President is Eliminate the President’s Tax Cut.”
Bernie Sanders claims people would be “delighted to pay more in taxes”
Biden: Tax Cuts Will be “Gone” If I’m Elected
Kamala Harris: I Will Repeal Tax Cuts “on day one”
Biden again says capital gains tax is “Much too Low”
Biden: Capital gains tax “much too low”
VIDEO: Five Times Biden has Threatened to Repeal Tax Cuts
Biden: “First thing I’d do is repeal those Trump tax cuts.”
Joe Biden broke his middle class tax pledge
“Mayor Pete” Calls for Steep Tax Hike on Homes and Businesses
Kamala Harris Vows Repeal of Tax Cuts “on Day One”
Biden: “When I’m President, if God willing I am, we’re going to reverse those Trump tax cuts.”
Photo Credit: cooldavej/Flickr
Romney flip-flops, sides with California over Trump on auto waiver
Mitt Romney is now criticizing President Trump for actions he claimed he would have carried out as president, had his own campaigns not failed.
Today, in a complete reversal of his previous stance on auto fuel efficiency standards, Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) publicly criticized President Trump’s decision to revoke California’s waiver allowing the state to set separate greenhouse-gas standards for cars, calling Trump’s action a “big mistake.”
According to Politico, Romney went on to advocate for increasing the Obama-era mandate that would require auto manufacturers to produce cars averaging nearly 55 miles per gallon by 2025, stating “we should encourage more strict fuel economy standards, not weaken them."
Romney’s harsh remarks of President Trump come as a shock given his past statements, including those given as a presidential candidate in both 2008 and 2012, were strongly critical of fuel economy standards and California’s ability to operate beyond federal requirements.
Romney on the Campaign Trail in 2008 says CAFE Standards drop an “anvil on Michigan”
According to reports after a Presidential Primary debate in 2008, Romney “talked up his roots in the auto industry and criticized fuel economy standards, saying the 35 miles-per-gallon target by 2020 passed by Congress in December ‘dropped yet another anvil on Michigan.’"
Romney is now calling for “more strict fuel economy standards” than Obama’s 55 miles per gallon requirement.
Romney backs stripping California’s waiver in 2008 press release
"When Michigan makes the same cars and trucks regardless of whether they are bound for California, Vermont or (even) Massachusetts, it makes more sense to have one set of federal rules to address CO2 emissions from vehicles rather than a patchwork of different state regulations."
While campaigning for President In 2012 Romney calls CAFE standards “disadvantageous” and says “we need to get the government out of these companies’ hair.”
“The government put in place CAFE requirements that were disadvantageous for domestic manufacturers. We need to get the government out of these companies’ hair and let them go to work to become competitive — not only in the U.S. but globally. The world is changing in the auto industry and we’ve got to get these companies on a global footing as opposed to kowtowing to Washington.”
Romney and Campaign called CAFE Standards "extreme" and cause consumers to "pay thousands of dollars more upfront for unproven technology."
In June of 2012, Romney called told The Detroit News that he'd seek "a better way of encouraging fuel economy" than the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) requirements. A campaign spokesperson reiterated Romney's opposition, saying that CAFE will force consumers to "pay thousands of dollars more upfront for unproven technology that they may not even want."
Photo Credit: Joeff Davis
More from Americans for Tax Reform
Michigan Governor Wants to Run Up Tax Rate on Sports Betting
Sports betting is advancing down the legislative field in Michigan. A House committee advanced a package of bills to legalize sports betting Tuesday.
The current legislative package (HB 4916) would legalize sports betting with a tax rate of 8%, and a licensing fee of $100,000 – very competitive policies.
For whatever reason, Governor Whitmer and some others would like to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, and are pressing for a much higher tax rate of 15%, perhaps more.
It has been a rough past few years for Michigan sports teams, but that’s no reason for the Governor to steer the state toward losing tax policy on sports betting.
Michigan would be in a good place on sports betting tax rates with HB 4916. Neighboring Indiana has a 9.5% tax rate on adjusted gross revenue. Michigan’s tax rate would come in under that, and well under nearby Illinois’ 15% tax rate.
If anything, the debate in Michigan should be about lowering the rate. Increasing the tax rate, as Governor Whitmer wants, would put the state at a massive disadvantage.
It would then be easy for neighboring states that have not legalized, like Ohio, to come in with a lower tax rate than their regional rival. The Buckeye State has yet to legalize sports betting, but it is a ripe target for legislators in Columbus who finished work on their two-year budget this summer.
States that have legalized sports betting with lower tax rates have succeeded, New Jersey was the first and has seen industry performance catch up with Nevada already. Meanwhile, states that have not had the results they hoped for tend to have high tax rates: Pennsylvania with an effective 36% tax rate, Delaware and Rhode Island take over 50% of betting revenues.
There is a ways to go before the finish line on sports betting in Michigan, and some things will change. One thing that should not happen is making the tax rate higher.
Photo Credit: Michiganradio.org
ATR Opposes Pelosi Drug Pricing Plan
Today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled H.R. 3, the “Lower Prescription Drugs Now Act.” This proposal imposes new government price controls, a 95 percent tax on manufacturers, imports foreign pricing schemes, and imposes a new charge on manufacturers in Medicare. Members of Congress should oppose the Pelosi plan.
“Pelosi’s drug pricing plan imposes a confiscatory tax in the service of price controls that will end innovation and inevitably lead to a collapse of the healthcare system and put everyone into one sized fits all government monopoly,” said Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform.
Pelosi’s bill contains an excise tax on manufacturer sales of between 65 and 95 percent. The proposal allows government bureaucrats to set the prices of the top 250 prescription medicines. If a manufacturer does not agree with this price, refuses to “negotiate” or tries to walk away, they are hit with a 65 percent tax, or “non-compliance fee” on the gross sales of their drug. This tax increases by ten percent every quarter topping out at 95 percent.
Foreign price controls would be imposed on medicines. Under the proposal, no drug in the US can be more than 1.2 times the volume-weighted average price in six countries – Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
H.R. 3 would also impose retroactive inflationary rebate penalty for all drugs covered under Medicare Part B and Part D. This would require manufacturers to pay the government for any price increase that was greater than inflation since 2016 and for any future price increase.
Finally, the proposal imposes a 30 percent charge on manufacturers in Medicare. This charge is imposed at the catastrophic phase of the Part D coverage benefit and distorts the insurance program while doing nothing to directly help seniors. It will fall disproportionately on high cost medicines.
The Pelosi plan is not a good faith effort to negotiate lower prescription drug prices. It will end innovation in the US and prevent the development of the next generation of life-saving and life-preserving medicines.
At present, the U.S. is the world leader in medical innovation with almost 60 percent of drugs being developed in the country.
This innovation benefits the U.S. in the form of high-paying jobs, a stronger economy R&D, and access to more life-saving medicines.
In fact, of the 290 new medical substances that were launched worldwide between 2011 and 2018, the U.S. had access to 90 percent. By contrast, the United Kingdom had 60 percent of medicines, Japan had 50 percent, and Canada had just 44 percent. The socialist style policies used in Europe delay new drugs coming to market by an average of 14 months, according to one study.
American innovation does not come easily – on average, it takes more than a decade to bring a new drug to market. Of all the experimental drugs under development, 90% do not receive approval from the Food and Drug Administration and never come to market. In 2016 alone, American drug companies invested $90 billion for therapy research and development of drugs, more than three times the R&D money spent by the National Institutes of Health.
Rather than promote new innovation and improve the healthcare system, H.R. 3 will serve as a stepping stone to Medicare for All.
By implementing government price controls and taxes, the Pelosi plan will smooth the pathway for a complete takeover of the healthcare system with dramatically higher spending and taxes, and narrower choice and access. This plan will end healthcare for over 150 million Americans and is already supported by a majority of House Democrats and several leading Democrat presidential candidates.
Photo Credit: AFGE
Booker: “My plan would reverse those toxic Trump tax cuts”
Democrat presidential candidate Cory Booker said he would repeal the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act if elected president.
"My Plan would reverse those toxic Trump tax cuts," Booker said during a CNN interview on Wednesday.
Booker's promise to repeal the tax cuts is a promise to raise taxes. If the tax cuts were repealed:
- A family of four earning the median income of $73,000 would see a $2,000 tax increase.
- A single parent (with one child) making $41,000 would see a $1,300 tax increase.
- Millions of low and middle income households would be stuck paying the Obamacare individual mandate tax.
- Utility bills would go up in all 50 states as a direct result of the corporate income tax increase.
- Small employers will face a tax increase due to the repeal of the 20% deduction for small business income.
- The USA would have the highest corporate income tax rate in the developed world.
- Taxes would rise in every state and every congressional district.
- The Death Tax would ensnare more families and businesses.
- The AMT would snap back to hit millions of households.
- Millions of households would see their child tax credit cut in half.
- Millions of households would see their standard deduction cut in half, adding to their tax complexity as they are forced to itemize their deductions and deal with the shoebox full of receipts on top of the refrigerator.
Even left leaning news outlets confirm the good news about the GOP tax cuts:
CNN: “The facts are, most Americans got a tax cut.”
CNN: "In fact, estimates from both sides of the political spectrum show that the majority of people in the United States of America did receive a tax cut."
New York Times: "Most people got a tax cut."
Washington Post: “Most Americans received a tax cut.”
FactCheck.org: "Most people got some kind of tax cut in 2018 as a result of the law."
FactCheck.org: "The vast majority (82 percent) of middle-income earners — those with income between about $49,000 and $86,000 — received a tax cut that averaged about $1,050.
H&R Block: “The vast majority of people did get a tax cut.”
New York Times also noted the “sustained -- and misleading -- effort by liberal opponents of the law to brand it as a broad middle-class tax increase.”
In Booker's home state of New Jersey, households making the average income of $80,088 received an average tax cut of around $1,709, according to a recent Tax Foundation report.
Stay up-to-date on Democrat tax hike threats at www.atr.org/HighTaxDems.
See more:
Stephen Colbert Calls Out Warren for Dodging Middle Class Tax Question
Video: Warren Dodges MSNBC’s Middle Class Tax Questions
Elizabeth Warren is Still Dodging the Middle Class Tax Question
Video: 2020 Democrats Promise Higher Taxes
Biden Caught Lying about GOP Tax Cuts
Bill De Blasio: “As President, I Would Issue a Robot Tax”
Bill De Blasio: “As President, I would issue a robot tax”
Kamala Harris Calls for Ban on Plastic Straws
Elizabeth Warren's Climate Plan Calls For "Reversing" GOP Tax Cuts
Sanders: We’re Going to “Absolutely” Raise the Corporate Tax Rate
Elizabeth Warren on Corporate Tax Cuts: “I really want to see them rolled back.”
Bill de Blasio Calls for Corporate Tax Rate Hike
Amy Klobuchar: Raise the Corporate Tax Rate to 25%
Biden on capital gains tax: “We should raise the tax back to 39.6 percent”
Kamala Harris Threatens to Repeal GOP Tax Cuts 3 Times in August
Joe Biden: “I’m going to eliminate most all” of GOP Tax Cuts
Cory Booker Calls for Repeal of "Toxic" GOP Tax Cuts
Marianne Williamson Joins Dems Calling for TCJA Repeal
Kamala Admits Her Plan Would End Employer Insurance
“Medicare for All” is a Middle Class Tax Increase, Say Dems
Elizabeth Warren Can’t Dodge the Middle Class Tax Question Forever
Dem Socialized Healthcare Plan Will Lead to Middle Class Tax Hikes
Supposed “Moderate” Democrat John Delaney Wants to Impose Carbon Tax on the American People
Klobuchar Suggests Capital Gains Tax Hike and “Doing Something” About TCJA
Kamala Harris Campaign Headquarters Located in Opportunity Zone Created by GOP Tax Cuts
Julian Castro: “We’re going to have to raise taxes.”
Biden and Harris: Raise the Corporate Tax Rate
Biden tweet: Ignore the fact I’ve already called for middle class tax hikes
Kamala Harris: “I Will Reverse” Trump’s Tax Cuts
Kamala Harris Calls for Repeal of Tax Cuts Four Times in Three Minutes
Julian Castro Caught Lying about GOP Tax Cuts
NYT: Bidencare Will be Funded by “rolling back” GOP tax cuts
Kamala Harris: I Will Repeal “That Tax Bill”
Cory Booker: “I do support” Imposing Carbon Tax on Americans
Harris: “We are Going to Repeal That Tax Bill”
Biden: I Will Raise Corporate Tax Rate to 28%
Kamala Harris Continues to Lie about Tax Cuts
Jay Inslee: “Repeal the Trump Tax Cuts”
Biden Running Ads to “Repeal Trump’s Tax Cuts.”
VIDEO: Ten Times Biden Threatened to Repeal Tax Cuts
Here’s what happens if Dems repeal tax cuts
VIDEO: 10 Times 2020 Democrats Have Threatened to Repeal TCJA
Kamala Harris: When I Enter Office "I Will Repeal" the TCJA
Biden: “First thing I would do as President is Eliminate the President’s Tax Cut.”
Bernie Sanders claims people would be “delighted to pay more in taxes”
Biden: Tax Cuts Will be “Gone” If I’m Elected
Kamala Harris: I Will Repeal Tax Cuts “on day one”
Biden again says capital gains tax is “Much too Low”
Biden: Capital gains tax “much too low”
VIDEO: Five Times Biden has Threatened to Repeal Tax Cuts
Biden: “First thing I’d do is repeal those Trump tax cuts.”
Joe Biden broke his middle class tax pledge
“Mayor Pete” Calls for Steep Tax Hike on Homes and Businesses
Kamala Harris Vows Repeal of Tax Cuts “on Day One”
Biden: “When I’m President, if God willing I am, we’re going to reverse those Trump tax cuts.”
A Trump Ban on Flavored E-Cigarettes Will Cost Him the 2020 Election: Data on 12 Important Swing States
Over the past week, President Donald Trump has been considering an outright ban on nearly every electronic cigarette and vapor product on the market. Not only would the implementation of a flavor ban be disastrous for public health, but it may cost Trump the election in 2020.
In a piece for the Washington Examiner, I explained:
"Internal polling conducted by Americans for Tax Reform in October 2016, just five months after the Obama administration announced their own timeline for a de facto e-cigarette ban, found that 4 out of 5 adult vapers' vote-moving issue was where a politician stood on the issue of taxing, regulating, and banning e-cigarettes."
What might that mean in 2020? If you look at the 12 states which will likely determine the outcome of the election, based on the margin of victory or loss by Donald Trump in 2016 and changing political currents, there are at least 4.15 million adults in battleground states that use electronic cigarettes, according to FDA-funded survey data. Those states include Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Georgia, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Maine, Arizona, and Nevada.
Here's how that breaks down per state (click to enlarge):
(Click to enlarge an excel version of this graphic.)
If voter turnout holds flat in 2020 over 2016, there are roughly 2.55 million vaper voters scattered across these 12 key battleground states. The data on the number of adult vapers may underestimate the true figure because adult use of these products has increased in the last two years. To ignore that these adults have used e-cigarettes to quit smoking cigarettes, something that they're proud of and strongly believe in would be among the biggest political miscalculations of the presidential campaign in 2020. Not only do these people rightly attribute the use of flavored nicotine products to saving their lives, but their family members, friends, and neighbors have likely heard their stories as well.
If Trump wants to depress voter turnout or turn voters away from his winning message in states where the margin of victory could be just a few thousand votes, banning flavored nicotine e-cigarettes would be a great way to go about it.
More from Americans for Tax Reform
In major win for consumers, Trump revokes California’s waiver on auto emissions standards
This morning President Trump announced that his administration will revoke California’s waiver that permits the state to set its own fuel economy regulations separate from national standards. This action from the president brings the U.S. closer to a single, unified fuel economy standard.
“The Trump Administration is revoking California’s Federal Waiver on emissions in order to produce far less expensive cars for the consumer, while at the same time making the cars substantially SAFER,” The President stated on twitter. “Many more cars will be produced under the new and uniform standard, meaning significantly more JOBS, JOBS, JOBS! Automakers should seize this opportunity because without this alternative to California, you will be out of business.”
Issued under President Obama, the California waiver forces auto manufacturers to build more expensive cars in compliance with California’s regulations. Under the waiver, auto manufacturers can comply with federal standards yet still barred from marketplace in California.
However, no other state is permitted a waiver from federal rules, meaning if another state would like to set less stringent fuel economy rules compared to federal requirements, it does not have that option. As auto manufacturers can’t economically build two separate vehicle fleets, the waiver effectively allows California to dictate national requirements for vehicles in 49 other states.
Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform issued the following statement in response to President Trump’s announcement:
"Today’s decision by President Trump is a major win for consumers and the US economy. Letting California dictate emission standards for the 49 other states is a proven disaster for jobs, vehicle safety and affordability.
No one living in Ohio, Michigan or Florida voted for California’s nanny state politicians. Gavin Newsom’s bureaucrats have no business telling them what car they can or can’t drive. That decisions rightly belongs to consumers. Americans for Tax Reform applauds President Trump for revoking California’s waiver and freeing consumers from Californian bureaucrats."
Revoking California's waiver is step one of the administration’s anticipated reform to the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, with step two expected to be finalized later this year.
The administration’s proposed rule to freeze CAFE standards at 2020 levels is projected to save American consumers nearly $2,500 on the price of a new vehicle, putting more Americans behind the wheel of newer and safer cars. If finalized, the Department Transportation projects the rule would lead to a reduction of up to 1,000 lives lost annually in fatal vehicle crashes.
Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore
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