{"id":126,"date":"2017-11-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calchurches.planetpov.com\/impact\/index.php\/2017\/11\/17\/tax-and-health-justice-for-the-common-good-and-general-welfare\/"},"modified":"2017-11-17T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-11-17T00:00:00","slug":"tax-and-health-justice-for-the-common-good-and-general-welfare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/churchimpact.org\/index.php\/2017\/11\/17\/tax-and-health-justice-for-the-common-good-and-general-welfare\/","title":{"rendered":"Tax and Health Justice for the Common Good and General Welfare\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t<\/span>\"Picture\"<\/a><\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

Dear Friends,<\/span>
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Well, before we could pin down a decent analysis of the House of Representatives Tax Cut plan, they passed it.\u00a0 They passed the bill this morning 227 to 205.\u00a0<\/span>
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It seeks a tax cut of $1.4 trillion \u2013 yes <\/span>trillion<\/em> \u2013 over 10 years, cuts the corporate tax rate from 35% to 20% though without eliminating corporate deductions at all.\u00a0<\/span>
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However, it does eliminate deductions for ordinary people including the SALT deduction on State and Local Taxes.\u00a0 High-tax states on both coasts would be harmed in paying into the federal system than the states receive back, and adding to that burden by removing the SALT deduction.\u00a0<\/span>
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This additional tax burden was sufficiently onerous that 8 New York and New Jersey Republican House members voted against it, but still the bill passed.<\/span>
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The Senate Tax plan<\/strong>
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When House and Senate bills are at odds, they go to Conference Committee for reconciliation.\u00a0 That will become important, because if the Senate plan passes \u2013 it has not yet been up for a vote \u2013 it has some very dangerous provisions that, if passed and incorporated into the final bill, will do Americans enormous harm.<\/span>
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\u201cTo Promote the General Welfare\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
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Our nation has too often lost sight of our obligations to one another. In a world of hyper-individualism and personal accumulation, we are not committed sufficiently to the care of those whom the society has abandoned, kicked to the curb, or cannot help.\u00a0 Now that indifference has moved upward on the economic scale, and the plan erodes many of the social programs we depend upon.<\/span>
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Under budget reconciliation, cuts in one place have to be paid for elsewhere. Tax cuts to the 1% will come out of social spending.\u00a0 While technically Social Security, Medicare, etc. are protected, that protection is not absolute.\u00a0 Still other programs are totally vulnerable to cuts. It\u2019s a disaster waiting to happen.<\/span>
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