Political Quotes

“On the Republican tax bill, we are only a few days away from a final vote, but from all reports, the Republicans are still debating significant changes to the text of the bill. Some are angling for a change to the passthrough provisions, feeling that a gargantuan new tax loophole for many high-income individuals needs to be widened even further. Right now, it is reported that 70 percent of these passthroughs go to the top 1 percent. The changes that are being proposed would make it even worse. Help small business, yes. Don't open a giant loophole for wealthy hedge funds, big-shot law firms, and lobbyists. We don't need that. Others are rightly worried about the impact this bill would have on the deficit and debt. What I would remind my Republican colleagues is that, with any more changes, it is virtually certain you will be voting on a bill without any expert analysis of its impacts; you will be voting without any estimate of whether it will grow or shrink the economy; you will be voting without a good sense of the long-term impacts of the changes you are making to the Tax Code. Certainly, 1 week of markup in the Finance Committee, with only one expert witness, is not a satisfactory process, particularly considering the changing nature of this bill. Changing the Tax Code in broad brush is a difficult thing. There are so many unintended consequences.…”