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Timeinc.net presents a very thorough article about Trump, his golf courses, his love of golf, related political issues, lawsuits, Trump remarks, taxes, Muslims, climate change, Middle East business interests, and much more
http://amp.timeinc.net/golf/tour-news/2017/08/01/president-donald-trump-relationship-golf-more-complicated-now?source=dam

-- 2015 --

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January 6: ... President Obama released his seventh budget proposal, requesting $4 trillion in fiscal year 2016. His proposal calls for $74 billion in additional discretionary spending above the sequestration caps set in place for the upcoming year. The additional spending would be about evenly split between defense and non-defense discretionary programs.

In his budget proposal for 2016, President Obama proposed $4 trillion in total spending,[1] including more than $1.15 trillion in discretionary spending, an increase of about 2 percent relative to 2015 enacted levels. President Obama proposes spending levels for 2016 that exceed sequestration’s spending caps by $74 billion. Spending increases are about equally split between defense and non-defense program. Defense programs – including the Department of Defense, nuclear weapons, and related activities would receive $38 billion over fiscal 2016’s sequestration cap on defense programs while non-defense programs would receive an additional $37 billion above the sequestration cap. [2]

The president proposes $60 billion over 10 years for a new initiative that would allow students to attend community college for up to two years tuition free and would again provide expanded Head Start and universal pre-kindergarten.

The budget also includes $478 billion in additional infrastructure spending over the next six years, which would pay for surface transportation improvements such as roads and bridges. The president proposes to pay for this through various tax reforms.
https://www.nationalpriorities.org/analysis/2015/president-obamas-2016-budget/

September 29: Donald Trump’s Tax Plan Will Not Be Revenue-Neutral Under Any Circumstances; reduces revenues to the treasury by $11.98 trillion

[With Trump's tax plan], a highly productive pass-through business (such as, for example, some of the businesses owned by Mr. Trump) would see its tax bill fall by more than half.
https://taxfoundation.org/donald-trump-s-tax-plan-will-not-be-revenue-neutral-under-any-circumstances

October 1:  ... the pro-business Tax Foundation estimates the Trump plan would reduce revenues to the Treasury by more than $10 trillion over 10 years
http://www.factcheck.org/2015/10/is-trumps-tax-plan-revenue-neutral/

-- 2016 --

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February 23: The largest individual income tax expenditure in 2015 was the provision that allows households to exclude from taxable income the value of employer-provided health insurance.

The largest corporate tax expenditures  in 2015 included “deferral of income from controlled foreign corporations” and “accelerated depreciation”

In fiscal year 2015, tax expenditures reduced federal income tax revenue by over $1.2 trillion, and they reduced payroll taxes and other revenues by an additional $128 billion.

 ... tax expenditures provide their largest subsidies to high-income people
http://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/policy-basics-federal-tax-expenditures

March 8: Donald Trump’s Tax Plan Could Tack $10 Trillion onto America’s Debt
http://fortune.com/2016/03/08/donald-trumps-tax-plan-primary/

June 23: The Great Trump Tax Mysteries: Is He Hiding Loopholes, Errors, or Something More Serious?

Why won’t Donald Trump release his taxes? An investigation into the G.O.P. candidate’s finances—the extensive deductions he could claim, the F.E.C. filings from his Scottish and Irish golf resorts, and his declarations to the British government—reveals a disturbing pattern of mistakes, hype, and contradictions.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/06/the-great-trump-tax-mysteries


September 19: Details and Analysis of Donald Trump’s Tax Plan. The plan reduces revenue by substantially less than the plan proposed by Trump last year, on both a static and dynamic basis.
https://taxfoundation.org/details-analysis-donald-trump-tax-plan-2016/

September 19: The Trump tax plan reduces the corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent.
https://taxfoundation.org/details-analysis-donald-trump-tax-plan-2016/

November 13:  ... Trump promised to "massively cut taxes for the middle class, the forgotten people, the forgotten men and women of this country, who built our country." ... During a town hall meeting on NBC's Today show, he said he believes in raising taxes on the wealthy. ... [however] "If you look at the most wealthy, the top 1 percent would get about half of the benefits of his tax cuts, and a millionaire, for example, would get an average tax cut of $317,000" ...
http://www.npr.org/2016/11/13/501739277/who-benefits-from-donald-trumps-tax-plan

November 13: One other element of the Trump plan is worth noting: It would eliminate the federal estate tax entirely. Only the wealthiest taxpayers — less than 1 percent — now pay that tax. Ending it would lead to an even greater concentration of wealth in the U.S.
http://www.npr.org/2016/11/13/501739277/who-benefits-from-donald-trumps-tax-plan

-- 2017 --

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January 6: Tax breaks: One of the biggest U.S. budget busters
http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/06/news/economy/tax-breaks-debt/index.html?iid=EL


January 18: [Trump has] fought the tax assessments of all 12 of his U.S. golf courses except the one in Bedminster, New Jersey. On that course, he raises goats to qualify for a New Jersey farmland tax break.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/18/news/donald-trump-golf-course-taxes/


Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), who serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, wrote a letter to the committee’s chairman demanding that President Trump’s tax returns be submitted to the committee and examined. Using a 1924 tax law that states that Congress can insist upon seeing these documents in order to assess any conflicts of interest, even if the person from whom the documents are demanded is the president of the United States.
http://bipartisanreport.com/2017/02/11/congressman-invokes-unknown-1924-rule-to-expose-trumps-tax-returns-immediately/


March 6: The legislation that House Republicans have unveiled to repeal and replace ObamaCare would eliminate nearly all of the 2010 health law's taxes — with one key exception.

The House bill, unveiled Monday evening, would allow ObamaCare's "Cadillac" tax on high-cost health plans to take effect in 2025. The tax, which has been opposed by both Democrats and Republicans, had been slated to take effect in 2020 under current law.
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/322625-house-gop-bill-would-repeal-obamacare-taxes

April 6: Trump administration is pushing for online retailers to pay more in state and local sales taxes

Trump Organization’s Web Store Collects Sales Tax in Only Two States
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-organizations-web-store-collects-sales-tax-in-only-two-states-1523042739

April 12: For the average taxpayer, the odds of being audited by the Internal Revenue Service are just 0.7%.

Unless you're President Trump, in which case your chance of an audit rises to 100%.

It's not just that his net worth and more than 500 partnerships make him a likely audit target under IRS policies designed to direct its enforcement efforts to the richest taxpayers. Under an obscure Internal Revenue Service rule, the tax returns of the president and vice president are automatically audited, every year, no exceptions.

That rule has been in place in one form or another since the Nixon administration, and it details the process for auditing presidential tax returns in minute detail — even down the color of folder they must be kept in.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/04/12/trumps-tax-returns-immediately-under-audit/100272688/

April 23: Special Trump tax provision gives $17 billion break to millionaires, gov't report finds

The beneficiaries are those who claim the new "pass through" deduction of up to 20 percent in the Trump/GOP tax plan.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/special-trump-tax-provision-gives-17-billion-break-millionaires-gov-n868511

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April 26: "This is going to be the biggest tax cut and the largest tax reform in the history of our country," Trump's Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said at a panel Wednesday morning.

But what's coming out later Wednesday afternoon are guidelines, not legislation, akin to what would be revealed in a campaign. Though there's no sign Congress is ready to take this up immediately, Mnuchin made it sound urgent, saying the administration wants to move "as fast as we can."
http://www.npr.org/2017/04/26/525683530/4-questions-about-trumps-tax-plan

April 27: House Democrats are planning to force a vote Thursday on a bill that would require President Trump to release information about his taxes and visitor logs, The Washington Post reported.

Democrats will reportedly attempt procedural maneuvers to force a vote on a bill by Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) that would demand disclosures on Trump’s taxes, business dealings, ethics waivers in the administration and details about whom he is meeting with at the White House and at his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Democrats are hoping to force Republicans in competitive reelections to go on the record defending Trump.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/330825-house-dems-plan-to-force-vote-on-bill-demanding-trump-taxes-visitor-logs

May 2: Independent analysts warn that Trump's tax plan would dramatically drive up the US deficit. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget recently estimated that Trump's proposal could cost $5.5 trillion in lost revenue during the first decade.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/02/investing/roubini-dr-doom-trump-biggest-risk/index.html?iid=ob_article_footer

May 7: A key part of congressional Republicans' tax reform plan, the border adjustment tax, is "not productive," retail veteran and former Varsity Brands CEO Matt Rubel told CNBC on Friday.

He believes the provision, which would slap a 20 percent tax on imports, will have a negative impact on the economy, of which consumers are the biggest part. That's because it will raise prices on imported goods
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/05/border-adjustment-tax-is-not-productive-varsity-brands-ceo-says.html


May 12: In a letter released Friday, President Trump's lawyers said a decade's worth of his tax returns show that he doesn't owe money to Russian lenders and that he has received no income from Russian sources, "with a few exceptions." ... The lawyers who wrote the letter about his finances are with the firm Morgan Lewis & Bockius, which was named "Russia Law Firm of the Year" for 2016 by Chambers & Partners, which ranks lawyers. ... the Trump administration has been caught up in an intensifying swirl of questions about potential financial ties involving Russians, Trump, and his associates. ...  Without copies of Trump's tax returns, the claims by his lawyers cannot be verified.
http://www.npr.org/2017/05/12/528134634/trumps-lawyers-deny-he-has-russian-income-or-debt-with-a-few-exceptions

June 28: No, Donald Trump Isn't Calling for an Internet Tax
https://www.wired.com/story/donald-trump-internet-tax-amazon/

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September 18: President Donald Trump's "tax relief for middle-class workers and families" includes ending a deduction used by the middle class in New Jersey and other states.

A majority of the tax break -- $51.30 of every $100 in state and local deducted -- went to households making $200,000 or less, according to Internal Revenue Service statistics for tax year 2015 assembled by the Tax Foundation, a Washington research group.
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/09/will_trumps_middle-class_tax_cut_end_a_middle-clas.html#incart_most-commented_news_article

September 27: How past income tax rate cuts on the wealthy affected the economy

Under the GOP’s recently released framework, the top income tax rate would return to George W. Bush-era levels. The GOP has historically claimed reducing the top tax rate will create economic growth, but that hasn’t always happened.
https://www.politico.com/interactives/2017/gop-tax-rate-cut-wealthy/

October 3: The Trump plan would slash large- and small-business tax rates, double the standard deduction for middle-income folks, make the whole tax code simpler by eliminating unnecessary deductions, repeal the death tax and end the alternative minimum tax.    

As usual, Democrats say the president's plan is a handout to the rich. But in a recent speech in Indianapolis, Trump asked: Why can't this be a bipartisan tax cut bill? He even quoted Democrat John F. Kennedy, who said, "The right kind of tax cut at the right time ... is the most effective measure that this government could take to spur our economy forward."
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/commentary_by_lawrence_kudlow/trump_s_incentive_packed_tax_plan

October 11: Trump to Pitch Americans a $4,000 ‘Pay Raise,’ But It Could Take 8 Years
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-11/trump-is-said-to-tout-4-000-worker-benefit-in-tax-sales-pitch 

October 11:
[Question from a Reporter]: The President repeated this claim in the Oval Office today, saying we're the highest-taxed nation in the world. Why does the President keep saying this? It's not true, overall."

Sarah Sanders: "We are the highest-taxed -- corporate tax in the developed economy. That's a fact."

[Actually, the US has the third highest corporate income tax rate in the world behind the UAE and Puerto Rico.]

 ... what Trump said ... about US taxes ... It's pretty simple: "We're the highest taxed nation in the world."

That's not true -- as fact-checkers have said repeatedly. There's no way of crunching the numbers where the US is any higher than the 17th highest-taxed country in the world.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/11/politics/sarah-sanders-trump-taxes/?iid=ob_article_footer_expansion

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October 11: ... under President Donald Trump’s tax proposal, some Americans would likely be steered away from [the subsidy for homeowners] tax break. ... Trump’s plan would double the standard deduction, which taxpayers can take if they don’t itemize deductions. The doubled standard deduction could exceed the savings many receive now from itemizing their expenses for housing, state and local taxes and related costs.

But the Trump plan would also eliminate many existing itemized deductions, including those for state and local taxes, so that some people who now itemize might end up paying more.
http://www.denverpost.com/2017/10/11/donald-trump-tax-plan-mortgage-interest-deduction/

October  12: A fight within the Republican Party over a proposal to eliminate the state and local tax deduction [SALT] threatens the future of the GOP effort to overhaul the U.S. tax code.

Battle lines have been drawn, as lawmakers from states that see substantial benefit from the deduction — such as New Jersey and New York — are already sounding alarms at the proposal to remove it.

Democrats and even some Republicans say eliminating it would be a direct attack on the middle class.
https://www.rollcall.com/news/policy/who-benefits-from-the-state-and-local-tax-deduction

October 16: The state and local tax deduction [SALT] has become a key sticking point for Republicans negotiating tax reform. How the tax break gets handled will help determine the final price tag of the tax legislation Republicans hope to pass by the end of the year.

The White House has called for eliminating the tax break, known as “SALT,” to help pay for the personal and business tax cuts President Donald Trump promised. But some House Republicans are pushing to keep a version of the deduction in place.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/making-sense/major-sticking-point-republican-tax-plan-explained

October 18: 52 percent of Americans oppose Trump’s tax plan
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/oct/18/52-percent-of-americans-oppose-donald-trumps-tax-p/

October 18: 401(k) investors could see the rules change for their retirement savings accounts when a Republican-led House committee rolls out its proposed tax overhaul plan.

The biggest potential change is slashing the maximum limit on pre-tax 401(k) contributions to $2,400 a year, down from the $18,000 IRS limit for Americans under 50 and $24,000 for Americans 50 or older in 2017. That would mean savers would be able to stash away fewer dollars in their accounts before income tax is calculated.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2017/10/31/how-401-k-s-could-change-under-republicans-tax-plan/817497001/

October 18: A broad framework released by Republicans would consolidate the number of tax rates from seven today to just three: 12%, 25% and 35%. The plan would also increase the standard deduction, increase the child tax credit and repeal the alternative minimum tax. The proposal would also drop the corporate tax rate to just 20%, which could increase the deficit by $1.5 trillion over 10 years, according to Senate Republicans.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/18/politics/poll-trump-tax-reform/index.html

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October 26: Trump's tax reform plan: Who are the winners and losers? ... One issue is whether to curb tax-free deposits in 401(k) retirements accounts, something that Trump has said he opposed. Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, wants to curtail them.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/10/26/trumps-tax-reform-plan-who-are-winners-and-losers.html

October 26: House Republicans set the stage Thursday for an intense sprint toward a landmark tax overhaul, overcoming internal dissension and Democratic opposition to move forward with legislation that could cut revenue by up to $1.5 trillion over the coming decade.

Budget legislation passed Thursday will allow the GOP to pass its tax plan without Democratic help, but the close 216-to-212 House vote reflected ongoing tensions about the tax push among Republicans — and many expect the qualms to grow once draft legislation is released next week.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/house-narrowly-passes-budget-paving-way-for-15-trillion-tax-cut/2017/10/26/49867544-ba50-11e7-be94-fabb0f1e9ffb_story.html?utm_term=.6bac88dd2adc

October 26: The budget resolution changes the rules for passing certain legislation, especially in the Senate, and this resolution in particular will allow Republicans to pass $1.5 trillion in tax cuts (or more, depending on how they choose to do the math) over 10 years with only 51 votes.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/26/16526458/2018-senate-budget-explained

October 29: The president has often bragged about paying as little tax as possible while at the same time boasting of his great wealth. That's raised concerns that the tax code may allow some of the very richest Americans to pay very little.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/14/news/economy/trump-tax-returns/index.html

November 3: Take Claims About State and Local Tax Deductions With a Grain of Salt ...

Conservatives call the [SALT] deduction a boon for high-tax liberal-leaning states at the expense of low-tax conservative-leaning states, while Democrats said its elimination will hurt middle-class families. Here’s an assessment.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/03/us/politics/fact-check-state-local-taxes-republican.html

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November 9: President Donald Trump told a group of Democratic senators Tuesday that he'd be a "big loser" if the Republicans' plan to overhaul the tax system is signed into law, multiple people with direct knowledge of the call told CNN.

Trump, who said he made his assumption based on a conversation with his accountant, also said the GOP's plan to repeal the estate tax was a toss-in because the plan is "just so bad for rich people."
https://firenewsfeed.com/politics/711319

November 10: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Friday acknowledged he "misspoke" when he said no middle-class Americans would see a tax hike under the Senate tax plan.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mcconnell-says-apos-misspoke-apos-230446406.html

November 15: The presidential daughter and adviser, in a “full-blown sprint” as she sells the Republican tax overhaul plan and juggles other initiatives, has had it with all that talk about her “pet project” to increase the child tax credit.

“I get a little bit frustrated when people call it a pet project,” Trump told The Associated Press as she spent a day shuttling between events in multiple states. “This is a major project, this is not a pet project. This is a major initiative to ensure that there is meaningful middle-income tax relief for the American taxpayer.”
https://www.apnews.com/b9a66f37fe074f30ad896bfa9be68ece

November 15: President Trump and congressional Republicans have repeatedly insisted that the top priority of their tax reform is delivering relief to the middle class. But under a significant change to the Senate’s plan announced late Tuesday night, that relief for most people will now only be temporary, and millions of middle-class families could actually see a tax increase in 2026 if Congress doesn’t act again.

[The Republicans] ... essentially had two choices: They could slap an expiration date on the proposal’s large corporate tax cut—from 35 percent down to 20 percent—or they could sunset the provisions benefitting individuals ... at the end of 2025.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/11/republicans-slap-an-expiration-date-on-middle-class-tax-cuts/545996/

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November 16: ... the House of Representatives passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act by a vote of 227-205. This is a big step forward towards passing comprehensive tax reform. The bill now goes to the Senate for more consideration, where the Senate Finance Committee is expected to support its passage later this week.

Introduced on November 2, 2017, and later modified, the bill makes a number of noteworthy changes to the individual and corporate tax codes. The plan, according to the Tax Foundation Taxes and Growth Model, is a pro-growth tax plan that would increase GDP, raise wages, and create more jobs.
https://taxfoundation.org/house-takes-big-step-forward-tax-reform/

November 16: Attention now turns to the Senate, which was grappling on Thursday with another setback after a congressional analysis found that their revised tax bill would actually raise taxes on lower-income Americans within a few years.

The Joint Committee on Taxation projected that Americans earning $30,000 or less would see their taxes increase beginning in 2021, if the Senate bill becomes law. The committee also projected that Americans earning $75,000 or less would face large tax increases in 2027, after the individual tax cuts expire.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/16/us/politics/house-tax-overhaul-bill.html

November 16: On November 14, 2017, the Senate added a repeal of the Obamacare tax on those who don't get health insurance. The CBO estimates 13 million people would drop health insurance. The federal government would save $338 billion by not having to pay their health insurance subsidies. But health care costs will rise because fewer people will get preventive care. Trump asked Congress to use that savings to lower the top income tax rate to 35 percent.

On November 15, 2017, the Senate added a measure to allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It would add $1.1 billion in revenues over 10 years. But drilling isn't cost effective until oil prices reach $70 a barrel.
https://www.thebalance.com/trump-s-tax-plan-how-it-affects-you-4113968

November 16: Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) admonished Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) for accusing Republicans of writing the tax bill "for the rich" at a late night hearing on amendments and markups.

"With all due respect, I get sick and tired of the rich getting richer," Brown said in a diatribe against Republicans.

"I come from the poor people, and I have been here working my whole stinkin' career for people who don't have a chance, and I really resent anybody that says I'm doing it for the rich. Give me a break. I think you guys overplay all the time, and it gets old. And frankly, you ought to quit it," [Senator Orin] Hatch told Brown.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/11/16/hatch_blows_up_on_dem_sen_brown_tired_of_that_crap_that_republicans_only_help_the_rich.html

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November 17: The latest version of the Senate GOP tax plan includes a major excise tax reduction for producers of beer, wine, and liquor.

The amendment is a "modest, two-year version" of the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act.

"It's terrific recognition that distilled spirits have been overtaxed for a long time and this would the first distilled spirits tax reduction since the Civil War," said Mark Gorman, senior vice president for the Distilled Spirits Council.
https://www.countable.us/articles/1497-senate-gop-tax-bill-lower-alcohol-tax

November 27: The Senate GOP's tax plan would increase the deficit by $1.4 trillion over the next 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office estimates.
 

The CBO also estimates that with the removal of Obamacare's individual mandate that is included in the bill, which taxes individuals who opt out of purchasing insurance, "nongroup insurance markets would continue to be stable in almost all areas of the country" over the next 10 years.

However, "average premiums in the nongroup market would increase by about 10% in most years of the decade ... relative to the CBO's baseline projected. In other words, premiums in both 2019 and 2027 would be about 10% higher than is projected in the baseline."

In addition, the report estimates "(t)he number of people with health insurance would decrease by 4 million in 2019 and 13 million in 2027."
http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/27/politics/cbo-score-senate-tax/index.html

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November 27: Trump signals openness to changes in GOP tax plan

Trump is suggesting openness to making unspecified changes to the way millions of "pass-through" businesses are taxed, a sticking point for some lawmakers.

Trump was set to meet Monday afternoon with five members of the Senate Finance Committee who are on board with the GOP plan. He will travel to Capitol Hill Tuesday to personally lobby Republican senators.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/11/27/trump-signals-openness-to-changes-in-gop-tax-plan.html

November 27: Tax reform hangs in balance in critical week for GOP

GOP leadership has a narrow window to push through its tax bill in the Senate.
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/27/republican-tax-plan-congress-260058

December 2:  Republicans crossed another major hurdle in their effort to get a tax bill to President Trump's desk by Christmas. ...

Just one Republican, Tennessee Senator Bob Corker, voted against it on deficit concerns. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the bill would cost $1.47 trillion over a decade. Many Republicans continue to say the bill will pay for itself through greater economic growth, despite all analyses to the contrary.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/02/pf/taxes/senate-tax-bill-passed/index.html

December 2: ... the GOP has not crossed the finish line just yet. Both the Senate and the House have passed tax reform bills that have a lot in common — including dramatic cuts in corporate tax rates, the elimination of a number of personal tax deductions, and a big change in the estate tax — but these bills also have a number of crucial differences that must be resolved before a final version can be sent to President Donald Trump's desk for signing.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/business/tax-bill-differences-reconciliation/?utm_term=.4250d3eea7ad

December 2: The Senate passed a sweeping and contentious overhaul of the tax code early Saturday morning, moving one step closer to sending the bill to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.

The bill passed 51-49 along party lines ...

Trump hailed the bill’s passage on Twitter, thanking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. “Look forward to signing a final bill before Christmas!” the president wrote.

Democrats derided the reforms as a GOP gift to the party's wealthy and corporate backers at the expense of lower-earning people.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/senate-passes-republican-backed-tax-bill-along-party-lines-n825591

December 5: A new national Quinnipiac Poll found about two-thirds of voters (64 percent) believe the Republican tax legislation pending in Congress will benefit wealthy Americans the most.

In a different question, 61 percent of voters said the plan favored the rich at the expense of the middle class. Overall, voters disapproved of the tax plan 53-29 percent.
http://www.courant.com/politics/capitol-watch/hc-pol-quinnipiac-poll-tax-reform-wealthy-20171205-story.html

December 5: President Donald Trump’s approval rating dropped three points from a late November survey to 35 percent. Voters said by a margin of 56-40 percent that Trump is not fit to be president, tying his all-time low score on that question.

“Deeply unpopular and manifestly unfit for the job. That’s the harsh assessment of President Donald Trump, whose tax plan is considered built for the rich at the expense of the rest,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
http://www.courant.com/politics/capitol-watch/hc-pol-quinnipiac-poll-tax-reform-wealthy-20171205-story.html

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December 8: [Trump] "We’re on the verge of passing that wonderful, beautiful tax cut. It’s the biggest in the history of our country."

False. The GOP tax reform plans in the House and Senate do not stack up as the largest cut ever.

The Treasury Department has published a list of the biggest tax bills between 1940 and 2012, measured not only by contemporary dollars but also by inflation-adjusted dollars and as a percentage of gross domestic product — two metrics that experts say give a sense of scale.

In dollars, at least one tax bill on the Treasury list, such as the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, is larger, and there are possibly other larger ones as well. As a percentage of GDP, there were multiple revenue acts that exceed the current tax proposals' estimates.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2017/dec/08/fact-checking-trumps-make-america-great-again-spee/

December 11: Trump directed the Internal Revenue Service to allow people to slide by if they don't get insurance. On October 20, the IRS issued a statement that it will uphold tax laws, despite the president’s order.
https://www.thebalance.com/how-could-trump-change-health-care-in-america-4111422

December 18: Trump, Real Estate Investors Get Last-Minute Perk in Tax Bill

The change, which would allow real estate businesses to take advantage of a new tax break for "pass-through” businesses, combined elements of House and Senate legislation.
http://www.nreionline.com/finance-investment/trump-real-estate-investors-get-last-minute-perk-tax-bill

December 18: What's in the final version of the tax bill?
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2017/dec/18/whats-final-version-tax-bill/

December 18: Six Ways to Make the New Tax Bill Work for You
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-18/six-ways-to-make-the-new-tax-bill-work-for-you

December 19: The tax reform bill easily passed the House of Representatives Tuesday, with 227 members of Congress voting for it and 203 voting against. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill late Tuesday before sending it to President Donald Trump’s desk.
http://time.com/5072519/house-republicans-voted-against-tax-bill/

December 19: Congressional Republicans are cheering a major win as tax reform makes its way through Congress to President Donald Trump's desk but they could be barreling toward a government shutdown at the end of the week because of a major fight between House and Senate GOP lawmakers over Obamacare payments.

Unless they pass a stopgap funding bill before a midnight Friday deadline, federal agencies' coffers run dry.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/19/politics/government-shutdown-republicans-congress/index.html

December 19: Republicans will regret this tax bill sooner rather than later.
https://newrepublic.com/minutes/146363/republicans-will-regret-tax-bill-sooner-rather-later

December 19: Senate passes tax reform bill; House must revote ... the version of the bill passed by the Senate differs slightly from the House bill, so the House will have to revote to pass the bill as amended.
https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2017/dec/house-of-representatives-votes-on-tax-reform-bill-201718084.html

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December 20: The House on Wednesday approved a massive Republican plan to overhaul the tax code, clearing the bill’s final hurdle in Congress and sending it to President Trump to be signed into law.

The measure passed the House 224 to 201 as overwhelming Republican support carried the bill past unanimous Democratic opposition and ‘no’ votes from 12 GOP members. The House vote comes after the Senate approved an identical measure early Wednesday morning, with all Democrats opposed and all Republicans present in support.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/gop-tax-bill-passes-congress-as-trump-prepares-to-sign-it-into-law/2017/12/20/0ba2fd98-e597-11e7-9ec2-518810e7d44d_story.html?utm_term=.05cc4dca2e03

December 21: Congress passed a stopgap spending bill Thursday, averting a partial government shutdown at midnight Friday but pushing into January showdowns on spending, immigration, health care and national security.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/after-passing-tax-overhaul-gop-returns-to-infighting-as-shutdown-deadline-looms/2017/12/21/dfad1890-e659-11e7-ab50-621fe0588340_story.html?utm_term=.486e2abcb54c

-- 2018 --

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January 26: Ivanka Trump was in Greenville Friday to talk about the tax bill that was recently passed by Republican-led Congress and how it affects the child tax credit.

She spoke alongside U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., at the Frances Scott Women in Leadership event at the Westin Poinsett Hotel in downtown Greenville.
http://www.wyff4.com/article/ivanka-trump-to-visit-greenville-with-sen-tim-scott/15876332

January 30: Trump thinks everything he does is huge. Tax reform is no different.

"Just as I promised the American people from this podium 11 months ago, we enacted the biggest tax cuts and reform in American history," he said. "Our massive tax cuts provide tremendous relief for the middle class and small businesses."

Tax analysts and Treasury data, however, contradict the assertion that the tax cuts included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are the biggest in US history.

As a share of the economy, four other tax cuts have been bigger than Trump's since the 1960s: Those of President John F. Kennedy's passed in 1964, President Ronald Reagan's 1981 tax cuts, and the 2010 and 2013 tax cuts under President Barack Obama, which included making permanent earlier tax cuts signed by President George W. Bush.

Verdict: False.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/30/politics/state-of-the-union-address-fact-check/index.html

February 2: President Trump backs online sales tax: What it means for you http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2018/02/02/president-trump-backs-online-sales-tax-what-it-means-for.html

February 9: Trump’s tax code could hurt donations to lucrative college sports programs

Donors can no longer deduct gifts made to get access to prime seats for games
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trumps-tax-code-could-hurt-donations-to-these-lucrative-college-sports-progams-2018-02-06

February 13: Welfare for the Wealthy ... Republican administrations always cut taxes on the rich to cut benefits for the poor.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/02/trumps-budget-is-welfare-for-the-wealthy.html

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February 14: Trump suggests 25 cent increase in gas tax, senator says
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/14/politics/trump-gas-tax/index.html

April 17: Supreme Court debates whether to allow states to tax all online sales
http://money.cnn.com/2018/04/17/technology/business/supreme-court-online-sales-tax/index.html

March 5: Trump administration asks Supreme Court to allow Internet sales tax collection
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trump-administration-asks-supreme-court-to-allow-internet-sales-tax-collection

March 17: You were told the Republican tax bill would cut your taxes. ... But in the end, you may not have any more money in your pocket.

That's because higher health care premiums will cancel out the tax cut for those buying insurance on the Affordable Care Act exchanges without government subsidies ...

The rate hikes will occur because the measure signed by President Donald Trump repeals the requirement that all Americans carry health insurance or pay a penalty.

"For middle-class people buying their own insurance, it could very well be that the premium increases will wipe out any savings they're getting from the tax cuts," said Larry Levitt, senior vice president with the Kaiser Family Foundation, which studies health care.

Besides ending the individual mandate, the Trump administration cut last year's enrollment period in half, reduced efforts to help people sign up for insurance, ended payments to insurance companies to cover deductibles and co-payments for low-income policyholders, and took other steps to weaken the law.

"The administration's sabotage, coupled with the Republican tax scam that repealed the individual mandate, will result in massive health care cost increases."
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/03/trump_tax_plan_will_take_from_nj_as_much_as_it_giv.html

April 10: ... the CBO revised its economic forecast sharply upward this year and next.

Last June, the CBO said GDP growth for 2018 would be just 2%. Now it figures growth will be 3.3% — a significant upward revision. It also boosted its forecast for 2019 from a meager 1.5% to a respectable 2.4%.

The CBO report also makes clear that this faster-growing economy will offset most of the costs of the Trump tax cuts.
https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/trump-tax-cuts-revenues-deficits-paying-for-themselves/

April 16: AS MANY Americans scramble to file their tax returns by Tuesday’s deadline, one is brazenly defying expectations regarding his tax information, making 2018 the third year in a row he will have gotten away with it. When he was a candidate, Donald Trump repeatedly promised to let the public see his tax forms. He has yet to do so.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-breaks-his-tax-returns-promise--for-the-third-year-in-a-row/2018/04/16/581552a8-3f3c-11e8-a7d1-e4efec6389f0_story.html?utm_term=.db7aa1c34ae4

May 2: Tax cut turning out to be a 'nothing burger'

Republicans promised last year that lowering the corporate tax rate would encourage companies to invest more in new factories and equipment, which would create jobs and boost the economy.

But so far, many companies have used the money to reward shareholders.
http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/02/news/economy/paul-krugman-tax-cut-apple-buybacks/index.html

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May 4: When the new federal income tax cuts went into effect at the beginning of the year, the White House said 90% of workers should see more in their take-home pay.

Of the 550 readers who responded to a questionnaire, nearly 60% said they either aren't seeing any extra take-home pay, or if they are, it's too small to improve their financial well-being.
http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/04/pf/taxes/tax-cuts-paychecks/index.html

May 7: Republicans in key election races turn down volume on Trump's tax cuts ... Most of the 13 Republican incumbents in the most competitive reelection bids, and their aides, declined to answer Reuters’ questions on why they were communicating less online about the tax cuts. But a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted from March 14 to 29 found that just 3 percent of American adults were aware of receiving a material benefit from the Republican legislation.

They [Democrats]  received some unexpected help from Republican Senator Marco Rubio last week. Rubio, who is not facing re-election this cycle, told the Economist magazine that benefits are going to corporations instead of employees.

“They bought back shares, a few gave out bonuses; there’s no evidence whatsoever that the money’s been massively poured back into the American worker,” he said.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-taxcuts-insight/republicans-in-key-election-races-turn-down-volume-on-trumps-tax-cuts-idUSKBN1I80XB

May 9: Trump says Pelosi’s high-tax plan will help GOP win midterms
https://nypost.com/2018/05/09/trump-says-pelosis-high-tax-plan-will-help-gop-win-midterms/

May 17:
Here's How America's Biggest Companies Are Spending Their Trump Tax Cuts (It's Not on New Jobs)

...
many companies are returning huge portions of their billions in tax savings to shareholders in the form of share buybacks and dividend increases — not necessarily new hiring and investment.

Companies are on track to plow a record $1 trillion into boosting dividends and buying back their own stock this year, says Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst S&P Dow Jones Indices.
http://time.com/money/5267940/companies-spending-trump-tax-cuts-stock-buybacks/

June 21: Supreme Court rules states can require online retailers to collect sales tax

The justices broke with 50 years' worth of legal rulings that barred the states from imposing sales taxes on most of the purchases their residents make from out-of-state retailers.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-rules-states-can-require-online-retailers-collect-sales-n873416

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September 7: In the battle for control of Congress, President Donald Trump's weapon of choice is fear.

At a rally for Republican Senate nominee Matt Rosendale in Billings, Montana, on Thursday night, the president warned his faithful that Democrats would raise their taxes, take their guns, block his wall, abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, open U.S. borders, end Social Security and cut Medicare.

He's also warned supporters this summer that the outcome in November could spell trouble for freedom of speech and religion and the First Amendment — and that if the GOP loses, violence could follow.

The overwhelming majority of the claims are patently false, but with two months to go — and analysts in both parties convinced that there’s a nonremote chance Republicans could lose at least the House — Trump is in desperation mode.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/fear-loathing-trump-campaign-trail-n907521

October 11: Mnuchin: Democrats, not Trump's tax bill, to blame for deficits
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/11/politics/mnuchin-budget-deficit/

October 22: Trump's mystery tax cut puzzles Washington

The president has spoken twice about a tax plan no one else seems to know anything about. 'I guess I’ll hear about it when I get to work on Monday,' one official said.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/22/trump-new-tax-cut-midterms-925383

October 26: Trump Tax Cuts Will Wait Until 2019, Brady Says in Plot Twist

Still no timeline for White House to release outline of the president’s 10 percent plan
https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/trump-tax-cuts-will-wait-2019-gop-still-charge-says-brady

December 27: Trump’s Tax Cut One Year Later: What Happened?

Many corporations made good on promises to raise wages and pay bonuses. But others announced layoffs, even as the $1.5 trillion tax cut added billions to their bottom lines.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/27/us/politics/trump-tax-cuts-jobs-act.html

-- 2019 --

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January 23: Taxing the wealthy, increasing domestic spending favored by voters: Fox News Poll
https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/taxing-the-wealthy-increasing-domestic-spending-favored-by-voters-fox-news-poll

February 15: White House: Wall funds would be ‘back-filled’ in 2020 budget request

Trump will take money from Pentagon and Treasury that would bring total wall funding to $8 billion

That means U.S. taxpayers would pay for every penny of the wall in fiscal 2019 — even though Trump long promised that Mexico would pay for it.
https://www.rollcall.com/news/congress/trumps-executive-order-will-tap-8-billion-in-pentagon-treasury-funds-for-wall-source-says

February 15: IRS refund frenzy: Democrats blast Trump Treasury for 'goosing' paychecks

While some Americans are frustrated with the size of their refunds this tax season, a number of Democratic lawmakers are using the opportunity to criticize the Trump administration’s tax law.

A group of about 40 Democratic senators sent a letter to the administration on Friday, calling for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to waive penalties on taxpayers that had their payments underwithheld this year as a result of the tax reform law and the adjusted withholding tables.

“It looks like the Trump Treasury Department spent 2018, an election year, goosing people’s paychecks by under-withholding, and it should have been obvious that the bill would come due eventually,” Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in a statement.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., blasted the administration for the resulting refund amounts.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/irs-refund-frenzy-democrats-blast-203505443.html

March 5: House Dem dismisses paying for infrastructure by rolling back Trump tax law

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) signaled on Tuesday that he thinks there are better ways to pay for an infrastructure package than a rollback of the GOP tax law.

Blumenauer told reporters that it would be "complex" to link infrastructure with major changes to the tax code.

"I think of all the ways that we could have to fund the rebuilding and renewing of America, I think that is fraught with peril," said Blumenauer, a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over taxes.
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/432677-dem-linking-infrastructure-and-tax-law-rollback-would-be-challenging

-- 2020 --

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