The GOP tax hike is here, and it is a gift to Democrats. Christmas morning. The ultimate straight line. A win-win for our side.
Which of course we are not opening and not taking.
Look, cookie, here is all you have to say:
“The GOP tax plan raises the base tax rate from 10 to 12 percent. That is a 20% tax increase.”
As a bonus you can say this too:
“The GOP wants to tax you twice—a tax on state and local taxes!”
although I expect them to drop that pretty quick. But, carpe deim.
All that other stuff you want to say? About how it really doesn’t matter how many tax brackets there are, or how it blows a hole in the deficit, or how it won’t provide any real stimulus?
Say those things to yourself in the mirror as many mornings as you need to. Then go face the world and say
“The GOP tax plan raises the base tax rate from 10 to 12 percent. That is a 20% tax increase.”
It’s how to win. It’s your job.
Still confused? Here’s the FAQ:
Q: Can’t I say anything else?
A: Can you stay on message? Because sure, you can call the 10% rate “the tax that everybody pays” as opposed to those higher brackets for rich folks that are getting cut. You can call it social engineering to transfer wealth to the 1%. You can call it double taxation, too. Just leave it at that and don’t start going on about the impact on social programs in 5 years.
But if message discipline (look it up) is too hard, just say this:
“The GOP tax plan raises the base tax rate from 10 to 12 percent. That is a 20% tax increase.”
Easy peasy.
Q: But what if the GOP plan actually does cut taxes, a little bit, for some people?
A: Dear Democrat. This is not the time for a tax-policy Chautauqua. The GOP cannot manage their own lunatics, so they must be beaten soundly. Think of it as tough love.
Or not, But in any case, beating them is your job. So do not say those stupid things you want to say. Say this:
“The GOP tax plan raises the base tax rate from 10 to 12 percent. That is a 20% tax increase.”
Q: Then what do I do?
A: Are you kidding me? You say it again. You say it whenever someone is listening. You never stop saying it.
Q: You mean, just repeat the same message again and again? Don’t people listen the first time?
A: No.
Q: But it will be undignified to say the same thing over and over. It could be months until the tax plan is decided!
A: Dignity, eh?
Read my lips. Here is when to drop the subject: Never. Never.
You must beat them with it if it passes, and you must beat them with it if it fails. They must own this thing. It is theirs forever, if you make it so. If. YOU. make it so.
Make it so. It is political malpractice that you have not said this already.
Look, aren’t you tired of how the party of deficit spending is still perceived as the party of fiscal responsibility? You can change that, and the change will be good for the country. But it’s not going to happen without some work.
Make them pull out the impenetrable charts and the wonkish explanations about marginal rates and deductions. They are doing it already, for goodness sakes.
Make them wallow in nuance. Make them stammer through the earnest step by step of how a family with 2 kids will get bla if bla bla bla, except for line 57b of Form 1040, or if more than 50 years old, or both, except for inherited assets that are depreciated under Schedule 445 before fiscal 2009. Let them be the deer staring into those headlights.
I guarantee they lost the capacity to deal with this sort of thing long ago.
Just say it, okay?
“The GOP tax plan raises the base tax rate from 10 to 12 percent. That is a 20% tax increase.”
Say it and take back the Congress. Please. There’s too much at stake to hold back.
As a retiree, I pay the 10% base tax rate. Under the GOP tax plan increase to 12%, my taxes would go UP 20%.
See how easy that was ?
There’s simple, and then there’s simplistic. I’m sure you know this, but the proposal is more complicated than just raising the marginal rate of someone in the 10% bracket to 12%. The proposal also doubles the standard deduction; on the other hand, it eliminates the personal exemption. It also includes an increase in the child tax credit. So there will be some taxpayers at today’s bottom marginal rate who will pay more, some who will pay less, and some whose taxes won’t change appreciably.
Here is an example of a married couple with no children who do not itemize deductions, who would pay less:
Under today’s law:
Gross income. $30,000
(Less standard deduction of $12,700)
(Less personal exemptions of $8,100)
Taxable income = $9,200
Tax @ 10% = $920
With the changes proposed:
Gross income: $30,000
(Less standard deduction of $25,400)
Taxable income = $4,600
Tax @ 12% = $552
I’ve ignored the EITC and other credits that might apply depending on the taxpayers’ situation. But my point is that pretty standard examples could result in tax savings.
There’s a lot wrong with the tax proposal, but it’s just not right to say it is a 20% tax increase on all taxpayers in the 10% bracket.
You missed the point.
It’s not right to say that eliminating the Estate Tax will save family farms and small businesses from liquidation, but Republicans say it day in and day out and the voters take it as true,
It’s not right to say that American corporations pay the highest rates in the world, but Republicans say it day in and day out and the voters take it as true,
Doing it the “right way” and explaining the finer details of the legislation will fall on deaf ears when it comes to running a election involving Republican and a Democrat.
We are living with the results of that.
Democrats are in a bar fight. The Queensberry rules no longer apply.
“Republicans win elections by lying about policy. We want to win elections. Therefore we should lie about policy.”
Chicopee resident Mavis L. Wanczyk netted $330,350,655 after taxes from her winning powerball jackpot.
Therefore we should each go play Powerball.
Republicans win elections by staying on message.
We should also stay on message.
If we did, we would win. Our message is better.
Republicans also lie, pander to racists, defer to wealth, and hate women. We should not do any of those things.
But we should stay on message.
Amen to “stay on message”.
Unlike Republicans, it is important to me as a Democrat for that message to be true and factual.
I’ve upvoted the diary because I agree with you about the message. I promise you that tedf (and others) are FAR more gentle than the media and GOP will be if we attempt to insist that “That is a 20% tax increase.”
I strongly suggest that our message is stronger if we say:
“The GOP tax plan raises the base tax rate from 10 to 12 percent.”
No more, no less.
Our message is a truth, with all the complications truth brings with it, which no one really wants to believe in the first place.
Their message is a lie, entirely stripped of complexity and nuance, that many are eager to believe without consideration.
“Eat your vegetables” is always going to lose out to “you can have all the candy you want.”
I am sure that Ted F is a stout fellow, but his lengthy stepwise explanation upthread is exactly what we should seek to provoke in Republican advocates of this tax hike. It does us no good at all however if we make the argument in their stead.
We could all talk tax policy, and Ted’s observations would be relevant. But they are not good communications at all.
I am sure he has his finger more on the pulse of our party leaders than I. But I think that is a shame. There is so much more at stake today than the satisfaction of a nuanced (and losing) argument,
Changing a tax rate from 10% to 12% is an increase, whatever else you may do to offset it. The size of that increase is 20%. Let the other side argue about that. It is just going to get them in trouble.
Which, of course, no one is saying. But that 10% rate—the one that everybody pays, who pays any taxes—is going up by 20%. How come? If you are really cutting taxes for working folks, you know, you don’t have to do that..
Yes, that’s exactly what the post says. Here was the objectionable quote from the post:
The first sentence is true. The second sentence is false, or at least false some of the time. The second sentence could be corrected to read: “That is a 20% tax rate increase.”
Although Ted and I clearly disagree about math, logic, and English grammar, I still like to think we’d agree about most public policy questions, including who we hope will control congress in 2 years.
This was beautiful. It’s a tactic I wish Hillary had taken during the campaign to describe the real everyday price and tax increases all of Trumps flat taxes and tariffs would have imposed on Americans.
I’ve almost never seen a Dem attack ad nailing Republicans for raising taxes, and this one absolutely does.