Most GOP Senators Benefit Hugely from Their Tax Cut Swindle
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)
Senator Orrin Hatch took credit for inserting an 11th hour provision into the GOP tax cut bill, benefitting investors in limited liability real estate holdings (LLCs).
He, Trump, Jared Kushner, Speaker Ryan, other GOP House members and most Republican senators stand to reap a huge windfall from the provision.
According to former congressional Joint Committee on Taxation chief of staff Edward Kleinbard, the provision “rewards owners of capital intensive businesses, like wealthy real estate investors.”
Hatch’s financial disclosures show his wife owns a real estate LLC worth around $500,000. She’ll benefit greatly from the new provision.
Real estate firms donated generously to Hatch’s 2012 reelection campaign. His provision amounts to payback, benefitting his wife as well as his corporate contributors.
It’s an unacceptable giveaway, one of many provisions in the bill benefitting corporate predators and high-net-worth households at the expense of social justice paying the price - ordinary Americans harmed greatly.
Bob Corker voted against the Senate bill, then indicated support for the reconciled version with the House.
According to tax experts, the Hatch provision could net him over a million dollars - exempt from taxation.
The International Business Times named 14 senators benefitting from the Hatch provision - including Hatch, Corker, Steve Daines, Lamar Alexander, Rob Portman, James Risch, Jim Inhofe, John Kennedy, Johnny Isakson, John Barrasso, Luther Strange, Rand Paul and John Hoeven.
Their combined value of their holdings is estimated between $34.3 - $105.8 million - their combined annual income between $2.4 - $14.1 million.
Corker has the most to gain by far, his LLC investments way exceeding other senators, clearly why he changed his “no” vote (over concerns about hugely increasing the national deficit and debt) to “yes” for personal enrichment.
Owning or directing hundreds of LLCs or limited partnerships, Trump stands to be the GOP’s main beneficiary.
Last September, he lied saying “(m)y plan is for the working people, and my plan is for jobs.”
Asked if he’d benefit personally, he lied again saying “(n)o, I don’t benefit. I don’t benefit. In fact, very very strongly, as you see, I think there’s very little benefit for people of wealth.”
Separately, he claimed the plan is “great (for) American workers,” adding “I’m doing the right thing, and it’s not good for me, believe me.”
It’s a bonanza for him, his family, wealthy House and Senate members, other high-net-worth households, and corporate predators most of all.
Clever lawyers and accountants will be able to eliminate most of their tax burden - Trump benefitting the same way, at the expense of ordinary Americans paying the price.
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