Tax Cut Mania!

We’re trying to get to the bottom of whether this is good for you and whether it has the possibility to pass. 

The number of tax brackets are going to go from 7 different ones to 3. However, President Trump has not defined what the cutoffs are going to be. There will also be more tax credit, so if you have children or are taking care of an elderly relative that will rise. So while the poor people will be taxed a little bit higher they will get more exemptions. On the other hand, somebody like me won’t get any kind of break. I’ll probably pay more because they want to knock out the state and local tax exemptions. So when you hear the Democratic Party say this is ‘wealthfare’ it’s a bunch of bull. There won’t be big tax cuts for individuals with assets.

The question is, will this pass? It’ll pass the House because there is such a big Republican majority in the House so that’s a given. The Senate might be harder to get this passed, because as we saw with health care 3 Republican Senators said ‘no’, so if that many or more say no, there is a good chance this tax cut won’t happen. The odds are that the Republican Party will prevail, but it will be very tight.

Under President Trump's tax plan:

• The first $12,000 in income would be tax free for individuals and $24,000 for married couples.
• The number of personal tax brackets would be reduced from seven to three — with rates of 12 percent, 25 percent, and 35 percent. The plan also may raise taxes on the very wealthy.
• A new $500 tax credit would be added to pay for care of seniors or sick people who are claimed as dependents by taxpayers.
• Existing tax benefits for college and retirement savings, such as 401(k) contribution plans, would be retained.
• The child tax credit of $1,000 per child would be expanded to families with higher incomes — and the "marriage penalty" tax would be done away with.
• The estate tax, generally paid for by those with multimillion-inheritances, would be eliminated.
• The alternative minimum tax — a supplemental tax for certain individuals, corporations and estates that enjoy various exemptions — also would end.
• Business tax rates would be cut to no higher than 20 percent, from 35 and 39 percent currently, and the rate for small businesses and farms filing as sole proprietors or partnerships would pay a rate capped at 25 percent. 

Reactions to Trump’s tax plan:

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calling it “wealthfare” for the rich.

• “Each of these proposals would result in a massive windfall for the wealthiest Americans and provide almost no relief to middle-class taxpayers who need it most,” Schumer said in a Senate floor speech. “It seems that President Trump and Republicans have designed their plan to be cheered in the country clubs and the corporate boardrooms.”

House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi said:

• “It is a framework that gives away the store to the wealthiest while sticking the middle class with the bill.” The Democratic leader added that the proposal represents a “billionaires-first tax plan that treats the middle class as an afterthought.”

Bernie Sanders Tweeted: At a time of massive wealth and income inequality, Trump's tax plan is morally repugnant and bad economic policy. 

Maya MacGuineas reacts to President Trump’s Tax Plan

Maya MacGuineas is the President of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a bipartisan advocacy organization for fiscal responsibility. 

There is still the issue that there are so many questions that need to be answered so it’s very difficult to go through and say the tax cuts will help one group, but not the other. 

This all started out as one big effort to create tax reform. The purpose of which is to help grow the economy at a time when our growth is much lower than we want it to be, also it would help make us more competitive and hopefully simplify and improve the tax code. 

Now, we’re seeing this change into tax cuts and less about reform. Tax cuts have the appeal, it can put more money in people’s pockets immediately, but they also come with a massive amount of debt. 

Tax cuts do not pay for themselves, but they do grow the economy. So if we do smart tax reform, which is what this tax reform looks like, the only problem I see is that it will blow a hole in the national debt. But, the framework of lowering rates and focusing on corporate tax reform it includes a lot of things that will help grow the economy.

NFL’s reaction to the National Anthem Protests

The Green Bay Packers are the only NFL team owned by the fans and the fans are so angry that I’m going to tune in and see what happens tonight. FOX says it will not play the star spangled banner in the games on Sunday, however, the game on CBS tonight will play it. This proves that the league is scared because according to polls 65% of people think that kneeling during the national anthem is a disgrace.

Players, coaches and staff from the Green Bay Packers will lock arms during the national anthem before Thursday night's game against the Chicago Bears, and they are asking fans to do the same in what they say will be a "moment of unification." 

Players released a statement on Tuesday night. They say the image they hope to portray is one of unity.

Most Packers players linked arms on the sideline before Sunday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals, though three players -- Martellus Bennett, Lance Kendricks and Kevin King -- sat on the bench. 

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers, speaking before the players' statement was released, said what the Packers are doing is not a protest. "This is about equality," the quarterback said. "This is about unity and love and growing together as a society and starting a conversation around something that may be a little bit uncomfortable for people. But we've got to come together and talk about these things and grow as a community, as a connected group of individuals in our society, and we're going to continue to show love and unity, and this week we're going to ask the fans to join in as well and come together and show people that we can be connected and we can grow together." 

It's likely that all Packers players -- even the ones who sat during the anthem on Sunday -- will participate Thursday. 

The Baltimore Ravens have decided against disclosing their planned course of action during the national anthem this Sunday at home against Pittsburgh. 

The team met this week to discuss how to react on the sideline during the national anthem. A decision has been reached, but it won’t be shared. 

FOX/CBS/NBC Anthem Coverage:

• The pregame playing of the national anthem will be included in CBS's and NFL Network's simulcast coverage of the Bears-Packers prime-time matchup Thursday night, a CBS Sports spokesman said Wednesday.
• Fox Sports president Eric Shanks said the network does not plan to show national anthems live at its NFL games on Sunday, the way it did last weekend, when some players took a knee and many executives, coaches and players locked arms before games.
  • “The standard procedure is not to show them because of the way the commercial format works and the timing of the anthem to get to the kickoff,” Shanks said Tuesday at an event to promote Fox’s soccer coverage of the 2018 World Cup. “So I think we’re going to pay attention to events.
• NBC has not commented- they did air the anthem on Sunday night
• ESPN did air the anthem before Monday night football this week and has not said that would change in the future

House GOP poised to move $10 billion for border wall

While $10 Billion sounds like a lot of money, in reality it will only get you a little bit of a wall, but that’s the amount Trump has right now.

House Republicans next week will begin moving legislation to provide billions of dollars for wall construction at the southern border — a central campaign promise of President Trump that has so far eluded the GOP-led Congress. 

The House Homeland Security Committee will mark up the legislation — the Border Security for America Act — on Oct. 4, the panel announced Wednesday. 

Sponsored by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, the legislation would provide $10 billion aimed at securing the U.S.-Mexico border, including funding for new wall and fencing construction, border defense technology and aerial surveillance like drones.

The bill also lends a $5 billion boost to U.S. ports of entry; funds an additional 10,000 border-patrol agents and officers; and expands the use of National Guard troops in border protection efforts, including new wall construction.

Another Texas Republican, Sen. John Cornyn, has introduced similar legislation in the upper chamber. 

The legislation has little chance of reaching the president’s desk — at least on its own — as Democratic leaders have drawn a clear line opposing any legislation that includes funding for new wall construction. 

While House Republicans can likely pass the bill through the lower chamber, Senate GOP leaders will have a much tougher time finding the eight Democratic or independent supporters they’d need to kill a filibuster.

It’s unclear if GOP leaders have plans to bring the bill to the floor. The office of Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) referred questions to Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). McCarthy’s office did not respond to questions Wednesday. 

Bergdahl Due in Court for a Final Pretrial Hearing

Bowe Bergdahl’s trial will begin on Oct. 23^rd and we will be following it. 

A military judge ruled Wednesday that prosecutors trying Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl don't have to turn over more information about conversations one of them had with the Trump administration about the case. 

Prosecutors have acknowledged that one of them spoke to a lawyer for the National Security Council earlier this year about defense efforts to derail the case over President Donald Trump's harsh criticism of Bergdahl on the campaign trail. But they said the White House has given them no directions on how to prosecute Bergdahl. 

Defense lawyers have argued that Trump's criticism prevented Bergdahl from getting a fair trial on charges that he endangered other service members by walking off his post in Afghanistan in 2009. 

But in February, the judge ruled that Trump's comments didn't constitute unlawful command influence. 

The judge, Army Col. Jeffery R. Nance, said Wednesday that further information about conversations between lawyers well after Trump's comments wouldn't change the court's conclusion that the criticism won't sway the case. 

Defense attorneys had sought to formally interview Maj. Justin Oshana, a prosecutor, about the conversations and get copies of emails without certain details blacked out. 

Prosecutors have said discussions with the White House lawyer were about what could be done if the defense had succeeded in proving that Trump's comments swayed the case. 

They said the White House never gave them instructions on how to conduct the case. 

State: O.J. Simpson Release Could Happen Monday

O.J. Simpson could be released from a Las Vegas prison a free man as early as Monday, according to Nevada prison officials Wednesday. 

Under the terms of a plan worked out by the state, the 70-year-old Simpson would be transferred from Lovelock Correctional Center in northern Nevada to High Desert State Prison outside Las Vegas for a release that could happen on Oct. 2, state Department of Corrections spokeswoman Brooke Keast told the Associated Press. 

Keast said the process of releasing the former NFL star and actor was still being approved and documents would need to be signed to finalize the release. 

Simpson spent nine years behind bars on armed robbery and kidnapping charges following a 2008 confrontation between Simpson and two sports memorabilia dealers at the Palace Station hotel in Las Vegas. 

An Oct. 1 eligible parole date was set by state parole board members during a hearing in July.

Nevada inmate releases are only conducted on weekdays, making Oct. 2 the first business day on which a Simpson release could be handled by state probation officials.

Tom Scotto, a close friend of Simpson, would only say Simpson was set to be released “shortly after” Oct. 1. 

Scotto said he has offered to allow Simpson to stay with him in Naples, Fla., a process that would require coordination between Nevada and Florida parole officials.

MAIL TIME!

• Bill, a solution to the NFL anthem protest issue is simple, don’t play the anthem at NFL games, they no longer deserve it. 

• Bill, you were spot on with your analysis of giving a history quiz to the football players. Colin Kaepernick wearing a Che Guevara shirt, praising Castro, praising Cuba’s national health care, wearing socks depicting the police as pigs, Kaepernick should move to Cuba where he’d have a one room apartment with no air conditioning and a filthy hospital to go to.

• Bill, I wish you would not say if Donald Trump doesn’t get the tax cuts done he’s finished. On health care, he wanted it repealed and replaced, but he can’t do that Congress must do that and same with the tax cut. I’m just glad he’s trying. 

• What do you think about releasing JFK’s assassination records?