House Republicans on Monday unveiled a piece of legislation that would provide Israel with $14.3 billion in military aid, a strong show of support for Israel’s onslaught in Gaza.
The bill would cut $14.3 billion from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to pay for the military aid to Israel, an aspect of the legislation criticized by the White House and some Democrats in Congress.
“Demanding offsets for meeting core national security needs of the United States—like supporting Israel and defending Ukraine from atrocities and Russian imperialism—would be a break with the normal, bipartisan process and could have devastating implications for our safety and alliances in the years ahead,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
The White House is also unhappy that the GOP bill separates the $14.3 billion for Israel from the massive $105 billion package requested by President Biden that includes spending for Ukraine, Taiwan, and the border.
The House Rules Committee is set to take up the legislation on Wednesday. Due to the IRS cuts and lack of Ukraine funding, it could fail to make it through the Democrat-controlled Senate. The bill is one of the first to be introduced under new House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who vowed to make supporting Israel his first priority when he was elected.
The IRS does need funding… It is underfunded.
A VAT should replace the income tax and payroll taxes, though. UBI could make a VAT less regressive.
U are simply mistaken as to “underfunded”. A flat tax for all is exactly what is needed! It will never happen as it will take vast powers from our DC Ghouls. The USA will soon crash anyhow followed by anarchy, blood and death,,the “Express Elevator To Hell”,,stay tuned…………………..
A flat VAT to replace income and payroll taxes with UBI to replace all the free stuff and reduce inequality. Currently, failure is rewarded. UBI doesn’t increase after failure.
Flat taxes and value-added taxes are regressive by definition. They burden middle- and lower-income people much more than the more affluent.
Right, but you add UBI with it.
So, it hits the middle hardest. But you include payroll taxes in that, which are mostly regressive already.
The income tax in the US originally only applied to the very rich.
Payroll taxes are really insurance premiums, they are not federal income taxes at all. The government is in debt to the SSTF by trillions of USD.
People are told they’re owed social security and Medicare after paying in, but that doesn’t make it so.
Voters won’t vote for cuts; so, it might as well be paid for by the government.
I’d ideally cut it, replacing with UBI. But payroll taxes might as well be paid for by VAT.
It is a non profit insurance system, it was a pay-go system before politicians meddled with it. The private for profit industry would like to take over, there is money to be made. Working middle class people, who depend on it would be the losers again. Medicare is extremely expensive because it covers a pool of high risk people the private system does not want. That allows the private industry the low risk high premium patients with high deductibles and co-payments to make outstanding profits while many families are forced to file for personal bankruptcy because they can’t pay the medical costs the industry does not cover. The industry has a powerful lobby to help write the laws to protect the profits, so nothing will change, it can only get worse.
Eventually we’ll get single payer. Currently, there’s a tremendous amount of waste involved. It will only get worse.
Like I said, I’d do away with it, replace with UBI.
There are a huge number of problems. One issue is just doctors charge too much. That’s a small issue. Another issue is malpractice.
There’s a lack of a market in many areas of health care. Competition would bring those costs down.
But the thing is, why would anyone attempt to implement a fair and affordable healthcare solution? If the system worked well, there’d be fewer opportunities to “fix” things and turn a profit doing so.
If you’re running a fix, you want to get rich, and you want future opportunities to loot even more.
Things will get worse, and no one cares to make things better. But it was interesting to see rich people in San Francisco suddenly noticing crime when it affected them. Before that, crime was just something poor people deal with. A homeless woman gets raped, and it’s just normal; but if the rich face such problems, suddenly we have a crisis.
The first step to single payer would be to start with the middle class wage and salary earners, much like SS. But we need a government we can trust to serve the people, we DON’T have that. Our government is owned and controlled by corporations and big money. That is the reason why we don’t have a functioning health care system and will not see one soon either. See how they have been attacking SS to privatize
retirement, turning company benefits into 401K accounts. Great as long as the DOW is doing great.
A problem with helping those high risk patients is if you make things free or less expensive, they’ll run up unnecessary costs.
Medical supplies are too expensive. There are too many administrative people. It’s a lack of competition.
And there’s a shortage of doctors, in my view. And a shortage of residency programs, plus medical school costing too much.
Of all advanced nations only the USA has a privatized health care system, it is the most expensive and the least effective to cover the population.
The federal government funds almost half the total costs. The total costs are almost 20% of GDP while other advanced wealthy nations spent about 10% of GDP for top of the line health care.
It is also true that the insurance and the provider corporations are trying to privatize in Germany and the UK, THERE IS MONEY TO BE MADE privatizing health care and retirement.
The VAT is a most regressive tax, it is how neoliberal economics work.
Normally high risk groups are spread over a big pool of insured people, not compacted in a small group with high risk consumers only.
Medicare was made possible by taking the high risk people off the back of the insurance industry, increasing the profit margin. The industry has a powerful lobby. So spare me, no need to feel sorry for them, they keep the competition controlled.
Government covers VA benefits and Medicaid. Medicare covers only 80% of costs. Prescriptions and the other 20% require additional patient paid private insurance. When you have Medicare part A, B, C , and D that is a forest of red tape and is very expensive, dental insurance not included.
Insurance is a paid for entitlement, be it your home your car, your SS, AND Medicare. IT IS NOT CHARITY,
IT IS AN “ENTITLEMENT” BECAUSE “YOU PAID” FOR IT.
The Supreme Court ruled more than 60 years ago (Flemming v. Nestor) that Social Security is not an entitlement. So anyone who’s paid attention has known for that long that it’s a con and a Ponzi scheme … and yet people keep paying for it and whining about the fact that, like all Ponzis, it’s going to collapse.
VAT is highly regressive, basic needs like food and shelter should not be taxed, a luxury VAT tax would make sense.
To register a high end luxury car should cost more than a standard registration for a car you need to get to work. Same with property, basic homes should be low cost property taxes, here too a luxury tax would be proper.
Cutting money from the IRS so more rich people can cheat on their taxes…and giving the money to Israel to kill more Palestinians. We sure have our head screwed on straight as a country, don’t we?
Rich people do not all cheat, the vast majority follow the tax law, as written by the DC Ghouls. You sound like a marxist pal.
I think you’ve just demonstrated that you don’t have the slightest idea what Marxism is. Of course, there’s a lot of that going around. It seems to be contagious.
You are mistaken pal. But I agree there are a lot of Marxist in the USA, U sound like one.
No, I’m not a Marxist, but I have read Marx and greatly admire much of his work and analysis. As for you, you’re not worth wasting scarce electrons on, so I’m banishing you from my screens.
The rich, the oligarchs, wrote the laws to suit their interests. They legalized their crimes, nothing new about that.
Yes I am sure they had much to do with it, but the laws were passed by bought off Dems and Republicans and those are the people the citizen voters must PURGE. You down with that? Hope so.
That requires another civil war, close to the civil rights movement in the 60s.
Well it may start in the big city with the poor and minorities taking to violence and riot, and then spread across the country with what is left of the middle class joining in,,maybe like the summer of 2020 and Jan. 6th but much more vast and even more violent………………then collapse and wholesale purges, across the board. Then I would predict 3 or 4 new nations form from what was once the failed USA.
I went through recent data and a long article that demonstrated that the IRS is still targeting the poor under Biden. The supposed “ increase” in audits in those of wealth were letters mailed and quickly dispensed with, not actual audits.
LOl….the little but effective Hamas and maybe the support of Hizbollah may bring USA to financial ruin and USA’s support of Ukraine and all those occupying military bases across the world. Roman Empire part deux.
The arrogant US empire has over expanded for a long time, it has reached its peak and is now decaying with criminally incompetent government, going back decades. Just like so many empires ended, only the US empire ends sooner than other great empires did.
“Due to the IRS cuts and lack of Ukraine funding, it could fail to make it through the Democrat-controlled Senate”
Looks like partisan gridlock may save the day once again!
Gridlock would be preferrable to handing Israel more tax dollars to use for their war crimes.
Self defense is laudable,not a war crime.
Who decides what self defense is? The evil criminals Zionists and Nazis define it?
Israeli criminals are defensive and unarmed Palestinians are the aggressors, is that it?
Well, you never fail to deliver reply as expected.
Hamas is not unarmed,and are using hapless Gazans as shields. Before the latest pogrom,ther were no Israelis in Gaza,and amodicumof peace.
Your tales are pretty sloppy.
IDF people have used Palestinians as shields, not Hamas. The resistance, Hamas and others, are the children of the refugees from Israel, they are their parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers. They have arms but nothing to compare with the weapons the IDF has, they will throw stones if they have to and they hate Israelis, and how could it be otherwise?
How about no money for the IRS and no money for Israel and UKR. O YA! 🙂 Bring it.
Oh good grief, this is obscene. They have already gotten billions over the years, all they do with the money is evil and destructive. I find myself having more in common with progressives than anyone else on this war issues.
What???????????
“Russian Imperialism”? WTF! If that be the case what in hell does that make the USA and the DC Ghouls? LOL!! Purge them all! AMF!
Yes, the US is imperialist, too.
Suddenly there is no deficit to worry about.
They willprint hteir way out,destroying the value of the dollar and all the US debts.
NO MORE MONEY FOR ISRAEL, NO MORE MONEY FOR WAR!
Duplicity and Complicity go hand in hand…
The US is defending national security in Europe N. Africa and Asia?
What nation in the ME where three continents meet is attacking the USA? We are being governed by criminal idiots. The Botox Biden face is enough to want to ****.