In Education Week, Allyson Klein and Andrew Ujifusa report that the GOP tax proposal will have negative effects on funding for public schools.
“The Republicans’ much-anticipated legislation to change the federal tax system includes a victory for school choice advocates: It would allow families to use up to $10,000 in savings from 529 college savings plans for K-12 expenses, including private school tuition.
“Overall, the bill released Thursday would slash corporate and some individual tax rates, offsetting the cost by nixing other deductions. That includes a $250 deduction that teachers can use to cover classroom expenses, such as books, art supplies, and rewards for students. The bill would also eliminate the deduction for state and local income and sales taxes, a step advocates warn could pinch K-12 spending at the district and state level. More on that below.
“And the legislation would put an end to the so-called Coverdell Accounts, tax-free accounts which families currently can use to cover up to $2,000 of K-12 costs, including private school tuition, in favor of the 529 change. Families could also use 529s to cover the cost of apprenticeships and could open an account when a child is “in utero” or “unborn.” We previewed the possibility of a 529 benefit for K-12 back in August. It has strong support from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank…
The inclusion of 529 plans for K-12 in the tax package represents the first tangible win in the Trump era for school choice, a huge priority for DeVos.
But a tax credit for donations to fund private school scholarships, which some speculated would be a part of changes to the federal tax code, does not appear to be in the bill. Congress has also rejected the administration’s budget proposals to create a federal voucher program.”
The reduction in the deductibility of state and local taxes will hurt public school funding by reducing revenues.
“Teachers’ unions are unhappy about the elimination of the state and local tax deductions—but also upset about the decision to scrap the tax deduction to help teachers furnish their classrooms. During the 2012-13 academic year, teachers spent a total of $1.6 billion out of their own pockets for classroom expenses, according to a survey by the National School Supply and Equipment Association. A separate survey conducted during the 2015-16 school year found that each teacher spent $600 on average of his or her own money on those supplies and materials every year.”
SPEAK OUT AGAINST THE GOP TAX PLAN! IT TAKES AWAY THE SMALL DEDUCTION THAT TEACHERS USE TO COVER THE COST OF SCHOOL SUPPLIES THAT THEY PAY FOR, WHILE ENABLING WEALTHY FAMILIES TO CLAIM TAX CREDITS FOR PRIVATE SCHOOL TUITION.
The Network for Public Education is encouraging everyone to write to their members of Congress to vote against this unfair and unwise tax plan. It will hurt public schools and aid wealthy families.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
In a nutshell, the GOP tax bill …
… It takes $ from teachers, then gives it to rich people.
It takes from many, many people to give to the wealthy. It is the GOP mantra that giving money to the wealthy will increase jobs and boost the economy. The wealthy don’t have enough money, and when they are given more, then the jobs and a rising economy will be the result.
My Senator Todd Young (R) IN said, “The president made a convincing case that this tax reform package will boost the economy and increase the tax-home pay of every Hoosier.”
Opps. “…the take-home pay of every Hoosier”.
It is estimated that the additional deficit will be between $1.5-$2.5 trillion. This no longer seems to be a problem because the overriding mantra of the GOP is ‘more tax breaks for the wealthy”.
The terrible healthcare bill would have eliminated care for 23 million people. That didn’t matter because the wealthy would have received a tax break.
How long will people believe that this will improve the economy?
We in RI have often commented that the state balanced its budget on the backs of the teachers…now it’s the Federal Government doing the same thing…
When there is a Democrat in the White House, the GOP is wailing, bleating and caterwauling 24/7 about the deficits, the DEFICITS!!!!! Republicans are deficit vampires when there is a Democratic president. Now that the GOP clown from hell is in the WH, deficits don’t matter anymore. The GOP tax plan will explode the deficits (a la Bush the dumber who was the only president to lower taxes in a time of war) and set us up for another financial collapse. The GOP will use the deficits that they create as an excuse to cut back on the social safety net, the New Deal and the Great Society programs.
Spot on. The deficit issue has been put aside except as a reason to cut budgets for “the little people.”
Where is Robin Hood?
Call instead! Members of Congress keep track of calls they receive, but not letters or emails.
Except that most members of Congress REFUSE to take calls from their constituents. All of my Congresspeople have full mailboxes and will not directly answer the phones.
A person in my state tried to have a pizza delievered to one of our senators in order to get the message across.
Here’s some info from former U.S, Labor Secretary Robert Reich. Pass it on again and again, and tell others to pass it on:
Among the biggest winners from the Trump-Republican tax “reform” bill would be — golly gee! — Trump himself. If it’s enacted, he’d save at least $41.1 million a year, and his heirs would save at least $800 million. Just look at the following provisions of the Republican tax “reform” bill:
The small middle class tax reductions go poof! In just five years because the Middle Class tax cuts will be phased out. Then you’re back to where you were, or worse…but not the rich folks…just look:
According to Trump’s 2005 tax return, he paid $31.3 million of Alternative Minimum Tax. Under the Republican “reform” bill, the Alternative Minimum Tax is eliminated, so Trump would save, at the very least, $31.3 million and probably a whole lot more because his Alternative Minimum Tax has certainly gone up a lot since 2005. Trump’s billionaire buddies would also save huge amounts of tax.
On his 2005 tax return, Trump declared $67.4 million in income from “rental real estate, royalties, partnerships, S corporations, trusts, etc.” Today, this sort of income is subject to a 39.6 percent rate. But under the Republican “reform” bill, Trump would pay only 25 percent. That would save him nearly $10 million, and probably a whole lot more because the money he collects from these sources has certainly gone up since 2005.
Middle class Americans don’t really have much in the way of “estates” to pass on to their kids, but Trump and his billionaire buddies are determined to eliminate the tax on their huge estates that they pass on to their kids — and that’s a key part of their tax “reform” bill. If Trump lives another ten years and then leaves his heirs, say, $2 billion of unsheltered assets, then under the current system they’d face a federal estate tax of $800 million. But — under the Republican bill, the estate tax disappears. Ka-ching! — nearly a billion dollars more to his already rich kids. Big money for all the other rich families, too.
Middle-class Americans would not only lose their small tax cuts in 5 years, they would also end up: (a.) Paying more interest on car loans, home loans, and credit cards because the Republican tax “reform” increases the federal debt by $1,500,000,000 (one-and-a-half trillion dollars) which pushes interest rates up; and (b.) Middle Class Americans will pay increased out-of-pocket medical bills because under the Republican tax “reform” bill Medicare and Medicaid are slashed.
“Reform” doesn’t mean “improve” — it just means to change the form of something…and the Republican tax “reform” bill changes the tax code into more piles of money for the billionaires who own the Republican Party and own the politicians who belong to it.
If this abomination, or something resembling it, becomes law, it will be with us for a generation or more, and perhaps permanently. It would be the biggest political event in recent memory. The list of deductions this bill cuts to make room for the 20% corporate rate is nauseating. I would like to break a 2×4 over the head of every jackass who pulled a lever for a Republican national candidate last November, including several members of my extended family.
To be clear, this isn’t a “tax bill” or a “tax plan,” as we tend to see with every new administration. This is Tax Reform. Tax Reform doesn’t go away with the next administration. It’s quasi-permanent. It will reshape huge systems of behavior. Those reshaped behaviors are then the cement that holds the new rules in place for generations.
Those proposing this tax cut care nothing for the 99%.
This was just posted on the official WH email. Of course tRump is in favor of it. He will reap billions in tax savings. Lowering taxes for billionaires and corporations is going to spur a 3% job growth. Look at how well Kansas is doing when taxes were continuously cut.
It’s amazing how a failed state (Kansas) is forgotten when tax breaks for the wealthy is the end all for solving problems the economy is facing.
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“IT’S TAX CUTS, IT’S TAX REFORM… WE’RE GOING TO HAVE TREMENDOUS NUMBERS OF JOBS POURING IN.”
– President Donald J. Trump
This is the tax-cut plan America needs…New York Post
House Republicans just released a tax-cut plan that meets the nation’s needs — and in a less bitterly partisan world would win major Democratic support.
It offers the relief for business and the middle class needed to get the economy roaring, while arguably increasing the progressivity of the individual tax code….
Washington’s hostility to business (in the tax code and otherwise) explains why the nation never saw a single Obama year with 3 percent growth or more, a first for any modern president. Ending that punitive approach is the only way to get a serious boom…
http://nyp.st/2iXzOtb
Diane, I posted a comment on the wrong site: “I Hearby Call an End to the Rehashing of the 2016 Election..”, so I reposted it on this blog.
It is an article that was being promoted by the WH and put in the New York Post, entitled, “This is the tax-cut plan America needs”.
Both sites put it into moderation.
“IT’S TAX CUTS, IT’S TAX REFORM… WE’RE GOING TO HAVE TREMENDOUS NUMBERS OF JOBS POURING IN.”
– President Donald J. Trump
Lets not pretend that this tax plan does not help many middle class voters, It does .
It will lower the taxes of many including my self . Therein lies the problem . Many voters will think it is Christmas in April when they file their taxes . Especially those in Red States where deductions were low to begin with . As with most republican tax cuts they always throw a bone to middle class voters and a gold brick to the wealthy .
The American voter having a very short attention span never connects his declining standard of living to the meager check he gets back.
Obviously on this site money for education both at the K-12 and the University Level will be cut when the deficits come rolling in.
Money for critical research both in medicine and technology will be cut .
That will either slow advancements in life saving and productivity advancing science.
Or the costs will be transferred on to patients and consumers.
Money for Medicare and Social Security will not be there when the deficits soar. Transferring costs on to these programs .
Money for infrastructure improvements will not be there. Our Infrastructure will either crumble or be handed over to private interests to profit off of . Certainly not out of charity but out of greed . Again passing increased costs on to the consumer of these services .
The Union construction trades who voted for the Orange ass(just the workers not the leaders ) will be slaughtered as States privatize these projects and the minimum wage no longer applies. That minimum wage law I am referring to is Davis Bacon . Which has been a pillar of support putting many of these workers into the solid middle class . Probably 10 to 20 x the federal minimum wage . They will pay with their paychecks and their pensions. As will what ever is left of Union teachers as pressure will be put on the Blue states the Union States to cut taxes or keep them flat. States will engage in a race to the bottom .
Some of the cuts to the middle class phase in
And of course when the quick burst of economic activity is over, because there will certainly be some growth,not very much but some , inflated wages will quickly erase any benefit they may have once received. The alternative minimum tax was once a millionaires tax that the middle class inflated its way to . Does anyone than think the call will come to reverse these cuts .
Time to vomit again
Should have read phase out
Joel,
I heard a discussion of the tax plan that said all the middle class tax cuts are scheduled to phase out within five years and turn into increases.
Middle class tax benefits will be tiny to negligible. And the outsize gains by the super-wealthy would represent a permanent shift of burden away from the super-wealthy and toward everybody else. Taxes are not a zero sum game. When one segment of society has its burden reduced, that means every other segment has its burden increased (or its benefits decreased). That’s not a middle-class tax cut.
Definitely this is a wonderful tax bill. Billionaires need more money so the $250 deduction for teaching supplies would be cut. This is nothing for them and most teachers spend a lot more than $250 a year. That amount is gone before the kids even enter the classroom.
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GOP tax bill would eliminate $250 deduction for teachers who buy classroom supplies
by Tamara Vaifanua
SALT LAKE COUNTY – Some Utah teachers are speaking out against the GOP tax reform bill in Washington D.C. The proposal cuts corporate taxes and simplifies tax code. It also eliminates a $250 deduction eligible to teachers for their spending on classroom supplies. Erika Bradshaw teaches math at Hillcrest High […]
November 3, 2017 at 7:43 pm Categories: News |
URL: http://via.fox13now.com/wuAQ0
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education.