ࡱ > bjbjjj 1* d d P PQ PQ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 8 _ $ ` _ !` : [` [` [` [` 6a " Xa da $ q b _ la 6a 6a la la _ _ [` [` c c c la _ [` _ [` c la c c 2 p [` P# b v > x 0 . b \ ؘ 8 _ h4 la la c la la la la la Lc la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la PQ [^ : Mullings An American Cyber-Column Tax Plan? Rich Galen Thursday, April 27, 2017 The Trump Administration announced the Presidents tax plan yesterday. I didnt understand much of what it says but Ive been in Washington long enough to known that a major change in tax law is likely to be more than the 207 words the official announcement was yesterday. As T. Boone Pickens (about whom, more later) once said: A plan without action is just a speech. As presented by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, it was clear there is no plan to implement this speech. All the document said was that the Administration would hold listening sessions with stakeholders throughout the month of May to develop the details of a plan. Maybe that can happen. I mean anythings possible. I could be the Closer the Washington Nationals are searching for. But, as the Brits might say, not bloody likely. This is like handing in a one-page outline for what was supposed to have been your fully-developed doctoral thesis. I know there was no way to develop a fully formed plan within 100 days. The issue is, why didnt the people around the President know it? The Administration wants to cut the personal tax brackets down to three from its current seven (10, 25, and 35 percent) and cut the corporate tax rate from its current maximum of about 39% to 15%. Thats about 2/3 of what was released today. You can read the entire text of the plan on the Secret Decoder Ring page. I agree generally that lower taxes are better than higher taxes, but Im not clear on what this plan if implemented would do to the national debt which, as I type this on Wednesday night stands at $19.9 T.R.I.L.L.I.O.N. I understand the White House is in full ears-back panic looking for things President Trump can take credit for before the 100-day clock runs out on Saturday. I get that. But, this was a page of bullet points to hand out at a meeting of the Heritage Foundation, not a plan to be presented to the American people. Another old saying on Capitol Hill is that every line in the tax code has a father lets amend that to say has a parent. A lot of organizations labor unions, pension plans, churches as well as corporations and trust fund babies have paid good money to get their particular tax break into the tax code. That is a lot a LOT of financial inertia to overcome. One of the smartest Members of Congress is Tom Cole of Oklahoma. He said, I would prefer not to add to the deficit, but Im going to wait and see what the legislative language looks like before I take a hard and fast position on any of this. Good advice to all. New Topic: Wistful Alert! Since the summer of 2008 there have been at least two conference calls per week for the Pickens Plan team. Tomorrow will mark the final one. As nearly as I can count, it will be the 916th bi-weekly call since the Pickens Plan imagined by T. Boone Pickens and executed by Tom Synhorst began. As originally conceived, Mr. Pickens idea was to use solar, wind, hydro, nuclear, anything American to produce electrical power. Added to that was to get Americas heavy truck fleet about 8.5 million over-the-road vehicles to switch from running on imported diesel to domestic natural gas. It wasnt as dramatic as we had hoped, but as we roll up the carpeting and stack the chairs on the tables, Pickens has made the importation of OPEC oil a major talking point and has succeeded in cutting imports in half. Hydraulic fracturing fracking and horizontal drilling have changed the energy landscape since we began and now the United States is sitting on a sea of economically recoverable oil and natural gas. One of the earliest partners was the Sierra Club. We worked with the wind and solar industry as well as with oil and gas companies. Pickens has criss-crossed the country over the past decade explaining his plan. In the early days we would easily get over 1,000 people into a hall to hear him. When he was challenged usually on college campuses by professors who thought they knew as much as Pickens he would say: Ive presented my plan, whats your plan? If you dont have a plan, then your plan is the status quo and were sending about a billion dollars a day to OPEC. It has been a great project with a great team. Im sorry its ending. Its been a great gig.
Lad Link: @ReedGalen looks at where the body politic is moving/has moved to and wonders what that portends. As always, he raises important questions. Read it HERE. On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: A link to the entire text of the tax plan. The Mullfoto is of a count-down clock with nothing to count down. -- END -- Copyright 2017 Barrington Worldwide, LLC. All Rights Reserved " + , 7 < = I J O P , - f H I N i x y z žyqyqiqyeaZRa j hx8 UhO hx8 hx8 hg hjd B*ph333 hx8 B*ph333 hx8 hx8 hx8 hx8 B*ph333 &hx8 hx8 B*fH ph q &hx8 hQ! B*fH ph q hx8 hQ! hQ! he hK hZ% hb hwNB h4 h]1 h]1 CJ aJ hw CJ aJ hg CJ aJ hJ CJ aJ hJ CJ0 aJ0 " , 7 P a - I y E 8 Q &