Author Topic: Belly Up to the Republican Pork! (Read 544 times)

rpm · « **on:** October 19, 2004, 06:08:38 PM »

Somehow "It's hard work" and "9/11, 9/11, 9/11" don't explain this rape of the taxpayer. Yep, them Republicans are shure tight with YOUR money. BTW, thanks for the NASCAR freebie.

source

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Keith Ashdown, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, called the package "an orgy of 276 special interest tax breaks and giveaways" and a "cynical attempt to bribe swing states in one of the closest elections in our nation's history."

Just a few of the corporate winners are Carnival Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean, GE, Home Depot, Starbucks, NASCAR, Northrop Grumman, ConAgra Foods and Changing World Technologies. Wealthy owners of sports teams even won the profitable perk of writing off the full value of their teams in just 15 years.

Here's a look at the tax package and 10 examples, ranked by cost, of industries and interested parties that will benefit:

TOBACCO: $10-billion to buy out tobacco farmers from an outdated government quota system.

FLORIDIANS: $5-billion to allow residents in Florida and eight other states with no state income tax to deduct state sales tax for the next two years.

MULTINATIONAL AMNESTY: $3.3-billion to cover the tax holiday for U.S. corporations to return overseas profits in tax havens at a 5.25 percent tax rate.

ELECTRIC UTILITIES: $2.3-billion in tax credits for electricity produced by "alternative" fuels.

RESTAURANTS: $494-million to let restaurants depreciate improvements in 15 years, rather than 39.

HOLLYWOOD: $336-million over five years to encourage film production in low-income communities in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee.

TRIAL LAWYERS: $327-million to allow tax deductions for certain costs while litigating discrimination cases.

NASCAR: A $101-million break for racetrack owners to speed up how quickly they can write off grandstand facilities.

CRUISE LINES: $28-million to allow Carnival, Royal Caribbean and other cruise lines to postpone taxes on airplane tickets, hotels and other excursions they sell in the United States.

GAMBLING: $27-million for a tax break to let nonresident foreigners gamble tax-free on U.S. horse and dog races.

Those are the tip of a tax-break iceberg. Some provisions of the tax package last week quickly caught the media's attention. That's why Home Depot appeared so prominently in stories as a beneficiary of what is a $44-million tax break to suspend import duties on foreign-made ceiling fans.

Plano Molding Co. of Illinois, a prominent maker of fishing tackle boxes in House Speaker Dennis Hastert's congressional district, also gained attention because the bill provides $11-million to cut the excise tax on tackle boxes.

Even archery products managed to win a $9-million tax break on bows and arrows. And in a coup for such millionaire pro golfers as Tiger Woods, a provision would exempt PGA Tour members from new rules limiting the use of high-end retirement plans that were abused by Enron executives.

My favorite provision?

Taxpayers will pay tens of millions for bonds to help finance a massive domed resort and mall dubbed Destiny USA near Syracuse, N.Y., that its developer immodestly claims will become "the most visited destination on Earth" and rely completely on renewable energy. The tax bill never identifies the proposed Destiny USA by name but buries the reference under something called "brownfields demonstration program for qualified green building and sustainable design projects."

It so happens that Destiny USA's developer, Robert Congel of Pyramid Cos. in Syracuse, is a so-called "Ranger," one of an elite class of fundraisers who has raised more than $200,000 for Bush's presidential campaign.

If the federal government wants to reduce corporate taxes, it should demand the self-discipline to find and retain counterbalancing spending cuts elsewhere in the federal budget. And if tax-cutting truly is a policy goal for the country, why are cuts going to so many hand-picked companies, industries and well-heeled individuals - but not to others?

ra · « **Reply #1 on:** October 19, 2004, 06:13:58 PM »

Aren't there a few Democrats in Congress too?

-MZ- · « **Reply #2 on:** October 19, 2004, 06:35:42 PM »

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Originally posted by ra
Aren't there a few Democrats in Congress too?

I followed this bill, it is almost entirely a Republican frankenstien.

This is the kind of corruption and cronyism you get with 1-party rule.

john9001 · « **Reply #3 on:** October 19, 2004, 06:42:01 PM »

hey, just trying to keep the jobs in the USA and not overseas.

>>>Plano Molding Co. of Illinois, a prominent maker of fishing tackle boxes in House Speaker Dennis Hastert's congressional district, also gained attention because the bill provides $11-million to cut the excise tax on tackle boxes. <<<<

Lizking · « **Reply #4 on:** October 19, 2004, 06:43:25 PM »

Actually, most of those pretty good, and some are hard core liberal causes. What exactly is the problem?

rpm · « **Reply #5 on:** October 19, 2004, 06:44:41 PM »

John, if that were even remotely the case here.

Eagler · « **Reply #6 on:** October 19, 2004, 06:48:19 PM »

don't ya think they got this back in taxes and then some?

TOBACCO: $10-billion to buy out tobacco farmers from an outdated government quota system.

Thrawn · « **Reply #7 on:** October 19, 2004, 06:56:01 PM »

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Originally posted by Eagler
don't ya think they got this back in taxes and then some?

TOBACCO: $10-billion to buy out tobacco farmers from an outdated government quota system.

$450 billion dollar deficit? No.

john9001 · « **Reply #8 on:** October 19, 2004, 06:58:20 PM »

rpm , you would feel different if you worked at plano moulding and were going to lose your job because plano could not compeat with cheap tackle boxes from china.

rpm · « **Reply #9 on:** October 19, 2004, 07:59:11 PM »

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Originally posted by john9001
rpm , you would feel different if you worked at plano moulding and were going to lose your job because plano could not compeat with cheap tackle boxes from china.

I don't think there is any danger of that happening. Plano is a market leader. The danger of cheap imported chinese NASCAR and PGA is more likely.

This was a special interest and political contributor's feast sponsored, endorsed and approved by republicans.

Lizking · « **Reply #10 on:** October 19, 2004, 08:30:44 PM »

Let me translate these for you RPM:

TOBACCO: $10-billion to buy out tobacco farmers from an outdated government quota system

Short term pain for long term gain. The tobacco subsidies are so entrenched that his buyback is the onyl way to get out from under them. Pork, but this is 100 year old pork. Bush is getting rid of it.

FLORIDIANS: $5-billion to allow residents in Florida and eight other states with no state income tax to deduct state sales tax for the next two years.

F' you buddy, ya'll been sucking this tit for years, now we all get the break equally.

MULTINATIONAL AMNESTY: $3.3-billion to cover the tax holiday for U.S. corporations to return overseas profits in tax havens at a 5.25 percent tax rate.

Do you want to end out-sourcing or not? Make up yer damn mind.

ELECTRIC UTILITIES: $2.3-billion in tax credits for electricity produced by "alternative" fuels.

Do you want to cut foreign oil or not? You ***** about it, and then when a prez has the nuts to do something, you ***** about it!

RESTAURANTS: $494-million to let restaurants depreciate improvements in 15 years, rather than 39

I am guessing that you have never worked in the food service industry? Average life of a new restaurant is 2 years, and the lentgh of life of kitchen equipment is less than 10.

HOLLYWOOD: $336-million over five years to encourage film production in low-income communities in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee.

Yeah, this sucks. Lord knows that we do not want to help the impoverished areas of the US.

TRIAL LAWYERS: $327-million to allow tax deductions for certain costs while litigating discrimination cases

Wow! A liberal that is mad because we are helping the downtrodden? Why is that? Is it beause it may actually help them as opposed to just giving them cash?

NASCAR: A $101-million break for racetrack owners to speed up how quickly they can write off grandstand facilities.

Pork, pure and simple.

CRUISE LINES: $28-million to allow Carnival, Royal Caribbean and other cruise lines to postpone taxes on airplane tickets, hotels and other excursions they sell in the United States.

GAMBLING: $27-million for a tax break to let nonresident foreigners gamble tax-free on U.S. horse and dog races.

Dunno about these, probably just pork.

RedTop · « **Reply #11 on:** October 19, 2004, 08:42:09 PM »

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....And in a coup for such millionaire pro golfers as Tiger Woods, a provision would exempt PGA Tour members from new rules limiting the use of high-end retirement plans that were abused by Enron executives.....

LEAVE TIGER WOODS OUT OF THIS. He is a minority in this country and the ACLU and NAACP would be all over this. He is just a brotha with a golf swing and some white meat. Leave him out of it.

rpm · « **Reply #12 on:** October 19, 2004, 08:46:19 PM »

Liz, it might help if you remotely knew what you were talking about. Nice to know that reading the details is too hard for you to comprehend. They went from a $5B trade package to a $140B corporate freebie.

Here's a couple paragraphs you must have not understood clearly:

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The original intent of the tax bill was modest: to eliminate a $5-billion-a-year subsidy for U.S. exporters that the World Trade Organization had ruled illegal. But the bill soon became a $140-billion bonanza of paybacks and gifts by legislators to favored business backers. Congressional leaders pushing the tax bill kept adding sweeteners to win the support of individual legislators to assure final passage just weeks before voters go to the polls.

If the federal government wants to reduce corporate taxes, it should demand the self-discipline to find and retain counterbalancing spending cuts elsewhere in the federal budget. And if tax-cutting truly is a policy goal for the country, why are cuts going to so many hand-picked companies, industries and well-heeled individuals - but not to others?

Lizking · « **Reply #13 on:** October 19, 2004, 09:04:09 PM »

RPM, I beg to differ, Sir, but most of these have been kicking around for a long time. You can certainly call them pork because they were added to a spending bill, but the fact remains that those I listed are things that need to be done, and are, in fact, things requested by democrats and republicans.

rpm · « **Reply #14 on:** October 19, 2004, 09:27:27 PM »

I fail to see how paying McDonalds and Wendy's to upgrade their kitchens is a taxpayer responsability. (BTW, I managed a restaurant for years in Graham, Texas) Helping Tiger Woods' retirement account is a little confusing to me as a taxpayer. Letting cruise lines keep the tax money they collect so they can earn intrest is another thing I can't endorse. All of these items are special interest issues and clearly nothing but pork, pork and more pork. If this were passed by a Democratic congress and president every Bushbot in here would be screaming at the top of their lungs.

Let me make my stance clear. Lower spending and social freedom are my motivating forces. We are creating a debt faster than any point in history while we do little on the social front. I don't support spending bills like this. It's MY money they are playing with.