GOP’s tax scam lets rich people deduct their corporate jets

Republicans handed the richest 1 percent a tax break on corporate jets, yet wages for the middle class can’t even keep up with inflation.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported why now is a great time to buy a private corporate jet if you have a few million dollars sitting dormant in a corporate account.

Republicans sprinkled goodies for the ultra-rich throughout the tax scam they jammed through Congress last year. Tucked in the bill is the ability for a company to immediately write off 100 percent of the cost of a corporate jet.

Under previous laws, the deductions were initially less, and drawn out over several years.

“It’s like a frenzy out there,” Bill Papariella, chief executive of Jet Edge International, told the Journal.

Suzanne Meiners-Levy, an attorney who helps companies buy corporate plans, told the Journal that the new laws incentivize buyers to get bigger, faster, more expensive jets, in the $7 million to $10 million range.

Wealthy jet owners aren’t the only ones making out like bandits from congressional kickbacks.

Congressman Vern Buchanan (R-FL) voted to give himself a $2.1 million tax break — and ran out to buy himself a multi-million dollar yacht on the same day.

Since that self-serving vote and yacht purchase made news, Buchanan has seen his poll numbers drop and his seat become more competitive.

The Tampa Bay Times changed their view of the race, moving it from “potentially vulnerable” to “vulnerable.” In their reasoning, they said Buchanan, “is now facing unwanted publicity for allegedly buying a $3 million yacht right after voting for the Republican tax bill,” adding, “Trump won this district by about 10 points, but it includes many suburban neighborhoods where Democrats have recently been doing well.”

Nationwide, the Republican tax scam has been an unmitigated failure for most Americans. While the wealthy are able to buy new toys, wages for most families have dropped after adjusting for inflation.

As the midterms approach, Republicans are planning to double-down on their failed tax plan with yet another bill disproportionately aimed at helping the richest one percent.

According to the Center for American Progress (CAP), the new bill would, “provide more than $40.3 billion to the richest 1 percent of Americans.”

CAP puts that amount in terms Republicans can understand: “That’s enough to buy 13,476 new yachts every year, assuming they cost the same $2,995,000 as Buchanan’s yacht.”

Republicans have shown over and over again their devotion to the jet-setting, yacht-owning upper echelon of American society, willing to grant them tax breaks for expensive toys while ignoring the plight of working class families.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.