Change is the only true constant in the world. As such, it is only natural that political positions may change when exposed to the people. The AMA on reddit raised some good points and got me thinking about some of the plans I initially laid out. Thus, like software, I updated to reflect the new awareness.
Some might think this makes me a flip-flopper. They point to other candidates to show how steadfast they remain, even in light of solid evidence against their policies. That's just bad leadership. It's totally fine to have a bad opinion that can change with evidence; it's not ok to say your tax plan is amazing and will still generate billions when most every tax organization analyzing your plan can't figure out any way said plan prevents even larger deficits. A real leader sees potential, comes to grip with reality, and changes. This is where strategy and tactics intersect, where policy and reality meet.
Tax Reforms
https://gladstone2016.com/taxes/tax-reforms/
- Added paragraph on Trump's tax plan.
- Adjusted corp tax rate from 13% to 18%, giving more incentive to take advantage of deductions related to wage increases/job growth. Clarified that such is a static projection and the revenue may be more or less (possibly more) depending on the calculations utilized.
- Capped dividend payment as business expense at $100 million. Was previously uncapped meaning the payment of $2 billion in dividends could be seen as a $2 billion tax deduction.
- Adjusted wording on passthrough business taxes to make it known they pay the personal income rate.
- Adjusted the special repatriation amnesty rates from 1-6% to 2-8% at different tiers.
- Set a contribution limit to the Universal Investment Accounts at $50,000 per year. No limit existed in the first iteration, but confusion emerged between UIA's and regular investment accounts, especially for the wealthy. UIA's are meant to benefit the everyday American more than the already well-off. Even a limit of $50,000 is quite high compared to other countries (Canada is $10,000 and the UK is ~$23,000).
- Changed tax rates on UIA profits from 0/5/8/13/15/18 to 0/13/15/18 while also reducing the number of brackets down to four.
- Modified the discussion on the R&D tax credit. Still making it permanent, but expanding the definition of "research." Also added discussion on how it could generate revenue given the IP lifetime changes.
- Added a line item for making airline baggage fees taxable.
- Added the domestic production activities deduction to the list of tax deductions that will be eliminated. The lowering of the corporate tax rate well below the OECD average should still make it viable for manufacturing and other production activities to come back and/or remain in the US.
- Added a line item for eliminating the deduction of punitive damages.
- Added vehicles (cars, trucks, boats, and jets) to the list of expenses that still remain on the depreciation schedule.
Social Issues
https://gladstone2016.com/social-issues/
- Added line item about NRA maintaining gun registry in conjunction with licensing and safety training
- Changed safety training from being required for every gun to being required for handguns and/or rifles depending on ownership
- Added line item for reporting lost/stolen guns
- Added a requirement for kids in gun-owning families to take a mandatory safety class
- Added conceal carry training requirement
- Added safety training checkup timeframe requirement
- Adjusted wording on gun violence prevention to emphasize the need for cultural change in how we treat each other as human beings. Violence doesn't usually happen in a vacuum; many incidents likely could be avoided if people treated each other better from the get go.
- Added mental health patient database submission/removal requirement so an "active" database of those with qualifying problems can be maintained. What counts as qualifying needs more discussion (ie, depression would but eating disorders probably wouldn't)
To-The-Point
https://gladstone2016.com/to-the-point/
- Adjusted bullets to reflect changes listed above