GOP Passes Bill To Make It Easier For Rich Tax Cheats To Get Away With It

Sometimes we forget that right-wing political parties generally are not really organized around racism, bigotry and societal divisiveness just for the sake of those values. Racism, bigotry and that kind of purposeful divisiveness are not really core values for most legitimate right wing political parties. Greed and selfishness are. The rest is a means to an end, an appeal to base right-wing populism and a system of stoking primitive fears for much narrower ends.

The bill the financial services bill the House passed on Wednesday-- by an almost entirely partyline vote, 228-195-- goes right to the core of what it means to embrace a conservative vision of governance than anything pandering to toothless, superstition-driven racists and primitives in the Old Confederacy. It makes it harder for the IRS to hold tax cheats-- the real core of Republicanism-- accountable. The 6 corrupt New Dems and Blue Dogs who backed the bill-- John Barrow (GA), Collin Peterson (MN), Nick Rahall (WV), Pete Gallego (TX), Mike McIntyre (NC) and Bill Owens (NY)-- are from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party and for this kind of vote, they are just plain garden variety Republicans catering to the wealthy donors who finance their sleazy political careers.

And the Hate Talk Radio zombies get some raw meat out of it because the tactic the GOP used to weaken accountability was to partially underfund an already severely underfunded IRS, whose enforcement budget was cut by a debilitating 25%. Win/win for the right. Their tax cheat base is sipping champaign and the rednecks are dancing around their radios with a breweski in each hand.

The bill also includes a handful of policy riders directed at the SEC and its implementation of Dodd-Frank overhaul (PL 111-203), including provisions loosening derivatives rules and imposing new reporting requirements.

A separate Democratic amendment that would have blocked a change in how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is funded was also rejected. The bill would place the watchdog agency under the annual appropriations process; currently it receives funding transfers from the Federal Reserve.

...“This will prevent the IRS from going after tax cheats,” said Jose E. Serrano, D-N.Y., the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee.

The Treasury Department estimates that each dollar spent on enforcement yields about six dollars in revenue collection.

...The annual spending bill includes appropriations for the District of Columbia, which sparked a flurry of partisan policy riders. Democrats have repeatedly accused Republicans of trying to dictate local policies through the spending process.

Lawmakers adopted, 241-181, an amendment offered by Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky that would block funds from being used by the District of Columbia to enforce various provisions of DC law related to its handgun ban.

“It’s difficult for D.C. residents to exercise their God-given right to bear arms,” Massie said, adding that “Congress has the right to legislate in this area.”

But Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton-- the sole representative of D.C.-- said Massie is “not accountable to the residents of the District of Columbia.” She called the amendment “entirely inappropriate” and pointed to a slew of dangerous scenarios if D.C. citizens were allowed to carry handguns, including bringing firearms into federal buildings.

Also tucked into the underlying measure is a provision that would prohibit federal or local District of Columbia funds from going toward the legalization or decriminalization of marijuana. The D.C. city council voted in March to remove criminal penalties for the possession of small amounts of marijuana, while D.C. residents will vote on legalizing marijuana on the November ballot.