West American Persuasion Analysis

The current tax policy in the United States is very confusing and it is very costly for our government to administer it. It is in the best interest of our country and its citizens to revise or replace our current tax policy.

Now that the bill has been passed through the House, it is ready to go through the proceedings of the Senate. First, the bill is again introduced but now by a senator who must be recognized by the presiding officer and announce the introduction of the bill. A bill that has passed either house of congress is sometimes called an act, but the term usually means legislation that has passed both houses and become a law. Secondly, the Vice President of the US, who is the presiding officer of the Senate, assigns the proposed law to a committee for further study ( the Senate has about 15 standing committees). The committees or one of its subcommittees studies the bill and may hold hearings. The committee may approve the bill as is, revise the bill, or table the bill. Now the bill goes to the Senate to await its turn on the Senate floor. Normally the bill is considered as introduced unless the bill is urgent in which case the leaders of the majority party might push it ahead. At this time the Senate considers the bill. Here senators can debate a bill indefinitely, unless voted otherwise. When there is no further discussion, the Senate votes. Most bills must have simple majority to pass. At this point of development, the process is especially exemplary because the bill in the Senate is now considered by debate to better illustrate its strengths and/or weaknesses. To summarize, the bill has now been passed by both houses of congress.

The tax policy in the United States is very confusing. When the tax policy was originally written in 1913 it was four hundred pages. Now, over the past ninety one years, that tax policy has evolved to over 72,000 pages. Since the tax code has become so lengthy and nearly impossible to understand, the topic of tax reform has been in the minds of many. Although, most barely think about tax reform until tax season. It is a controversial subject due to the impact a change in tax code would have on the American people. The two most popular and widely known stakeholders in this debate are the two major political parties in the United States, the Democrats and the Republicans. The two parties share absolutely no common ground on the subject of

One of the most controversial policies implemented by President Obama and the Democratic Party was the Affordable Care Act of 2010. The Affordable Care Act aimed to cut the rate of uninsured Americans and increase the quality of healthcare that they were receiving. While this has been somewhat effective in its own regard, there is much more room for improvement. Now that insurance companies have to cover a broader scope of people, including those with pre-existing conditions, many Americans that previously had health insurance have witnessed a spike in their premium rates. This, along with an increase in new taxes on products such as medical devices and pharmaceuticals, subsidizes the costs of the Affordable Care Act; those with high incomes also received a higher tax rates.

Cost curbing measures and reductions in health insurance costs for many Americans due to subsidies help to insure tens of millions by expanding coverage options. This expansion could potentially result in an overall net decrease of the deficit by driving health care costs down over time.

According to David Nather, the bill also plans to set up something called a health exchange. A health care exchange is a virtual marketplace where you can purchase health insurance. It is “Expedia for health care” essentially(page 71). The exchanges were created for small businesses and for people who cannot obtain employer based insurance or they do not want insurance from their employer. Health insurance cannot refuse coverage for pre-existing conditions. The new standards organize the plans into one of four categories. These categories are as follows: bronze, silver, gold and platinum. According to Nather, bronze covers 60% of all health care costs; silver covers 70% of all costs; gold covers 80% and the platinum plan covers 90% of all health care costs. All these values are averages so coverage will vary (Nather page 76). If health insurance companies raise rates too much, they will be removed from the exchange.

The Senate's healthcare bill focuses primarily on changes to Medicaid, but one of the striking proposals is the Senate tightening the requirements for tax credits toward premium costs in 2020. According to CNN Money, many middle-class Americans would not qualify for

The new policy will make the insurance companies pay for 75 percent of the drug expenses and leave the consumer to pay 25 percent. However, when the drug expenses reach the catastrophic threshold of more than $5,100, then the insurance Medicare will pay for 95 percent of the drug costs. The government has already started to try and close this gap by subsidizing those who fall into the donut hole. Each year they will slowly increase the subsidy until the consumer only has to pay 25 percent. By addressing the donut hole that has occurred in the current health coverage Americans will be better off and no longer face drug expenses that they are unable to pay (Goldstein 2010, 113-121).

Like the house plan, the Senate Democrats actually introduced the American Family Economic Protection Act, which would have replaced the SQ with $110 billion in spending cuts and tax increases.

Our live top marginal tax rate is 39.6% which would be kept there in the House bill, but the Senate bill seeks to reduce it down to 38.5%, which is favored by supply-side economic theorists who state that this reduction will let the economy grow.

The Senate plan is taking shape as Republicans digest the drubbing they suffered on Tuesday night in affluent suburbs across the country, many of them represented by Republicans in the House. Those areas are stocked with well-off voters who would be disproportionately hit by the elimination of state and local tax deductions.

The Armey-Shelby flat tax proposal will scraps the entire income tax code and replaces it with a flat-rate income tax that treats all Americans the same. This plan would simplify the tax code, promote economic opportunity, and restore fairness and integrity to the tax system. The flat rate would be phased-in over a three-year period, with a 19 percent rate for the first two years and a 17 percent rate for subsequent years.

They also both are going to close tax loopholes. This will help out middle-class families by having them pay less in taxes. In both of the tax plans they plan to help out the elderly and give them more

Most bills must have simple majority to pass. At this point of development, the process is especially exemplary because the bill in the Senate is now considered by debate to better illustrate its strengths and/or weaknesses. To summarize, the bill has now been passed by both houses of congress.

Once it is at the Senate it goes through the same process had as the House of Representatives, a section of the Senate members go and decide and add their changes to the bill, or decline it. If passed it goes to the next part to the rest of the Senate, who then take their turns adjusting and changing or declining the bill. Then after the whole Senate has review and changed the bill of necessary is goes back to the House of Representatives, who then look over if they like the changes the Senate made to the bill. If the House of Reps find things they do not like, then it is not declined, but goes to a Conference Committee making up parts of the Senate, and parts of the House of Representatives their