Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Stop secret settlements

Biden Can Stop Sinister Trump Plan with One Phone Call -- Will He?

By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON

DCReport has uncovered a secret IRS tax favor for the super-rich—authorized when Donald Trump was president—that takes effect on Thursday, July 1. President Joe Biden can stop it with one phone call. Will he?

The Biden White House was unaware of this Trump tax favor—disguised as a crackdown on wealthy tax cheaters—when DCReport asked about it on Friday.

That’s not surprising because the IRS remains under the control of Charles Rettig, a holdover from the Trump era. Before Trump named him IRS commissioner, Rettig was a Beverly Hills tax lawyer who helped the super-wealthy escape taxes and—if they got caught cheating—negotiated secret settlements that avoided public humiliation while minimizing taxes and penalties.

If Biden lets this Trump policy take effect it would be a huge benefit to clients of Rettig’s old law firm and others like it. And it would make an already unfair tax system even more heavily tilted in favor of billionaires all through a clever excuse for hiring less capable auditors.

C-SPAN releases new poll of historian ranking US Presidents

 To link to more detail from C-SPAN on this poll, CLICK HERE.

HISTORIANS SURVEY RESULTS CATEGORY

TOTAL SCORES/OVERALL RANKINGS

President2021 Final ScoreOverall Rankings
2021201720092000
Abraham Lincoln8971111
George Washington8512223
Franklin D. Roosevelt8413332
Theodore Roosevelt7854444
Dwight D. Eisenhower7345589
Harry S. Truman7136655
Thomas Jefferson7047777
John F. Kennedy6998868
Ronald Reagan681991011
Barack Obama6641012NANA
Lyndon B. Johnson65411101110
James Monroe64312131514
Woodrow Wilson617131196
William McKinley61214161615
John Adams60915191716
James Madison60416172018
John Quincy Adams60317211919
James K. Polk59918141212
William J. Clinton59419151421
Ulysses S. Grant59020222333
George H. W. Bush58521201820
Andrew Jackson56822181313
William Howard Taft54323242424
Calvin Coolidge53524262627
Grover Cleveland52325232117
Jimmy Carter50626272522
James A. Garfield50627292829
Gerald R. Ford49828252223
George W. Bush495293336NA
Chester A. Arthur47230353232
Richard M. Nixon46431282726
Benjamin Harrison46232303031
Rutherford B. Hayes45633313325
Martin Van Buren45534343130
Zachary Taylor44935322928
Herbert Hoover39636363434
Warren G. Harding38837403838
Millard Fillmore37838373735
John Tyler35439393536
William Henry Harrison35440383937
Donald J. Trump31241NANANA
Franklin Pierce31242414039
Andrew Johnson23043424140
James Buchanan22744434241