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Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Ryan Repeatedly Attempted Rewarding Campaign Contributors With Loopholes. Mere Coincidence?


This is a series of excerpts from the Huffington Post article, Paul Ryan Tries To Create Tax Loopholes For His Biggest Donors reposted here for archival purposes.

CONTRIBUTION - S.C. Johnson & Son, one of Ryan's biggest donors [...] is based in Ryan's district and manufactures popular cleaning products like Pledge and Windex, donated $41,092 to the congressman between 1998 and 2012, according to OpenSecrets.org.

ATTEMPTED PAYBACK - Ryan introduced two bills in May 2005 that would have granted the company special exemptions from tariffs. Specifically, his bills sought to suspend duties for imported components of "unique air freshener products … assembled by S.C. Johnson in the United States," Ryan said during floor remarks at the time.

ATTEMPTED PAYBACK - A year later, Ryan put forward another bill to reduce the duty on S.C. Johnson cleaning appliances "capable of dispensing cleaning solution into a tub or shower enclosure using a button-activated, battery-powered piston pump controlled by a microchip."

CONTRIBUTION - Ryan [...] was a member of Delta Tau Delta and, in 2004, received the fraternity's alumni achievement award. A year later, Fraternity & Sorority PAC began giving donations to Ryan that, by 2010, totaled $24,500, according to OpenSecrets.org.

ATTEMPTED PAYBACK - During those same years, Ryan sponsored or cosponsored three bills that would have allowed college fraternities and sororities to accept tax-deductible charitable contributions for the construction of more housing.

CONTRIBUTION - The National Wholesalers Association, his second biggest contributor, gave him more than $72,000 between 1998 and 2010, according to OpenSecrets.org.

ATTEMPTED PAYBACK - During those years, Ryan cosponsored five bills to cut taxes for beer brewers, reduce beer taxes to pre-1991 levels and repeal occupational taxes relating to distilled spirits, wine and beer.

At the same time...

Ryan has also opposed efforts to close offshore tax loopholes. He voted against an amendment in 2006 that would have barred funding for contracts with U.S. companies incorporated offshore to avoid paying U.S. taxes. In 2004, he opposed an amendment that would have prohibited the Export-Import Bank from approving direct loans to U.S. companies incorporated offshore to avoid U.S. taxes.

Read full HP story here.

Related:

Democurmudgeon - When Loop holes get government out of the way they’re "pro-growth" reforms, according to Paul Ryan.

Of course! When Ryan proposes tax loopholes and less government oversight. Those are pro-growth reforms and jobs creating incentives. But if Democrats proposed the same, that's crony capitalism and government corruption.

Fox4KC Excerpt:
Bill Black, an economics professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City says the rich have been given so many breaks that their taxes are now about one-fifth or one-sixth of what they once were.

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