Why one of the most liberal lawmakers in the Senate is backing it and what it really means.
Tucked away inside the Senate Republican’s tax bill, already jam-packed with goodies for U.S. businesses, is a provision that seems specially tailored to spark massive populist outrage: a tax break aimed at private plane travel.
It appears on page 50 of the bill, which is headed for a vote sometime after Thanksgiving. The plane thing got a wave of attention Thursday after a tweet about the provision went viral.
“If there were any doubt about who this [tax plan] serves, the special tax break for private planes should settle it,” Paul Krugman, the New York Times columnist and liberal economist, wrote on Twitter.
Well, yes and no. The measure is certainly a tax break for private plane travel, and the fact that this is part of the Republican tax bill is yet another clear sign of the way the party has used this bill to favor businesses over humans.
“It’s an egregious double standard,” said Seth Hanlon, a fellow at the liberal Center for American Progress. Senate Republicans are going out of their way
