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House Democrats are keen to raise taxes on corporations, high-income earners, and users of vaping products to pay for their $3.5 trillion spending bill. But they're cutting local newspapers some slack by slipping a special subsidy for publishers into their latest tax proposal.
Under the tax bill released by the House Ways and Means Committee this morning, local publishers would get annual tax credits of up to $25,000 for each journalist they employ, which could then be put toward their employers' share of Medicare payroll taxes. The value of the credit would fall to $15,000 after the law has been in effect for a year.
This would be a refundable tax credit. In other words, if the value of the tax credit exceeds the Medicare taxes a publisher pays, the publisher would receive the difference in the form of a check from the IRS. This transforms the policy from a targeted tax break to a direct subsidy.
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Interest in providing federal aid to struggling local newspapers has surged during the pandemic, as advertising dollars have dried up and as problems at the Post Office meant many publications struggled to get their product to subscribers.
So... their product hasn't kept up with the times... and/or their product is crapola... and now the government wants to fund them. I wonder if this will control the content they produce?
I guess you could also ask - why should China be the only government funding newspaper outlets?
Guess it’s all up to Manchin to stop the insanity. Mail in ballot harvesting has had massive implications on the future of our country. Even then incompetent Dems still can’t get through what they really want…yet
I have a big problem with this, not just that I don't agree with most subsidies. Wouldn't this be government-run newspapers? As in, "Oh, we'll give you subsidies, as long as you give a certain slant in all your articles.". This shouldn't happen. We're not China, but we're looking more like it everyday.
I have a big problem with this, not just that I don't agree with most subsidies. Wouldn't this be government-run newspapers? As in, "Oh, we'll give you subsidies, as long as you give a certain slant in all your articles.". This shouldn't happen. We're not China, but we're looking more like it everyday.
Yes, you are exactly correct.
This is a "hey, thanks for always having our back and burying the bad news" gesture.
Are private defense contractors government-run companies?
Are large (or small) corporations that receive federal (or state) tax credits government-run organizations?
Are banks that received federal assistance a decade ago government-run banks?
I'm more interested in how this bill would define "local". My hometown newspaper is "local", but it's owned by Gannett, the largest newspaper owner in the country. The newspaper in the town I work is "local", but it's owned by Digital First Media, the second largest newspaper firm and owned by the hedge fund Alden Capital.
They don't need help, and they'd just redirect that money toward the bottom line instead of increasing reporting staff or improving infrastructure (modern presses, modern production equipment, etc.).
If this bill helps the truly "local" newspapers that are locally owned or family-owned, that would be a different conversation. They're mostly small dailies and weeklies that always have struggled.
Are private defense contractors government-run companies?
Are large (or small) corporations that receive federal (or state) tax credits government-run organizations?
Are banks that received federal assistance a decade ago government-run banks?
I'm more interested in how this bill would define "local". My hometown newspaper is "local", but it's owned by Gannett, the largest newspaper owner in the country. The newspaper in the town I work is "local", but it's owned by Digital First Media, the second largest newspaper firm and owned by the hedge fund Alden Capital.
They don't need help, and they'd just redirect that money toward the bottom line instead of increasing reporting staff or improving infrastructure (modern presses, modern production equipment, etc.).
If this bill helps the truly "local" newspapers that are locally owned or family-owned, that would be a different conversation. They're mostly small dailies and weeklies that always have struggled.
Obviously they are looking for favorable coverage in exchange for thinly veiled bribes.
It's just where we are now.
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