<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">The Economist </span><div class="m_-7252557818105259173blog-post__asideable-wrapper" style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; font-family: EconSans, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="m_-7252557818105259173blog-post__asideable-content--meta m_-7252557818105259173blog-post__asideable-content" style="display: flex; border-top: 1px solid rgb(215, 215, 215); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(215, 215, 215); padding-left: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="m_-7252557818105259173blog-post__section-date-author" style="padding: 0.35em 0px; width: auto; border-bottom: 0px; margin-right: auto;"><h3 class="m_-7252557818105259173blog-post__section" style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(18, 18, 18); font-size: 0.79012em; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.34;"><a class="m_-7252557818105259173blog-post__section-link" href="https://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica&source=gmail&ust=1510611143230000&usg=AFQjCNFExZtwn9Tx-NaMgfFqTXYNDmBB1A" style="color: rgb(62, 81, 181); text-decoration: none;">Democracy in America</a> <span style="color: rgb(122, 122, 122); font-size: 14.0466px; letter-spacing: 0.210699px;" class="">Nov 2nd 2017</span></h3><time class="m_-7252557818105259173blog-post__datetime" datetime="2017-11-02T21:22:45Z" style="color: rgb(122, 122, 122); letter-spacing: 0.015em; line-height: 1.4; padding-right: 0.35em; float: left; display: block; font-size: 0.70233em;"><br class=""></time><div style="color: rgb(122, 122, 122); letter-spacing: 0.015em; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px; float: left; font-size: 0.70233em;" class="">by <span class="m_-7252557818105259173blog-post__byline">H.C. | WASHINGTON, DC</span></div></div><div class="m_-7252557818105259173blog-post__sharebar" style="height: 55px; display: flex; padding-left: 0.35em;"><div class="m_-7252557818105259173share-component"><div class="m_-7252557818105259173share-component__icons" style="display: flex;"><div class="m_-7252557818105259173share__icon--twitter m_-7252557818105259173share__icon" style="margin: 0px 15px 0px 0px !important;"></div><div class="m_-7252557818105259173share__icon--linkedin m_-7252557818105259173share__icon" style="margin: 0px 15px 0px 0px !important;"><br class=""></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="m_-7252557818105259173blog-post__text" style="font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; color: rgb(18, 18, 18); margin-top: 1.45em; line-height: 1.6; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p class="">1st 2 paragraphs <b class="">[bold added] </b></p><p class="">A DEBATE has raged this year about whether the Republican effort on taxes should be described as “tax reform”—which implies improving efficiency and fairness–or just “tax cuts”. Parts of the tax bill released, at long last, by House Republicans on November 2nd are worthy of the first title. The tax bill aggressively takes on deductions in the individual income tax code, and channels the proceeds towards across-the-board cuts in income tax. Unfortunately, that good work is undone by expensive giveaways to the owners of firms, and unnecessary windfalls to the heirs of the rich. <b class="">As a result, the bill would saddle the economy with more debt, and could end up being a drag on growth.</b></p><p class="">Start with the good stuff. Republicans want to mostly scrap the state and local deduction, an unwarranted federal subsidy for states that levy high taxes <a href="https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21730909-scrapping-state-and-local-tax-deduction-will-be-difficult-it-good" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21730909-scrapping-state-and-local-tax-deduction-will-be-difficult-it-good&source=gmail&ust=1510611143230000&usg=AFQjCNGUdXpK-rR7nT4OLz9LWTiV-8MfQw" style="color: rgb(62, 81, 181); text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(62, 81, 181); padding-bottom: 1px;" class="">(see article).</a> Displaying an admirable willingness to go after even popular tax breaks, they would curtail the deduction for mortgage interest payments, which <b class="">flows mostly to the rich and distorts the economy </b>towards housing. The deduction would be limited to $500,000 of mortgage borrowing, down from $1m today</p><div class="">Full article</div><div class=""><a href="https://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2017/11/bill-two-halves" class=""><font color="#1155cc" class="">https://www.economist.com/</font><font color="#1155cc" class=""><wbr class="">blogs/democracyinamerica/2017/<wbr class="">11/bill-two-halves</font></a></div><div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" class=""><br class=""></div></div><div class="">
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">***********************************************************************<br class="">"Conservationists must therefore assess both current and future distributions of species.”<br class=""><br class="">Araújo and Rahbek. How does climate change affect biodiversity? Science 2006).<br class=""> <br class="">******************************************************************************************************<br class="">“Using a meta-analysis, we estimated that the distributions of species have recently shifted to higher elevations at a median rate <br class="">of 11.0 meters per decade, and to higher latitudes at a median rate of 16.9 kilometers per decade. These rates are approximately <br class="">two and three times faster than previously reported”<br class=""><br class="">Chen et al. Rapid Range Shifts of Species Associated with High Levels of Climate Warming. Science 2011).<br class=""> <br class="">******************************************************************************************************************<br class="">“The rate of warming implies … range shifts of up to several kilometers per year, raising the prospect of daunting challenges for ecosystems …”<br class=""><br class="">Diffenbaugh and Field. Changes in Ecologically Critical Terrestrial Climate Conditions. Science. 2013<br class=""> <br class="">*****************************************************************************************************************<br class="">At a time when the world is anticipating unprecedented increases in human population growth and demands, the ability of natural ecosystems <br class="">to deliver ecosystem services is being challenged by the largest climate-driven global redistribution of species since the Last Glacial Maximum.”<br class=""><br class="">Pecl et al. Biodiversity redistribution under climate change: Impacts on ecosystems and human well-being. Science 2017<br class=""><br class=""></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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