Republican bait and switch tax cuts for the rich

But, "Let's do it!", the GOP says. ~ Emily Mills, Madison WI

"We do have piles of evidence to show that trickle-down economics doesn’t work."

Echo opinion *~ from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Up is down, left is right, and the deficit hawks have not so much laid down with the doves as they have set fire to their nests.

The GOP voted in the largest overhaul of the U.S. tax code in decades, and President Donald Trump happily signed whatever went to his desk, relieved to have finally passed something big nearly a year into his administration.

Of course, this is cause for celebration for Trump, whose own family stands to gain enormously. How enormously? That’s difficult to say, given that he has still refused to release his tax returns. 

But best estimates put Trump family savings at around $1 billion. Between this and all of the taxpayer money he’s earned through charging money for holding government functions at his properties, if he didn’t enter the White House as a billionaire, he may well leave as one.

Meanwhile, all those alleged deficit hardliners in the Republican Party have fudged on their principles in the name of throwing money at the wealthiest Americans (and themselves). 

When deficits go up due to spending on social welfare programs for the most vulnerable members of society, that’s unconscionable. 

Ballooning the deficit by $1.4 trillion by 2027 in the name of giving massive tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy? 

The Republican argument: By slashing taxes for the largest corporations and richest Americans, savings will be passed along in the form of increased hiring and wages for regular working folks. Because if there’s one thing we’ve learned about the ultra-wealthy, it’s that they have the greater good in mind. Or not.

We do have piles of evidence to show that trickle-down economics doesn’t work. We have the words of the company owners themselves that savings will be passed on to shareholders, not to boost wages or hiring.

The biggest bait-and-switch of the plan: 

Tax cuts for the wealthy are permanent, while the modest tax savings for middle-income folks will disappear after 10 years.

The claim is that throwing so much money at the wealthy will boost economic growth (though even in the plan itself it’s not nearly enough to make up for the lost revenue). 

Again, this flies in the face of reality. If you want to boost an economy, lift the working class. We’re the people who put money back into the economy through spending, as opposed to saving our money through investments and tax breaks.

Given the overwhelming unpopularity of the bill and the very real ways it will harm most Americans (who will be paying much more for health care as a result of increasing premiums), the only silver lining is that this might be the final push needed to galvanize voters against the GOP in 2018 and 2020.

How many examples of greed will it take for people to turn away?

All we can do is commit to rebuilding the nests to be big enough to support everyone. And maybe put up spikes to keep the hawks away for good.

Emily Mills is a freelance writer who lives in Madison. Twitter: @millbot; Email: emily.mills@outlook.com

* Echo opinions are blogged by Maine Writer as they are randomly found while cruising  the nation's various newspapers.