The Republicans have only one plan: Tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. You can bet, how to pay for tax cuts for the rich will dominate the hearings on tax reform. Tax reform is next since the failure to pass Trumpcare. You better believe the Freedom Caucus will be all over their plan. That’s a problem, when it’s the only plan they have.
President Donald Trump promised he would cut taxes for everyone, including the poor and middle class. He says lots of things. Smart folks don’t believe a word he says. He said health care would be better and cheaper immediately after he got elected. So much for talk. The Freedom Caucus will stop any cuts in taxes for the poor or middle class because of the costs. They will want tax cuts for the wealthiest paid for also.
We said over and over Republicans did not have a health care plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. They said over and over that they did. They didn’t. At least not an acceptable plan. Only 17 percent of Americans supported Trumpcare.
The president didn’t think health care reform would be difficult. Wrong. Now he seems to think his tax reform plan will be easy. Wrong. Not only the Freedom Caucus but the American people will have a lot to say. Do you really think the middle class will be willing to give up their tax deduction for mortgage interest to pay for a tax cut for the Donald Trumps in our country? Of course the Freedom Caucus wants to get rid of most all middle class tax deductions. It looks like another head to head battle.
If you want to know how they intend to pay for tax cuts at the top, just take a glance at their budget preview. It’s without doubt the meanest, most selfish, and foolish proposed budget most people have ever seen. Yes, it will probably include eliminating mortgage interest deductions, charitable giving and much more. It eliminates after school meals for hungry kids. The GOP says feeding them doesn’t help the kids learn, so let em‘ go hungry. Gone will be government help for meals on wheels. They need that money for the tax cuts for the rich and the military. I guess seniors can go hungry also.
Most women’s health care clinics will be eliminated, even though there is plenty of evidence showing these clinics prevent many cancer deaths by catching and treating cancer in its early stages. Planned Parenthood does not use any federal funding to finance abortions. The Republicans would have you think otherwise. They will close them all down for no good reason.
They will slash Medicare payments and use that money for their tax reform. They have already proposed eliminating prescription drug coverage, raising deductibles and premium cost, and even turning coverage for major medical expenses over to private insurance companies. These came out during the Trumpcare debate. You had better believe you will see them again during discussions about tax reform.
You will see many proposals from the Republicans to cut what they call discretionary spending and what Democrats call absolutely necessary spending. You will see efforts to cut entitlement programs, such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. This in order to pay for a $16 trillion increase in military spending and reform in the tax code which will give a tax cut savings to the top 2 percent of about $215 billion over a decade. Trump tax reform could run the deficit up by an enormous amount, four or five times the deficits under Obama.
Eliminating programs for the poor and now even the middle class, to pay for tax breaks for the rich has always been the Republicans’ way of operating. It must be in the Republican version of the Bible. “Thou should give tax breaks to the wealthy no matter how many poor and needy people thou may hurt.”
The Republicans have waited for years to get control of all three branches of government so they could show us how taking money from the poor and giving to the rich will really help the poor. Damned if I can see it, it’s Robin Hood in reverse.
They always say if you can’t make it under their plan of tax cuts for the most wealthy, it’s your own fault. If you’re blind or crippled, it’s your own darned fault. If you have a mental disability, it’s your fault. “Nothing is our fault” they say, “it’s all your fault.” Ask them how that can be.
While you’re asking them, tell them to ditch their tax reform proposal; it stinks.
Glen McAdoo, a Fallon resident, can be contacted at glen@phonewave.net.
