They're back at it. Republicans have decided this year that the way to pass big legislation is to jam it through without much debate and without any attempt to reach out to the other side. This time it's taxes. Before we get started, in case you forgot what the Democrats did when they overhauled health care, they adopted a Republican idea and tried to work with Republicans for a year before moving forward (with that Republican originated plan).
Alright, so, taxes. Let's start with the build up: Republicans, in particular the President, have been saying that they would overhaul the tax code and give the average worker a huge tax cut. There are a couple things wrong here:
1) It's temporary. Republicans love this tactic. Make the tax cut for people temporary so that it doesn't seem as bad for the government's budgeting as if it were perminant and then, when the tax cut is about to expire, announce that anybody not wanting to extend it is looking to increase taxes. It's sickening to me to see this tactic used over and over again. We know you want to make it perminant, so just do it. Don't be so underhanded about it.
2) Corporate tax cuts AREN'T temporary. As if it weren't enough of a slap in the face to have people's tax cut be temporary, the corporate tax cut isn't. You know why they aren't temporary? I'm sure Republicans will say it's because the markets hate instability and so changing the tax rate repeatedly would be bad for business.... the real answer, however, is that raising the corporate tax rate is not as big a deal to the average voter as raising individuals' tax rates... so... it's my first point of being upset made even more clear.
3) It's not a huge tax cut for individuals. The main benefits continue to go to the top. I'm not really sure if I need to say anything more here. It's always going to be this way when Republicans are in charge for one reason: They don't see a progressive tax structure as a good thing. They think it's unfair for the richest among us to pay a higher rate than the average and that everyone should pay the same rate. I'm not going to go to far into why I consider a graduated income tax, a progressive tax, to be better here, but I'll make sure to write about that soon. Suffice it to say, I consider progressive taxes to be far superior.
4) They're not paying for it. Remember the mantra of the Republicans for the last 8 years that everything must be paid for? Yeah, that's apparently went out the window as soon as they're fully in power. In other words, they don't actually care about what they claim to stand for: fiscal responsibility.
5) Actually, they are planning to pay for it, they're just not telling you. And here's where we get to the part that really kills me. It's not that the $1.5 trillion over 10 years isn't part of their plan... it is. They want to decrease the federal government's incoming resources by as much as possible. Why? Because then they can explain that we don't have the money to pay for all that the government is doing. We can't spend as much as we do because we just don't have the money to pay for it. They won't say it immediately either. They may even wait until a Democrat is in the White House. There will be many that won't, however. You know that the far right, the Tea Party and the like, will likely start complaining about how we're spending more than we're taking in almost immediately. And $1.5 trillion over 10 years is not chump change, by the way. It's roughly 1/30 of the overall budget and more than 1/10 the discretionary spending budget from 2016. It's roughly 1/4 our military spending or about twice as much as we spend on Veteran's Affairs or about 10 times as much as we spend on food & agriculture or about 5 times as much as we spend on transportation. I could go on and on with comparisons but I think you get the idea. (oh, and it's about 1/4 the current deficit that Republicans had been railing about being too high for around 8 years prior to this year) So where do we cut to make up for this deficit? I'd be willing to bet that it won't be from the military... which brings us to my 6th point.
6) Because the tax cuts, which are making our tax plan less progressive and therefore are already providing more benefits to the wealthiest, are going to lead to spending cuts that will reduce the benefits the average and poorest among us get from government spending, the result is actually more regressive than you think they will be. You're going to pay for reducing the share that the wealthiest among us contribute by reducing the help the government offers those that need it.
And all this while saying that it's going to be great for the average worker.
Dark Wind Rising
No comments:
Post a Comment