If the GOP really wants to help the middle class, why not give all the tax cuts to us?
Every time Republicans take control of the federal government they decide that a new round of tax cuts is urgently needed because 1) we need to spur economic growth in the midst of an economic downturn, or 2) we have a budget surplus and need to return the money to the taxpayers, or 3) the economy is doing well and we’re still running deficits, but we need to make it look like Donald Trump has done something in the past 10 months other than accuse a morning show host of getting a botched facelift.
And every time they propose a tax cut, they try to disguise it as a boon for the middle class, even though it’s always a huge windfall for the already wealthy.
So here’s a sincere question we need to ask Republicans: If your chief aim really is to help middle-class and low-income taxpayers, why don’t you start with a tax-reform bill that will directly benefit us — and only us? If you want us to believe you, focus your efforts exclusively on getting more money into the pockets of ordinary consumers, who will create the demand for goods and services that all businesses need in order to thrive.
It’s economics 101, and it couldn’t be any simpler.
And passing that bill would be a cinch, since Democrats would eagerly get on board. It would also begin to mitigate our country’s huge income disparities, which have only gotten worse since trickle-down theories came into vogue during the ‘80s.
We’ve tried it your way for three-plus decades (notwithstanding a couple of minor detours) and all we’ve got to show for it is a shrinking middle class, growing government and personal debts, a yawning wealth gap, a Great Recession that took years to recover from, and a middle class angry and confused enough to make an irritable bowel our 45th president.
If all that extra money in ordinary Americans’ pockets leads to economic disaster, you can go back to Reaganomics.
What do you think? Deal?
