BY GUEST BLOGGER STACY FITZGERALD: One of the most popular games for people 8 to 80 is Two Truths and a Lie. The game involves telling three facts and having players say which “facts” are true and which are lies. I think our Congress and the Trump administration are playing the game in reverse with the American people.
As the Senate scrambles to push through comprehensive tax reform, you’ve no doubt heard Senate Republicans tout the anticipated savings working families can expect. They say cutting the corporate tax rate from 35% to 20% will enable more companies to return to the U.S., provide more jobs and pay higher wages. It all sounds great -- except it’s two big, fat, whopping lies.
The First Lie: Tax Cuts for the Working Class
This week the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) said the Senate’s bill would add more than $1 trillion to the federal deficit and will screw working families. Just check out the chart above.
This tax “cut” actually will impose higher taxes on lower-income Americans, while providing a huge windfall to those who make more than $1 million annually -- as much as $59,000. With the money saved by those making over $1 million in 2019, one could buy a luxury car and pay for it in cash. Conversely, the lunch lady at your kid’s school would see her taxes raised by $46 annually – the equivalent of about two days of meals in some families.
So, it’s a big, fat lie that these cuts will benefit the working class most.
Lie Number 2: Workers will benefit from the corporate tax cuts.
That is the incessant Republican peddling of the “trickle-down economics” philosophy that claims when corporations save money on taxes, they will use that money to return offshore operations to the U.S., create more jobs and increase salaries.
But, that’s not what big business plans to do with their windfall. Instead, they will pay higher dividends to shareholders and buy back shares of their companies, according to Bloomberg Politics. So, listen to the executives themselves. They’ve said what they will do with that tax savings and we should believe them.
Trickle-down economics is a myth and a stock defense for Republican lawmakers to justify giving handouts to corporations and the wealthy at the expense of working-class Americans. So, yes, it too is a big, fat lie.
Now, the Truth
The Republicans elected to help Trump fulfill his grandiose promises to Make America Great Again for the working class figured that with control of both Congress and the White House, they could push the president’s agenda and satisfy his base and their constituents.
But there hasn’t been a single major legislative win for this president and they can’t sell their big-ticket items – including tax reform, to a skeptical electorate. The truth is that none of it will benefit the average American and they know it.
Most American’s don’t like the Republican tax reform proposals, but it doesn’t matter. The Republicans – and Trump – are hungry for a win…and they don’t really care how they get it or who gets screwed in the process.
Passage of comprehensive tax reform is hardly a done deal even as Republicans rush to advance it, without hearings, proper debate and with little analysis. The tax proposal will add more than $1 trillion to America’s debt, all while benefitting the wealthiest Americans while hurting those less fortunate. Senate and House bills, which contain significant differences, must be reconciled before a final bill is considered in both chambers and, presumably, sent to Trump for his photo-op signature.
We deserve a White House and Congress that will serve the interests of all Americans and not just the 1 percent. Right now, that’s not we have – not anymore. So, it's time to resist.
Stacy Fitzgerald is a Washington, DC area Gen Xer whose obsessions include politics, traveling and food and wine ventures.