We the People: Hope or hypocrisy?

President Trump is busy pushing a tax bill that will slash corporate taxes from 35 to 15 percent. He claims the tax cuts for the American corporations are necessary and will magically pay for themselves. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin said that economic growth spurred by tax cuts would prevent an increase in the federal deficit.

The nonpartisan Brookings Tax Policy Center forecasts that this tax break would reduce government revenue by $2.4 trillion over 10 years. This huge hole would require huge cuts in government spending. That spending helps poorer, sicker and older Americans.

The working class and middle class would have to pony up the missing revenue so that Apple could warehouse another $600 billion more in unspent profits in some tax haven. If the consequences of the proposed cuts are considered, a reasonable person will realize that a modest middle class tax cut would be economically insignificant compared to the massive giveaway to corporations of a 10 percent reduction in the tax rate.

Mr. Trump claims that the cuts would increase economic growth which would create taxes and fees to make up for the reduction. This did not happen for Ronald Reagan and our corporations do not need this tax break.

It is likely the entire burden of reducing the increased deficit, in order to avoid the inevitable unsustainable debt level, would fall on federal programs like Social Security and Medicare.

Corporations enjoy tax breaks and deductions that reduce the effective average corporate tax to 27.7 percent, which is in keeping with rest of the industrialized world. Our corporations are enjoying record profits and pay Americans wealthy enough to invest in the stock market record dividends.

We all know that our government runs at a deficit. So does Mr. Trump, so how can he say that cutting revenue for the government will not increase the federal deficit? The deficit is, in reality, a deferred tax increase for all Americans.

This is a ploy by Mr. Trump and Republicans to pull the wool over the eyes of working class and middle class American taxpayers while rewarding the powerful and wealthy.

When does Mr. Trump choose to push this unfair and unworkable plan? During an enormous crisis caused by Hurricane Harvey.

Senator Ted Cruz and the Texas delegation all voted against any funding for New York City during the devastation caused by Superstorm Sandy but now want to distance themselves from their own despicable behavior and expect America to see the tragic irony of the situation.
Representative Peter King correctly reminded reporters that this is not the time to dwell on past mistakes made by others. This is a time for Americans to help Americans.

His nonpartisan, common sense assessment of the situation should give hope to all Americans. It should remind us that we would be better off to ignore name calling and ideological intrigue, and pay attention to doing the right thing for each other and for the next generation.

That is the hope for our future. Partisans wear blinders making it impossible for them to see the big picture or anything other than what comes directly before them. There are liberal and conservative partisans misleading and misdirecting all Americans.

A person commented on the unfairness of increasing the deficit to help billionaires by ballooning the deficit by complaining that President Obama allowed the federal deficit to increase by $10 trillion in eight years.

If accepted as true, it ignores the situation at hand and ignores the fact that Mr. Trump’s plan will increase the federal deficit. We should have federal spending re-dedicated toward paying back federal IOUs to the Social Security trust fund and to paying off some of the federal deficit. That would help all Americans.

It could happen if Americans cast off their blinders and see this tax plan for what it is: A wealth redistribution plan to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

Hope for a better future must overcome the hypocrisy of partisan politics. Let us pray for the people of Houston, insist that our federal government give them the help they need and insist that Congress not put us deeper into debt just to help Goldman Sachs, Apple, Exxon/Mobil and Walmart become richer and more powerful.