More tax give-aways to the super-rich.
How ironic that many Republican leaders criticize what they call “entitlements” like Social Security and Medicare (which we pay for throughout our working lives) and other programs like Food Stamps and school lunch programs designed to help our less-fortunate brothers and sisters.
The irony is that these same Republican leaders are giving wealthy individuals and big corporations who are their financial supporters huge tax cuts that do nothing for the rest of us other than add more than $400 billion to the national debt, which we all end up paying for through interest on that debt.
Now the administration is considering another huge tax cut for the wealthy in the form of lower taxes on capital gains from the sale of stocks and bonds. For some of the middle class, such a tax break might mean a few hundred or maybe a few thousand dollars, while it could reap millions for the very rich. Remember, most Americans don’t have stocks or bonds, so the price of the Dow or the proposed tax breaks will have no direct impact on them. Instead, it would burden us and our children with another $100 billion in national debt.
We’ve already seen the administration give the super-rich a $1.5 trillion tax cut, which has added to an already-ballooning national debt. Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, writes in today’s N.Y. Times that neither tax cuts nor tariffs are working. In fact, he says, there’s evidence that the new tariffs are actually hurting American business while pushing prices up for American consumers. Trump likes to say the tax cuts have helped boost economic growth to 2.9 percent last year, but a closer look shows that growth doesn’t come close to offsetting revenues lost to the Treasury by the tax cuts.
It would be nice to see our elected leaders doing something to help those of us in the middle, but their focus clearly to make the super-rich even richer. Time for a change, I would think.
There's zero empathy for ordinary citizens under this administration. Front page headline in today's Wall Street Journal is "Trump Plans New Tariffs on China."
He doesn't have to clothe young kids who fit their shoes and clothes often only for 8 months when they need new ones, on a pittance salary that IS taxed. With what's left after taxes they shop for China-made shoes and pants on sale at Wal-Mart and TJ Maxx.
According to William Mauldin, this move "is poised to hit U.S. consumers in the pocketbook and roiling financial markets." Starting Sept. 1, it will cover phones, apparel, toys and other consumer products. Salaries are stagnant; minimum wage covers little, but at least our billionaires will rest easy at night knowing they'll save a $million or more in taxes when they duck in and out of the stock market where their gains add up so they can buy more and more and more.
Posted by: Jeanne Byington | August 02, 2019 at 01:46 PM