President Trump has blathered on and on about how much the new Republican tax plan will benefit working-class Americans by stimulating growth and bolstering the economy with all those corporate tax cuts trickling down to workers in the form of new and better jobs and higher wages.
Unfortunately, just about every single economist not on the payroll of a major corporation or the Republican Party itself has pointed out that the trickle-down theory is a cruel and proven hoax being perpetrated by greedy one-percenter’s not content with already controlling the vast majority of the country’s wealth.
They have shouted helplessly at the sky about how the tax bill will leave our descendants a legacy of debt while eventually raising taxes on everybody except corporations and the rich, all while cutting essential social services and destroying our health care system.
With the propaganda war being waged in a media under siege from a President actively trying to discredit the accurate reporting proving the factual deficiencies of his statements by labeling it as “fake news”, today’s report in The Washington Post shows who retains the most credibility in the battle for public opinion over the tax bill.
The Post went to Detroit in Michigan, the state that was a crucial, albeit narrow, win for Trump in the election. In a suburb that leaned heavily towards the Trump column in the election, they interviewed a series of voters about their attitudes towards the tax bill and the administration that has gotten it to the verge of being enacted. What they found should be worrying for Trump and any Republican standing for election next year,
“A 60-year-old retiree bowling with a group of girlfriends said she’s tired of the middle class having to pay more so the wealthy can become even wealthier. A few lanes away, a middle-aged woman with frizzy gray hair said that the more she hears about the plan, the more she hates it. And a group of young guys in matching shirts said they didn’t even know the proposal was in the works, although they seemed skeptical that their taxes would ever go down in a meaningful way.”
The paper interviewed 49-year-old Ron Stephens, a Republican purchasing manager in the auto industry, who said that he expected to receive no benefit whatsoever from the tax bill since any cuts in the tax rates would be counterbalanced by the elimination of other deductions that he would normally take. He was also apoplectic over the thought of reducing taxes on corporations.
“Why are you going to lower their taxes?” Stephens said, naming some wealthy auto-titan families as examples. “The level of lifestyle that they have versus everyone else — why do they need that? It’s not that big of an impact for them, but for someone making $30,000 a year? That would have a huge impact on them.”
It seems as if Trump’s base may finally be waking up to the fact that the President may not have their best interests in mind in endorsing a tax bill that includes provisions such as eliminating an inheritance tax that by its very nature only applies to multi-millionaires.
Andrew Stewart, a 30-year-old waiter, called out the President’s hypocrisy when he said:
“They’re not looking out for the middle class. The separation between the middle class and the upper class, it’s growing, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence. . . . It’s easier to control people when they’re under your thumb.”
“I feel completely unrepresented,” he said. “I don’t feel like I’m represented at all. It’s just a sad time in American history.”
Even people who retain their trust in President Trump to defend their interests as he promised on the campaign trail are skeptical of the bill. Patrick Colley, a 59-year-old Teamster, was excited to have a president who understands people like him and has believed the phony description of the tax bill as a cut for the middle class. Yet he still thinks that the bill is biased towards wealthy corporations and the people who control them.
“It’s depressing, you know? It’s depressing. I pay like 30 percent [in taxes], and I’m a regular guy. It’s not fair. And a millionaire pays like 12 percent,” he said. “It’s not fair. It’s not fair at all.”
With polls showing that the vast majority of Americans agree with that sentiment and oppose the tax bill that must now be reconciled to synch up the House and Senate versions into a final bill to be sent to the President’s desk, there is still time to prevent this monstrosity from becoming law. Both houses of Congress have to vote on the final version of the bill.
Call your elected representatives, start a demonstration, do everything you can to show anyone who plans on voting for this transfer of your money to the already wealthy that they will be out of work if they do so. The beneficiaries of the bill may be financing their campaigns, but in the end, it’s your vote they need. Let them know that they will only get it if they vote this tax bill down.
