Now out of the sausage stage, the Senate’s version of tax reform adds $1.4 trillion over 10 years to the country’s debt through tax cuts that will predominately benefit big business and the super wealthy.
For Kansans, it’s a bad dream déjà vu. Thanks to Gov. Sam Brownback’s infamous tax cuts of 2012-13 we know they do not spur new business. Without adequate tax revenue to pay for goods and services the country will become even more of a debtor to wealthy countries like China.
Even optimistic economists say that while the country may experience a “small boost” to the GDP, those moments will be fleeting because of the increased costs of financing a higher debt load.
Shortcomings in the tax bill include:
1. The tax cuts for big business are permanent; the tax cuts to individuals are temporary. According to a study by Penn-Wharton, average laborers initially can expect a slight increase in take-home pay — 0.2 to 1.2 percent. But that, and more, will be lost when their income taxes are raised after 10 years’ time.
2. The tuition waiver that graduate students typically receive to further their studies will be regarded as taxable income. Typically, graduate students are able to continue their studies tuition-free in return for in-kind labor such as working as teaching assistants. As a country, why would we want to put higher education even further out of reach?
3. The individual mandate that requires Americans be covered with health insurance will be repealed. For the poor and elderly, the government helps pick up the tab, critical to hospitals and others who treat those on Medicaid. Taking away that access to care will mean more than 74 million Americans will fend for themselves.
4. The biggest harm will come to today’s younger generations because the only way to pay for the increased debt is by higher taxes and cuts to social services such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
KANSAS still has a long way to go to climb out of the hole the tax cuts of 2012 have placed us in. Had we not reduced funding, our schools, roads, hospitals, prisons, etc., would be up to snuff.
Is it wrong to think the same would not happen to our country?
Surely, our representatives and senators are not so far removed from their home state that they have forgotten what we have been through.
What’s needed is serious debate on the tax bill’s pros and cons. You know, where Republicans and Democrats hash it out.
No dice.
Republicans are keeping the talks behind closed doors, banking their GOP majorities will be enough to ram through a final bill.
