(Cartoon image is by Ed Wexler at cagle.com.)Donald Trump campaigned on giving all Americans a tax cut, especially the middle class. But after becoming president, he released an outline of his tax cut plan, and guess who gets the bulk of those tax cuts? That's right -- it's the corporations, the Wall Street bankers and hedge funds, and the rich. If you make less than a quarter of a million dollars a year, the cuts for you are negligible or nonexistent. He lied!
Now we have the GOP-dominated Congress saying they are going to take up tax "reform" ( a euphemism for tax cuts). They are telling the same lie that Trump told -- that their "reform" will include tax cuts for the middle class. It won't.
If that was true, Democrats would love to join them in voting for it. Democrats sent Senate Minority Leader McConnell a letter saying they would be happy to join in cutting taxes for the working and middle classes (but wouldn't support tax cuts for the richest people).
What was McConnell's response? Was he thrilled that Democrats would join Republicans in cutting taxes for the middle class? Not at all. His response was that the Republicans would use budget reconciliation (which cannot be filibustered and only requires 51 votes) to pass their tax reform. They would try to pass the tax cuts without any Democratic votes (like they tried to do with health care).
Why would they do that? Because their "reform" is really just a way to give corporations, Wall Street banks and hedge funds, and the rich massive tax cuts. They're not interested in helping the middle class (and definitely not the working class), and if those groups get any cut at all, it won't be enough to notice. The Republicans make a lot of promises to voters to win elections, but once those elections are over they return to rewarding their true constituency -- the rich.
If you really think the Republicans are going to give you a tax cut, then you are either rich, a Trump voter, or as stupid as a Trump voter.
(Cartoon image is by Dave Granlund at davegranlund.com.)
