D.W. Ulsterman On The Republican Tax Reform Bill - AKA "Dumb & Dumber"

Hey, I’m all for a good thing. You betcha. This Republican tax reform bill though? It’s far from good – at least for much of the Middle Class. Not that it’s all bad, either. There’s some positives to be found, namely in the form of much-needed reduced corporate tax rates, but these Republican “leaders” in Congress sure seem to have a knack for over-complicating what should be simple politics – do right by the people and they’ll do right by you.

The American Middle Class has been getting hammered from all sides for far too long. The tax reform bill in its current form pretends to alleviate some of that in the form of doubling the standard deduction to $24000. The problem is other deductions are then reduced or even eliminated altogether meaning the overall plan offers at best a marginal reduction in taxes that historically, ranks the plan as among the lowest of all federal tax reductions. In fact, the Reagan tax cuts in 1981 were many times greater overall. As for the Trump-era proposed tax cuts? Not so much. Even George W. Bush’s reductions were much more:

Rather puny isn’t it? The reason is simple. Republicans are once again reacting out of fear of both the millions of Trump supporters who demand they accomplish something, and the Mainstream Media and Democrats who are already ramping up their attacks to accuse them of favoring the wealthy just in time for the 2018 Midterms. It’s the D.C. version of dumb and dumber.

What they don’t understand is that good leadership requires tougher choices to be made that take precedence over self-serving worries over getting re-elected. And the fact is, a sweeping and massive tax cut and reform package would get this economy truly firing on all cylinders which in turn would benefit ALL Americans and THAT would rightfully secure election victories for the political party responsible.

Sadly, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan are not made of such stuff. They are primarily motivated by self-preservation of themselves and the status-quo. This tax reform bill in its present form is merely the appearance of doing something without actually doing it. Monies are being shifted a bit but too little real-world benefit will be the result for far too many.

All in all it’s a disappointment. Perhaps it is only the start of real and meaningful tax reform in this country. Then again, perhaps this is as good as this crew of Republicans in Congress are capable of delivering. Until more of them are sent packing by voters we can all expect more of the same from this lump of do-nothings.

-DWU

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