As they continue to threaten the U.S. economy with a debt ceiling default that would be devastating for Americans and the reputation of the United States across the globe, the GOP is also secretly plotting to begin making a push for $3 trillion in tax cuts for the very rich.
Politico’s Brendan Duke reports that Republicans will introduce their massive tax cut just two weeks after the June 1 debt limit deadline, suggesting that they’ve been planning the measure for some time now.
Keep in mind these tax cuts would be in addition to the massive Trump tax cuts which have already ballooned the federal deficit and long-term debt, with the Center for American Progress noting:
President Donald Trump’s signature tax bill, enacted when Republicans gained control of the White House and both houses of Congress in 2017, will have cost roughly $1.7 trillion by the end of fiscal year 2023. These tax cuts reduced personal income tax rates and permanently lowered the corporate tax rate, among other changes. Despite being paired with a further expansion of the child tax credit, the 2017 changes also largely benefited the wealthy, once again making the U.S. tax code significantly more regressive.
Now add in the tax cuts passed during the presidency of George W. Bush and you wind up with $10 trillion in lost revenues that would certainly come in handy right about now, especially since Republicans have already made it clear they don’t plan to cut a dime from the Department of Defense, which will continue to see massive inflows of taxpayer money even though the United States isn’t at war with anyone.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy notes that two-thirds of the benefits in a new tax cut would go to the richest fifth of Americans, meaning millionaires and billionaires, the very people who can afford to pay more.
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has been saying for weeks that the United States doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem, but the numbers show otherwise, and his plan to cut taxes again is the strongest proof yet that Republicans will eventually be going after Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. They deny that’s their plan, but these are the same fiscal fanatics who subscribe to what Americans for Tax Reform founder and president Grover Norquist said back in 2001:
“I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.”
If they have to drown millions of us in debt, poverty, starvation, and want, that’s a price they’re more than willing to see the average American pay to keep taxes on the rich as low as possible.
