Not. One. Hearing ... on the actual tax bill. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed its tax package, which changes our entire federal tax code in profound and far-reaching ways, without holding one hearing including multiple points of view on the bill as presented.
Rep. Tipton says the bill will add 16,000 full-time jobs in Colorado, and a “middle-income family” will gain $2,682. I called his Grand Junction office and asked the source of these estimates. It’s the Tax Foundation. The credibility of this group is in tatters after promises of job and wage growth and general prosperity failed to materialize after the Reagan tax cuts of the 1980s and the George W. Bush cuts 15 years ago.
The same promises are still bogus. Rep. Tipton and Sen. Gardner would have you believe that a cut in the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent, and a cut in the estate tax of the idle mega-rich will result in those new jobs and middle-income family tax benefit.
Nonsense. Corporations have been awash in cash for years. They don’t invest and create new jobs because there’s insufficient demand. Demand is depressed because the 1 percent has captured nearly all of the income gains since Ronald Reagan cut taxes, deregulated industry and busted unions and working families have less money to spend.
No, this is just a huge tax cut. Republican high dollar donors are threatening that if the tax cut fails, their Congress critters will be cut off from their donations. That’s the motivation.
Peter Tregillus
Durango
