by James Wallace Harris, Tuesday, November 21, 2017
If only Congressmen carried guns, we could call their tax reform armed robbery. Republicans feel they have a mandate from America to cut taxes – that’s not true. Since Reagan, they have transformed themselves into an anti-tax cult. Conservatives have brainwashed themselves to believe God and his only begotten daughter Ayn Rand have put them on Earth to cut taxes. They will commit any crime to get what they want, believing they are faithful jihadists fighting the evil forces of the big government. This anti-tax religion has given conservatives meaning and purpose in life, empowering themselves with self-righteousness to believe their end goal justifies any means. They will lie, cheat, steal to get what they want, and they lack all integrity. Embracing Donald Trump proves that.
Our tax system certainly needs reform, but there’s a difference between a real tax overhaul and slash and burn tax cutting. Conservatives want to make America great again but want to do it on the cheap. A great civilization costs money, big money. The cherished belief that a smaller government is better is merely another rationalization to cut taxes. We all want to live in a great society. We all want security. We all want fairness and justice. Unfortunately, the rich believe they deserve all the wealth and don’t care what happens to the rest of us. Their main delusion is they earn their money so it’s theirs to keep.
Americans want a society where work and effort pay off in success. But no one earns millions, or billions, through solo hard work. The rich whine they shouldn’t be taxed at a higher rate than ordinary people, ignoring they enjoy the fruits of our society at rates ten, hundreds, thousands of times that of ordinary Americas. Paying taxes at a higher rate should be their fair payment for membership in a minority that gets to fly in private jets, sail in big yachts, and dwell in multiple mansions while a poorer majority struggle to just get by in small homes, driving old Toyotas, and fantasizing about living the good life by binge-watching television.
The idea of trickle down wealth is just another rationalization to be greedier. Wealth trickles up from the common people. The masses are the slaves that give the rich their obscene lifestyles. To refuse universal healthcare, living wages, a safe infrastructure, and minimum standards of living only makes the wealthy obscenely obscene. If the rich keep hijacking all the wealth, they will starve the base society that supports their luxury lifestyle. Our economic system is a symbiotic relationship between capital and labor, but the rich want it to be a vampiric relationship. What happens will they kill their host?
We can have a great America, a great civilization only if we buy it. It does not come from Voodoo economics. The rich should not get any tax cuts at all and should be paying somewhat more than what they pay now. We should enact a 50% bracket until the national debt is paid off, the infrastructure is rebuilt, a fair universal health care is put into place, and a minimum living wage established, including a guaranteed minimum wage.
When we’re reorganized, rebuilt, out of debt, and America is truly great again, then we can roll back taxes. Right now, a tax cut is like a person with bankruptcy level debts deciding to cut back on their work hours. We need to reorganize the tax system, so it brings in more money, not less, and it needs to be equitable to all.
I have been reading a lot of articles on this tax overhaul. Take the time to read the ones I list below. Overhauling the tax structure is immensely complicated. Republicans tout simplistic mumbo-jumbo to rationalize their greed. If they get what they want, it will only hurt America. We live in tough times, a time when the tough should get going. Instead, our tough leaders are stealing the nation blind. We face countless threats to our survival. Instead of spending the money to fight those threats, we’re giving more money to the super-rich so they can pollute even more with bigger private jets, bigger yachts, and more mansions.
The trouble with conservatives is they’ve embraced a single-solution philosophy – cut taxes. That’s why they want to shrink the government, cancel health care and other social programs, do away with K-12 and Higher Education, ignore environmental issues, cut regulations, and anything else that gets in the way of them taking all the money in existence.
The real problem we face is wealth inequality. It will destroy America before climate change. The easiest way to understand what I’m talking about is to watch Robert Reich’s documentaries or read his books. Saving Capitalism just showed up on Netflix. The proposed GOP tax cuts will only transfer more money to the wealthy making inequality worse.
Do we really need these tax cuts now? Wasn’t overhauling the tax system the real goal? Are we getting tax-reform or being mugged? Taxation is an incredibly complicated problem, so is it fair to leave it in the hands of true believers whose faith is founded on attacking expertise and science? As citizens, we’re at the mercy of our leaders. Shouldn’t important issues require referendums? Should we leave such monumental decisions to GOP fanatics working behind closed doors? Shouldn’t tax reform come in easier to understand modular changes that the wisdom of the crowds votes on? Wouldn’t passing 25 separate tax reform changes over a period of years be wiser than one big bill that no one understands?
Read these articles, study the infographics and statistics. Consider using 5 Calls to let your representatives know what you think.
- Dear Senators: Don’t Bankrupt Our Country by Jeffrey Sachs at CNN
- Every Tax Cut and Tax Increase in the House GOP Bill by Alicia Parlapiano and Adam Pearce at The New York Times
- Tax Reform is on the Front Burner Again. Here’s Why You Should Care by Mihir Desai and Matt Weinzierl at Harvard Business School
- The real stakes in the tax reform debate by Matthew Yglesias at Vox
- Lies, Incoherence, and Rage on Tax Cuts by Paul Krugman at The New York Times
- If the GOP tax plan is so good, why do they lie so much about it? By Matthew Yglesias at Vox
- The Republican War on College by Derek Thompson at The Atlantic
- Should the Upper Middle Class Take the Biggest Tax Hit? by Ben Steverman at Bloomberg
- Republicans Are Throwing Away Their Shot at Tax Reform by David Frum at The Atlantic
- The GOP Is Fooling Itself on Taxes by David Leonhardt at The New York Times
- A millionaire explains why he wants to pay more taxes by Ella Nilsen at Vox
- Inequality has been growing for thousands of years – and it could hint at future societal collapse by Chris Weller at Business Insider
- Why do people care more about benefit ‘scroungers’ than billions lost to the rich? by Robert de Vries and Aaron Reeves at The Guardian
- Republican Class Warfare: The Next Generation by Paul Krugman at The New York Times
- Right and Left React to the Republican Tax Plan by Anna Dubenko at The New York Times
- How to stop the super-rich looting our wealth: make it illegal by Phil McDuff at The Guardian
- Here’s the incredibly unpopular GOP tax reform plan – in one graph by John Sides at The Washington Post
JWH
Auxiliary Memory 
The U.S. needs tax reform, but what the Republicans are proposing is not it. Giving tax breaks to their donors isn’t “reform.” It’s a blatant quid pro quo.
Supply side or trickle down economics had a better chance in the post war age of prosperity when growth rates were more robust and all forms of debt were relatively low. Since the mid 70’s the growth in real income has been tepid at best. The continuing mantra of tax cuts is a desperate attempt to score political points. A tick in the win column so to speak. The average citizen has neither the time or the desire to understand what the impacts of a so called tax cut really mean for them or anyone else.
The elites will always seek to improve their situation regardless of the national interest, or the common good. Unfortunately history has proven that things have to get a whole lot worse, before the peasants are able to muster enough force to check the power of the aristocrats. Democracy has worked to a certain extent, however when elected representatives are swayed more by false premises then their potential fate at the polls, the political balance is upset even more.
Is there enough courage among moderates to stave off this course of ruinous policy?
Generalizations, negativity, name calling and twisting the facts for your agenda. Deplorable effort. How about leaving politics out of your great science fiction columns?
Andrew, even though the column isn’t about science fiction it’s still speculating about the future. You don’t think it’s outrageous that we’re about to give 1.5 trillion dollars to the richest people on the planet? People who are the richest in the history of the planet. People, who are the least in need? The trends show the middle class has been collapsing for decades – shouldn’t we do something about it? If the entire tax cut went to small businesses and the bottom half of society it might be possible to believe the Republicans are trying to do good for the country. But they’re not.
Sure, Republicans have made it their life’s work to get into position so they can cut taxes and shrink the government. But that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing.
One thing that science fiction has taught us is we can design our future. Right now the Republicans are designing a future where a tiny fraction of society are super-rich and the rest are going down the drain. I say, let’s design something different. Actually, I’d rather keep that tax revenue and apply it towards rebuilding our infrastructure or find a way to improve society for all.
The level of discontent over what our society has become is growing to nasty levels. Remember those old experiments with rats and overpopulation? When rats are forced to live in overcrowded cages they become more violent. This is what’s happening to us. The rich want to carve out enclaves to hide in and have twisted the laws to allow them. I say we re-engineer society to benefit us all and find ways to reduce the effects of overpopulation pressure.