The false premise behind tax reform

While we all fret about who’s going to get what after the donor appreciation bill gets passed, let us take a moment and ask ourselves:

Is it a good idea to take $1.5 trillion dollars out of the federal treasury?

Because we’re talking about taking the money that might have been used for infrastructure, schools and Medicare and handing it over to corporations who are under no obligation to invest in jobs or increase salaries.

Yep, we’re just supposed to trust them that lowering the corporate tax rate is going to mean more and better jobs. There’s actually no proof that this has ever worked but what the heck? Let’s just keep trying it without changing any parameters. And we’re not closing any loopholes. So, what we are really doing is permanently crippling the federal government from doing its job maintaining infrastructure and schools and Medicare for absolutely no ROI.

I challenge any Republican to find a quid pro quo in this tax reform package that says in effect, “we will give you this tax cut after we have proof that you have hired x workers at $$ over y period of time.” If you find it, please let me know.

What will happen instead is the state and local governments will need to pick up the tab for all the stuff that will be permanently underfunded. And it’s going to hammer the blue states hardest. Residents of New Jersey, California, New York and Massachusetts are going to be doubly screwed because they’re going to lose part or all of their SALT deductions and the value of their real estate is bound to fall. What will make them want to cough up the extra money for roads and schools and teachers? Sooner or later, we’ll all be like Alabama.

There is no reason why these wealthy and well connected people need to care about what happens to the rest of us. In fact, if anything, this tax reform package practically guarantees that they will just take the money and run.

Now is the time that we should ask ourselves if we should let them do that without any strings attached.