To the editor:
We will soon see various proposals for a U.S. budget. You should expect to see proposals for cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans – those who can most afford to pay taxes and use their political contributions to successfully influence what bills get passed. There are many reasons given why those tax cuts are good for the rest of us – but those reasons are bogus.
Tax cuts do not pay for themselves. Both economic models and history put the lie to these claims. Extending tax cuts without paying for them reduces economic growth, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, the Congressional Budget Office and the Brookings Institution. Past tax cuts have been sold as helping small business owners, but the reality is the same for businesses as households – the large businesses get large benefits and small businesses get small benefits.
And who will pay for these tax cuts? The proposals to “balance the budget” include cutting budgets for education, housing, healthcare, Social Security, Veterans Affairs and the EPA. These program reductions don’t effect the wealthy. The structure of Republican tax cuts have the effect of rewarding the wealthy, protecting the military-industrial complex, injuring the middle class and reducing the effectiveness of government agencies that serve the people. One loophole that should be closed is allowing businesses that are fined for environmental destruction to reduce their taxes by the same amount. All the money BP spent on environmental remediation and penalties reduced their tax liability.
So in effect it cost the company nothing except some bad press. They fought the bad press with extensive advertising, the cost of which is deductible as a business expense. And those tax loopholes are at our expense – either by paying more in taxes or having fewer government services. We need a tax system that serves the American people and not large corporations.
JIM VOKAC, WILLOW SPRINGS