The Horrors Of This Tax Bill Extend Well Beyond Taxes

So Mitch McConnell has begun the process to bring this horrific tax bill to the floor of the Senate for a vote. Senators will actually start voting today, trying to beat the report from the Joint Center on Taxation that is expected to come out tonight and show that the claims about accelerated growth are entirely fiction. Besides the fact that this bill will actually raise taxes on the middle class and low income workers while giving a massive tax cut the rich, it will also decimate other elements of our economy and our society.

The repeal of the individual mandate will result in 13 million people losing their health insurance and will further drive up health insurance rates. As Paul Krugman points out, over one third of the savings from the huge corporate tax cut will actually go to foreigners, not Americans. It will immediately cut Medicaid by $18 billion in 2018 alone and will also result in cuts to Medicare. The repeal of the medical expense deduction which allows the deduction of expenses greater than 10% of income, which admittedly is only in the House version of the bill, will, combined with the repeal of the individual mandate, probably force thousands of American into medical bankruptcy. The repeal of the state and local tax deduction will not only shift the federal tax burden further onto richer, more dynamic blue states but also cost those states billions of dollars in revenue. The House bill will treat tuition breaks for graduate students as income, making advanced degrees unaffordable for many, just as we fall further behind the rest of the world in STEM leaders. In addition, the House version also repeals the deduction for student loan interest, raising the cost of college education for everyone. The Senate bill will open up the Alaska Wildlife Refuge to drilling. The repeal of the Johnson Amendment will allow dark money to use non-profits and religious organizations for political activity. The $1.4 trillion in additional debt, at minimum, will raise interest rates and increase credit card and other borrowing costs for everyone. The changes and phase-outs in the coming years will make it harder for people to plan for their financial future and probably require more work from tax accountants for some.

The above would be bad enough on its own. But it is combined with a massive handout to the already wealthy and powerful at the eventual expense of the poor and middle class. And when the deficit explodes, as everyone knows it will, these very same Republicans will be back to saying the only way forward is to cut spending even more, once again hurting poor and middle class taxpayers.

Lastly, let’s just note how many sectors of the American economy this bill (negatively) effects. There have been no hearings. There has been no testimony from experts on any of the myriad of impacts it will have on the various parts of the American economy and society. Even today, Senators do not understand what’s in the bill and promises have been made to certain Senators which will only be revealed right before the vote is taken. It is certainly no way to run a country.