The evidence is in about the Trump tax cut bill and what happens when you drop the federal corporate tax rate from 35 to 21 percent but leave all the tax loopholes. Donald Trump’s staunch supporter, U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock, said corporate America would spread the wealth and set new records for the economy.
Instead, corporate America is taking the money and lining its own pockets. The tax cuts mean corporate stock buyouts, higher stock prices, and guarantees that the already rich get richer. Any crumbs the tax cuts threw to individuals have been wiped out at the gas pump. There is nothing left for workers to celebrate.
Long-term, our country is the real loser. There is no money to shore up our crumbling infrastructure. Federal programs like Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid and Veterans Affairs are at grave risk. With about a quarter of corporate tax revenue out the window, benefit cuts down the road are inevitable. And remember all that election talk about infrastructure? You can forget about it.
A country risks too much if it opens its purse only to its military but closes its eyes to the health, education and welfare of its people. And if the financial crisis of 2008 taught us anything, it’s that good people and nations can lose everything in no time at all. The tax cuts took away the financial wiggle room that would help us dig out of the next crisis.
VA-10 needs and deserves real leadership as we head into ever more challenging times. Voting with the Trump administration 98 percent of the time is not leadership. Say "no" to more empty promises from a phony "moderate" that will leave the rest of us – young and old – hanging out to dry. It is time for a change in VA-10. Send Jennifer Wexton to Congress!
Wes Callender
Great Falls