GOP’s new plan: Raise taxes on working people, end Social Security and Medicare

They’re at it once again: Republicans want to raise taxes on bad and operating-course Us citizens, conclusion Social Security and Medicare, jack up pollution and company gains, all when continuing to pamper their billionaire donor base.

This time it truly is the person in demand of acquiring Republican senators elected and re-elected, Florida Sen. Rick Scott. 

You may try to remember him as the person who ran the company convicted of the greatest Medicare fraud in the historical past of The usa, who then took his funds and ran for governor of Florida, where by he prevented the point out from increasing Medicaid for small-profits Floridians for all the many years he ran the point out. 

Related: Rick Scott reveals why McConnell did not want to release GOP’s platform

Now he’s the 2nd-richest man in the senate and, IMHO, the main applicant for the GOP nomination for president in 2024. And, genuine to type, he’s echoing the sentiments of the richest person in the Senate, Mitt Romney, the final man in advance of Trump to have that nomination.

“There are 47 % who are with him,” Romney explained of Barack Obama’s voters back in 2012, “who are dependent on government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to treatment for them, who consider that they are entitled to health and fitness treatment, to food items, to housing, to you title it. These are individuals who shell out no earnings tax.”

Minimal revenue doing work persons in America commonly fork out a greater percentage of their cash flow as taxes than do most of our billionaires and multi-multi-millionaires. They pay Social Safety taxes, Medicare taxes, residence taxes, profits taxes and taxes in the sort of service fees for every little thing from a driver’s license to street tolls to once-a-year auto inspections.

As Romney pointed out, though, about 47 p.c of Us citizens in 2012 made so small money that, immediately after implementing the typical deduction, they paid no earnings tax. 

This would not just expose how several individuals spend taxes, although. To the contrary, it reveals how numerous Americans are living in or on the edge of poverty.

The basic actuality is, if you want more individuals to pay back revenue taxes, all you have to do is increase functioning people’s pay. We observed this in a large way amongst 1950 and 1980, when Keynesian economics reigned and labor unions served wages — and the taxes they paid out — steadily increase for doing the job individuals. 

But Republicans do not like the notion of what they simply call “wage inflation.” They’d somewhat just squeeze working individuals tougher, even though continuing their subsidies of the life of the morbidly abundant “donor course.” 

A lot more than 50 percent of Us citizens make so little dollars from their work that they can not deal with an unpredicted $1,000 expense like a automobile accident or health-related invoice.  And it can be these quite folks who Rick Scott and the GOP believe will need to be even more taxed so they’re going to have what Scott phone calls “pores and skin in the video game.”

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In the early years of the Reagan administration, right before his neoliberal “trickle down” and “offer facet” guidelines began to truly bite Us citizens, only 18 per cent of People have been so inadequate that their profits failed to qualify to be taxed. 

As “Suitable to Perform for Less” legislation distribute throughout The usa and Republicans on the Supreme Court designed it tougher for unions to function, more and additional functioning people today fell under the tax threshold. 

Right now it usually takes two performing grown ups to sustain the very same life style that a single worker could deliver in 1980, so an approximated 61 per cent of working Us citizens this year will make so small pay back that their revenue isn’t really matter to taxation.

Rick Scott and the GOP’s answer to this circumstance isn’t to raise the cash flow of doing the job-course folks. Quite the contrary: They are suggesting that reduced-money individuals must be hit with their pretty possess revenue tax — in addition to the dozens of other taxes they are now spending — all so multimillionaires and billionaires like Scott and his buddies can hope to see their have taxes go down a very small little bit.

Executing his best imitation of Newt Gingrich, Scott has rolled out his 11-stage-plan to soak the American middle class, lock down elections, destroy client protections, enhance air pollution and local climate transform and squeeze a number of extra pounds out of each individual household, no make a difference how limited their budgets may presently be.

Scott calls that “rescuing America.” And it may perhaps be legitimate, if you happen to be morbidly wealthy and created your cash spewing pollution or hustling opioids.

His plan not only calls for a 50 % lower in the IRS workforce, presumably to close all audits of prosperous people like Scott, but also demands all federal laws to “sunset” inside 5 several years. That would nearly certainly close Social Protection and Medicare, systems that have been in the crosshairs of Republicans given that Reagan’s working day.

Acknowledging how “raising taxes on 60% of American voters” will enjoy in campaign adverts, Mitch McConnell has backed away from Scott’s bizarre proposal. But Fox News is all over it, inviting Scott on repeatedly to hawk his program and prepare the floor for his candidacy. Immediately after all, billionaires like Rupert Murdoch and his relatives need to have their tax breaks!

As Sean Hannity instructed Scott all through a current visual appeal, “I want to applaud you. I’d like to see the Home and the Senate appear together on these troubles, make these claims to the American people, get elected and then satisfy those people claims.” 

No question multimillionaire Hannity was speaking his possess fact. But for the vast majority of Us residents who are so very poor they hardly have to fork out money taxes, Scott’s prepare is just the hottest in a 40-yr barrage of assaults and insults coming from the GOP.

Go through far more on the Republican agenda: