Dear Editor,
The coming election offers voters a stark choice on taxation. The Republican plan is for more tax cuts for the wealthy and a sharp rise in taxes (tariffs) that fall mostly on the less well-off. The Democratic Party plan is for more fairness and tax efficiency.
Proponents of the 2017 Trump tax cuts said the cuts would benefit ordinary Americans. Instead, the bill gave those in the top 1% a tax cut more than 50 times higher than to middle-class payers. Few wage gains trickled down to workers. Researchers from Princeton University, the University of Chicago, Harvard University, and the Treasury Department found in an analysis this year that the cuts delivered wage gains that were “an order of magnitude below” what Trump officials predicted: about $750 per worker, per year on average, compared to promises of $4,000 to $9,000 per worker.
Our national debt soared. Sixteen of the world’s most notable economists – all Nobel Prize winners – are now warning that former President Trump could stoke inflation if he wins the presidency in November and moves forward with his economic plans.
There are several aspects of Trump’s economic agenda that would accelerate inflation. These include imposing a 10% tariff on imported products from all countries, compromising the independence of the Federal Reserve Board (thus spooking financial markets), enlarging the federal budget deficit by extending his 2017 tax cuts, rescinding Biden policies designed to promote competition and reduce “junk fees,” and squeezing the labor supply by restricting new immigration and deporting undocumented migrants already here.
A study released in May by the nonpartisan Peterson Institute for International Economics (piie.com) calculated that the tariffs Trump says he will impose on imports would dramatically raise consumer costs. It suggested the tariff plan would add $1,700 in annual costs for the typical U.S. household.
The Biden administration favors a fairer system of increasing taxes on fewer than 5% of households and on large corporations, mostly by tightening loopholes. By not showing preference to the wealthiest, our country can raise enough revenue to fund vital national priorities.
Moving forward is going to be up to the voters. Fact check and vote.
Yours sincerely, Phil Suttle, Greensboro