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Those Tax-and-spend Republicans

OK the Republicans got their tax plunder law. They win, we lose.

Some 83 percent of the $benefits will go to the top 10 percent of wealthy Americans.

A last-minute add-in will mostly benefit Trump and other wealthy real estate developers/investors. Buck-naked corruption.

The health care crumbs promised to Senator Susan Collins were mostly absent, breaking the “ironclad” promise to her from Mitch “Haha-gotcha-you-ignorant woman” McConnell.

If you are a middle class or poor person your taxes will rise either immediately or gradually over the next decade.

If you get some small tax break just know that rich people get a much larger one and the national debt will increase astronomically by $1.4-1.7 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

In other words, if you are a rich person, congratulations! You snowed us again. Or, as was noted in The New York Times by Andrew Ross Sorkin, ” If you’re a billionaire with your own company and are happy to use your private jet so you can “commute” from a low-tax state, the plan is a godsend.”

What the uber-rich count on is our apathy. Plus they believe that if you toss a bone to a dog that dog will not try to get inside your mansion where you are feasting on the choice meats. Are they correct? I mean, it’s not like we didn’t know, as noted on CNN: “While Republicans cheer the bill’s passage, however, 55% of Americans oppose the plan, according to a new CNN poll. Just 33% say they favor the GOP’s proposals to reform the nation’s tax code.”

We will see. If we the American people will put up with this we are quite sorry excuses for citizens and are acting more like subservient subjects. I long for the day when we can set aside all other differences and just take back our democracy, which, according to the most robust testing by nonpartisan Freedom House, is not as strong as that of Uruguay, San Marino, Japan, Kiribati, Ireland, Portugal, Malta, Chile, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Spain, Slovenia, all of Scandinavia, Belgium, Barbados, Bahama, Taiwan, Marshall Islands, Iceland, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Cape Verde, Canada, Lichtenstein, Australia, Austria, Andorra, St. Lucia, Tuvalu, the UK, Estonia, Dominica, New Zealand, Palau, Micronesia. We only get robust democracy by earning it and maintaining it. This tax robbery by the filthy rich is quite a test.

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Tom H. Hastings is core faculty in the Conflict Resolution Department at Portland State University and founding director of PeaceVoice

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