Tax cuts, Trump and the GOP illusion of a government shutdown

Today is the first day of the year where you get to keep the money you make from your job. That’s because yesterday was 2017’s Tax Freedom Day.

Until yesterday, every cent earned by the average American went towards paying their tax bill to federal, state and local governments.

Tax Freedom Day changes from year-to-year based on how much money the government is spending. And since the government continues to spend more and more of our money, Tax Freedom Day comes later as time goes by. This depressing revelation is made more significant as Congress faces a budget deadline at the end of the week, and Donald Trump flips on another campaign promise as he begins to cave on his ubiquitous tax-reform plan.

Congress has been using the budget to play political games for generations, but since regaining the majority in 2010, Republicans have turned it into an art form. Through the use of short-term Continuing Resolutions–conveniently structured to avoid elections–the self-centered cowards in Congress create one crisis after another in the form of make-believe shutdowns.

I call them make-believe because the government doesn’t really shut down. However, by leveraging the illusion of a shutdown, Congress frees itself of the burden of keeping its word to the American people. In the end: Planned Parenthood gets funded, Obamacare gets funded, and a myriad of issues get kicked down the road along with a promise to deal with it in the future.

Meanwhile, tax reform promises by Trump and the GOP do nothing to fix the real problem that government simply spends too much money. In fact, with Trump’s cave on tax reform–he’s now tinkering with tax rates instead–along with his big-government spending proposals, we could see Tax Freedom Day reach May or June.

Additionally, with the GOP setting priorities based on the next election instead of their campaign promises, there’s no reason to trust them to do what’s right about taxes and the budget either.

 

David Leach is the owner of The Strident Conservative, your source for opinion that’s politically incorrect and always “right.” His articles are also featured on RedState.com.

His daily radio commentary is nationally syndicated via Salem Radio Network and can be heard on stations across America.