Commentary: Trump and Republicans want to turn away from the Charlottesville moral equivalent argument about Nazis & White Supremacy to tax cuts—not tax reform. Ever since Reagan, the only policy options put forth by Republicans have been tax cuts and deregulation. Starve the Government and everything will be wonderful. In the 1920’s that led to a great depression, in the 80’s we tripled our national debt, and in 2008 it led to the great recession.
The argument that Laissez-faire capitalism will equally treat all our citizens fairly is just not true. Who is going to educate the masses—Wall Street? Who is going to protect all citizens from criminals—gated communities? Who is going to provide decent health care for all—top .01%? Who is going to protect our environment (land, water & air)—Koch brothers? etc. etc.
Private sector should do what it does best—sell goods & services and the government should provide the public goods —because businesses and rich folks have no incentive to provide them. We need both private and public actors to have a well-functioning society.
Supporters of tax cuts continually say the U.S. has the highest corporate tax rate at 35%, but the reality is much different. Due to effective lobbying and generous financial support of campaigns, congress has put so many loopholes in the tax laws that corporate share of federal tax revenue has dropped by two-thirds in 60 years—from 32% to 10% in 2013. General Electric, Boeing, Verizon and 23 other profitable Fortune 500 firms paid no federal income taxes from 2008 to 2013. The idea that tax cuts for the wealthy will grow the economy is another distortion of the facts. In recent years they use that money to buy back stocks in the company, increasing stock values—not growing the economy. Plutocrats are in charge, not the average worker.