Editorial: Tax cut? What you talking about?
In the sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes” (1978-1986), Arnold frequently asks Willis, “Wha’choo talkin’ ’bout, Willis?” It’s time to ask the Republicans and President Donald Trump that question.
What you talking about when you say Americans will be getting tax cuts and will see them in their paychecks right about now? The cuts don’t seem to amount to a hill of beans, from what we’re hearing.
How is spending going to increase if the tax cuts are like the one a secretary got, which left her with $1.50 a week extra to spend? How is the economy going to be helped with that kind of tax cut?
U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan thinks that’s great news. The Washington Post reported Ryan has been enthusiastically promoting it as a middle-class tax windfall. He’s been coaching other Republican lawmakers to sell the $1.5 trillion tax cut to voters, and telling people on Twitter to check their paychecks for wage hikes.
And when one woman did, she said she got $1.50 a week extra.
The Associated Press reported that Julia Ketchum, a secretary at a public high school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, said she was pleasantly surprised her pay went up $1.50 a week. She didn’t think her pay would go up at all, let alone this soon. That adds up to $78 a year, which she said will more than cover her Costco membership for the year.
Ryan had put that story on his Twitter account, but then took it down. What you talking about, Mr. Ryan?
The secretary has enough money to pay for something she would pay for anyway. She won’t be able to get a big ticket item or do a lot of purchasing items to help the economy. Multiply her by millions of Americans. Is that why you took your tweet down?
And in our Forum section we have economist-educator Dr. Mike Walden at North Carolina State University explaining that the great tax bill might have cut taxes one way but increased taxes by changing the inflation measure, the Consumer Price Index, or CPI. So, in our eyes, it appears it’s all a wash.
Who knows what else is hidden in this tax cut bill. We will find out over time what is in there and we probably won’t like it, unless we are wealthy like Phillip Drummond, Arnold and Willis’ benefactor in “Diff’rent Strokes.”
