Dear Editor,

The national debt of the United States is now some $20 trillion dollars or $62,500 for every man, woman, and child in America. Every year that the federal government spends more than it takes in increases the national debt. 

The money comes in in the form of taxes. There are other sources of income, but the taxes we pay comprise most of Uncle Sam’s income.

In the days of Obama’s presidency the Republicans pretended to care about the deficit. They refused to increase the funding for any social program, even Meals on Wheels, unless it was “revenue neutral” i.e. paid for. No more!  

What hypocrites they are! Trump is proposing what he describes as the “largest tax cut in history!” He lies and calls it a tax cut for the poor and middle class. In fact more than 80 percent of the benefits would go to the top 1 percent of the population. The poor and middle class would see almost nothing. 

The largest beneficiary of the tax cut unsurprisingly would be the Trump family! And the budget deficit and the national debt would explode as the largest source of income (taxes) are slashed. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the deficit would increase by 1.5 to 2.0 trillion dollars! Medicare would be slashed by almost a half trillion dollars! 

So why would any rational human being propose such a disastrous course of action? The answer is simply pure greed. So long as the rich and powerful increase their already disproportionately large share of America’s wealth they are all for it. They couldn’t care less about the debt or the deficit. That was just a ploy to get votes.

Jim Porter

Danville