Dear Editor,

This is one thing Trump won’t be bragging about anytime soon. His so-called tax reform cut taxes of corporations by 40 percent and for rich individuals by double digits. As a result, the flow of money into the U.S. Treasury has slowed and the country will have to borrow almost a half trillion dollars more this fiscal year to make up the difference. The Republicans said that the tax cuts would result in such an orgy of spending and investment that the tax cuts would pay for themselves. Well, now we see how that is playing out. Kansas and Oklahoma tried this same approach and their economies went down the tubes. But that didn’t stop the Republicans from trying the same thing on a national scale.

The federal government is on track to borrow nearly $1 trillion this fiscal year — President Donald Trump’s first full year in charge of the budget. That’s almost double what the government borrowed in fiscal year 2017. Here are the exact figures: The U.S. Treasury expects to borrow $955 billion this fiscal year, according to a documents released Wednesday. It’s the highest amount of borrowing in six years, and a big jump from the $519 billion the federal government borrowed last year. Treasury mainly attributed the increase to the “fiscal outlook.” The Congressional Budget Office was more blunt. In a report this week, the CBO said tax receipts are going to be lower because of the new tax law.

So, soon we will soon be treated to the sight of Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell coming before congress and demanding that “entitlements” be cut severely to make up for the deficit that they caused by their totally irresponsible tax cuts for the rich.  Supply side economics, the so-called Laffer curve, is an illusion and a sham. The huge business tax cuts, which we were told were going into worker’s paychecks, are instead being used for stock buybacks and mergers and acquisitions. The American people have been sold a bill of goods. We get tax cuts that put a few dollars in our paychecks — and they expire in six years. The corporations and the top 1 percent get gargantuan tax cuts and they are permanent. And now they are coming for our pensions, our social security and our Medicare. If you are a Republican, is this what you voted for?

Jim Porter

Danville