aside Beware Of Republicans’ Love Affair With Tax Cuts And Any Future Plans For Countrywide Tax Cuts

Image result for photos of governor brownback and increase in taxes

This is the tale of a tax cutting republican led state, Kansas where in 2012, the legislators acted on their blind belief that tax cuts/ trickle down economics would result in economic growth, but their plan failed miserably  But in comparison, around 2012, California democrats raised taxes on its wealthy residents, to the betterment of the state.

Here is the rest of the story…

On June 22, 2017, Tom Steyer of the LA Times penned the following opinion piece, “Op-Ed “Kansas’ tax cuts are a spectacular failure. Meanwhile, in California.” 

“Republican legislators in Kansas did the unthinkable this month: They voted to raise income taxes, ending a painful five-year experiment with an extreme anti-tax agenda introduced by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback. The Republican-held Legislature had to override a veto by the governor to pass the emergency tax increase, now crucial to prevent deep budget cuts for schools and other essential public services.”

Jerry Brown
GOVERNOR BROWN

Image result for photos of governor brownback and increase in taxes

GOV. BROWNBACK”Kansas embarked on its trickle-down experiment in 2012. Brownback slashed taxes across the board, calling his plan “a shot of adrenaline into the heart of the Kansas economy.” Five years later, the state’s economy is on life support, and government expenses are expected to outpace income by $1.1 billion through June 2019. Instead of a poster child for the small-government theories championed by economist Arthur Laffer, tax reform activist Grover Norquist and the rest of the Republican Party, Kansas has become a cautionary tale about what happens when you expose their economic ideas to sunlight.”

“Meanwhile, a state that Republicans mock – California – has done just the opposite. In November of 2012, the same year Kansas plunged into its tax-slashing experiment, more than 54% of California voters approved Proposition 30, a measure that temporarily raised income taxes for the state’s wealthiest residents and increased the sales tax in order to fund schools and pay down debt. The tax hikes helped California erase $27 billion in debt, and the state has since enjoyed some of the strongest economic growth in the country. (Of course that growth isn’t due to tax hikes alone; the state has a robust tech sector, among other factors.)”Image result for photo about California's economic growth

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“If states can indeed serve as laboratories of democracy, as Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis suggested, there’s no question which state embarked on the more successful test.”

“Brownback was elected in 2010 on the usual Republican promises to slash taxes and boost growth. Though Kansas’ income tax rates were already low, Brownback cut them further. Along with the Republican Legislature, he also got rid of taxes for most owner-operated businesses. These steep reductions were accompanied by cruel cuts to public services that hurt the poorest and most vulnerable.”

Image result for photos of governor brownback and increase in taxes

“Predictably, wealthy corporate interests such as the Wichita-based Koch Industries – one of Brownback’s largest campaign donors – did fine under this scheme, while working families took a beating. In time, Kansas’ budget tanked, funding for higher education was slashed, businesses began to flee the state, and Brownback earned the distinction of “most unpopular governor in America.” (He has since lost the title to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.)”

“As Brownback was instituting his signature tax cuts, Republicans and conservative media organs were savagely attacking Proposition 30 and predicting imminent doom for California if it passed. Instead, California’s job growth has consistently outpaced that of other states, its credit outlook rating has been repeatedly upgraded, and funding for the state’s schools has increased. Voters liked all this fiscal stability so much that, last year, they voted to extend some of the taxes. Over the same period, Gov. Jerry Brown and state legislators have enjoyed record-high poll numbers.”Brown put California back on track with tax increases, in other words, while Brownback’s “real live experiment” with unprecedented tax cuts knocked Kansas off the rails. And how does the Republican Party respond to this massive failure? By doubling down on their destructive obsession with tax giveaways for the wealthy, of course. President Trump’s tax plan is modeled on the Kansas experiment – and Republicans in Congress can’t wait to enact it.”

“The Republicans’ zeal to duplicate the Kansas disaster for the whole country proves that they’ll stop at nothing to stack wealth and power in the hands of the few. They’ll take healthcare away from millions of Americans. They’ll even drive the economy off a cliff.”

The Kansas experiment is a failure only if you care about what happens to American workers and their families. Clearly, Republicans don’t.

9 comments

  1. Unfortunately, those whom Trump has weaseled into positions of power will disagree with this opinion. The wealthy of this nation are NOT the wealth of this nation. The Koch brothers and their peers have the power but we, the nation’s true wealth, know that what they have is totally dependent on a contented populace. Most of us have nothing more to lose….as Janis Joplin sang….”freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dear Larry Paul Brown,

      You are so right. The Koch brothers, the Mercers and other billionaire donors want this tax cut bill just as much as they wanted the republicans’ healthcare bills passed which were really tax cut bills.I have no problem with reducing taxes for small businesses, companies that plan to hire additional American workers and for poorer and middle class taxpayers, but as for the wealthy , they should pay more, not less.

      Just like “we the people” fought against repealing and replacing Obamacare, we have to continue to fight against tax cuts for the rich.

      Thanks a million for your support and for this reblog.

      Hugs, Gronda

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  2. Extremely well thought out and executed article. One can only hope the country fails in following Kansas’financial experiments. reblogged on suziland too

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dear Suze,

      WELCOME!

      Thanks for your gracious comments. I am expecting the republican leadership to go for a tax reform / tax cut bill which slashes taxes for the wealthy with some reduction for the working stiffs. “We the people” are going to have to fight this.

      Thanks a million times over for your support and for this reblog.

      Thanks for stopping by and Hugs, Gronda

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  3. Gronda, before the Kansas failed experiment, there have been four studies that showed trickle down economics does not work. The latest one was done by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service completed in 2012. But, we won’t know about that report, as per The New York Times, Senator Mitch McConnell had that report buried before the 2012 Presidential election.

    Two additional comments. First, Trickle Down economics has been around for about 120 years. It was first called the Horse and Sparrow theory in the late 1890s. If you feed the horse, what he excretes will be enough for the sparrows. That is a worse name than Trickle Down, but both are bad, as they connote the wealthy do well, while every else does not.

    Second, under the Simpson-Bowles Deficit Reduction Plan, it matched $2 of spending cuts with $1 of tax increases. As they pointed out then, which still exists today, we cannot solve our deficit (or debt) problem by spending cuts alone. The math does not work.

    Quite simply, with $20 Trillion debt and a $4 Trillion annual budget, if we did not spend one dime and interest costs were 0%, it would take five years to pay down the debt. If Congress cuts taxes, we will look work worse than Kansas, as we are starting with a $20 Trillion hole. We must cut spending, but we must increase revenue.. It is that simple.

    My opinions are flavored by the excellent work of several nonpartisan organizations – Fix the Debt, The Concord Coalition and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

    Keith

    Keith

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dear Keith,

      I am starting to focus on this issue of tax cuts for the wealthy/ trickle down economics because you know what’s coming. If the republicans’ healthcare bills were nothing but scams, it is nothing when compared to what’s in store with the republicans’ future tax reform/ tax cut bill.

      “We the people” will have to fight tooth and nail to stop the republicans from lowering taxes for the wealthy. I am supportive of reducing taxes for small businesses and for middle/ class and poor folks because there the ones who will spend the monies to grow our economies. Taxes on those who have benefited after 2008 recession at the expense of stagnant wages for the middle class/ poor and even at the expense of the consumer in too many cases will simply have to pay more taxes. Blowing up the deficit will not be an option.

      Hugs, Gronda

      .

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      • Gronda, tax reform can be budget neutral, negative or positive. It cannot be negative and should be a positive. Yet, they are posturing it to be negative which has to be a nonstarter. Keith

        Liked by 1 person

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