usmbguest5318
Gold Member
President Reagan and Congressional Republicans discovered that broad tax cuts may appeal to working-class voters even if richer constituents reap most of the rewards. The key GOP move was to keep tax-cut promises sweepingly general. If voters are given a choice between tax cuts and spending on specific programs, they choose to maintain or increase spending. When they are given a choice between tax cuts and lower deficit levels, they choose lower deficits. It's a different matter, however, if no one mentions the need to cut specific programs or the possibility of higher deficits. In that case, voters assume that tax cuts will be paid for by cuts in “government waste.” This is the centerpiece of the Republican tax cut strategy. 1980s Republicans had few moral qualms about promising tax cuts without mentioning the specific programs that might have to be cut. They saw this approach as the strategic analogue to years of Democratic promises to increase spending without detailing how to pay for new or expanded programs.
Republicans could also take advantage of the general unpopularity of major kinds of U.S. taxes. In contrast to many other advanced industrial democracies, the United States relies heavily on highly visible taxes – property taxes at the local level and the income tax at the national level. As middle-class market incomes stagnated during the economic crisis, reductions in highly visible taxes became a popular way to boost family budgets.
Republican fealty to tax-cut politics was set in cement soon after Reagan left office. In his first term, successor Republican President George H. W. Bush wanted to address rising deficits and broke a pledge never to raise taxes. This was not so different from what Reagan himself did when he accepted tax increases in 1982. But when Bush was not reelected, modern-day Republicans drew an iron-clad lesson: tax cuts are the road to electoral success and tax increases spell defeat at the polls. Republicans also began to realize that deficits could be financed with foreign capital, and that voters did not punish politicians for big deficits. Their strategy became unshakable.
With that past as the prologue to current GOP tax cut bill, what does the GOP manage to do? Pen and pass a tax cut that most Americans don't want!
Seriously!?! Just what kind of f*ck-up must one be to propose tax cuts and not be able to convince a majority of the polity that the tax cut is good enough for them to support it? Of all the things legislators and government executives might do, cutting taxes has traditionally been the most popular thing available to choose from their "basket of goodies."
Might it be unpopular because it's been billed as something it's not, say as "the biggest tax cut in history?"
That probably has something to do with it though it's also quite likely that voters know that at their peril will they trust in a damn thing the GOP, and Trump in particular, says.
Republicans could also take advantage of the general unpopularity of major kinds of U.S. taxes. In contrast to many other advanced industrial democracies, the United States relies heavily on highly visible taxes – property taxes at the local level and the income tax at the national level. As middle-class market incomes stagnated during the economic crisis, reductions in highly visible taxes became a popular way to boost family budgets.
Republican fealty to tax-cut politics was set in cement soon after Reagan left office. In his first term, successor Republican President George H. W. Bush wanted to address rising deficits and broke a pledge never to raise taxes. This was not so different from what Reagan himself did when he accepted tax increases in 1982. But when Bush was not reelected, modern-day Republicans drew an iron-clad lesson: tax cuts are the road to electoral success and tax increases spell defeat at the polls. Republicans also began to realize that deficits could be financed with foreign capital, and that voters did not punish politicians for big deficits. Their strategy became unshakable.
With that past as the prologue to current GOP tax cut bill, what does the GOP manage to do? Pen and pass a tax cut that most Americans don't want!
Seriously!?! Just what kind of f*ck-up must one be to propose tax cuts and not be able to convince a majority of the polity that the tax cut is good enough for them to support it? Of all the things legislators and government executives might do, cutting taxes has traditionally been the most popular thing available to choose from their "basket of goodies."
- A few weeks back: The GOP Tax Cuts Are Even More Unpopular Than Past Tax Hikes
- Six days ago: Poll: Majority oppose GOP tax bill
- Four hours ago: Republican Tax Bill Has Grown More Unpopular, Poll Shows
That probably has something to do with it though it's also quite likely that voters know that at their peril will they trust in a damn thing the GOP, and Trump in particular, says.
