Randall Burg’s letter (Dec. 1) is another example of how the liberal left believes if they shout their lies loud enough, people will believe them. He states the Republican tax plan will result in many middle income taxpayers seeing an increase in their taxes from the elimination of the state and local tax deductions. This is simply not true. Only about one-third of Minnesotans currently receive any tax benefit from these deductions because the standard deduction provides a larger tax benefit than itemizing. A large percentage of this group will no longer need to itemize since the standard deduction is being doubled. Additionally, the small percent who would still have benefitted from these deductions will be taxed at lower rates, making it unlikely that many middle income taxpayers will see an increase in their taxes and most will see a substantial reduction.
He further states that the revenue losses from the tax cuts will trigger automatic cuts in vital programs for seniors, school children and farmers. That is a made-up lie, as there is no provision that automatically cuts any of these programs due to the tax bill.
It’s hypocritical when the left complains the tax bill will “explode” the federal deficit. They were never concerned about deficit growth when Obama was president. Somehow the deficit increase of an estimated $1.4 trillion over 10 years from the tax bill will “explode” the deficit, yet the $12 trillion increase in the deficit under eight years of Obama (a larger increase than under all the other presidents in history combined) was not an explosion of the deficit. Huh?
Furthermore, these tax cuts will stimulate the economy and provide far better economic growth to our economy than the wimpy growth we had under Obama, which never exceeded 3 percent in any of his eight years. You only need one-half of 1 percent increase in economic growth to offset the proposed revenue reductions from the tax bill. With far lower corporate tax rates, businesses will expand, creating more jobs and more competition for workers which will push up wages. More people working and paying taxes on higher incomes will actually create an increase in total tax revenue even if the rates paid per person decreases. The principle is simple: More money in the wealth-creating hands of the private economy -- and less in the wealth-destroying hands of government -- creates economic growth.
Dan Jurek
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Bemidji
