The Republican Party under the leadership of Bush, Cheney, Frist, Delay and crew has pushed the tax burden from the wealthiest of Americans and large corporations onto the middle class. They have combined this financial assault on the middle class with huge cuts in government services for the middle class and the poor.
In order to pay for the huge tax cuts to the wealthiest of the wealthy, our nation has developed a growing, severe government debt problem. Combined with irresponsible government spending on a senseless war in Iraq and an reckless, ineffective expenditures on homeland security, the Bush Republican tax cuts for the Super Wealthy has finally produced a rebellion from both fiscal conservatives and the general public.
Rumors are being floated that some Republicans close to the Bush White House would like to eliminate the interest deduction on home mortgages from federal income tax laws. This measure would fall harshly on struggling middle class homeowners. It would badly undermine the real estate, construction and banking industries. It is not a reasonable response to the public debt crisis created by Bush Republican policies.
The middle class and the poor have made enough financial sacrifices in order to enrich the rich. These Americans should not provide one penny more as citizens, taxpayers and voters to the misguided policies of the Bush Republican elite.
Republicans in Congress and the Senate will likely be defeated in the next election unless these misguided Bush Republican priorities are quickly and completely abandoned. They are facing a taxpayer revolt that could return them to a permanent, small minority political Party.
The Wall Street interests that finance and control the Bush Republican political machine has pushed average Americans to the wall financially. Price-gouging, out-sourcing and exporting American jobs by large corporations are serious threats to middle class America. Government policy under the Bush Administration serves these same Wall Street policies and threatens middle class America equally.
The nation stands at the threshold of a dramatic choice between different views of our future. We will become a nation of a few very wealthy ruling over a huge majority of working poor if we follow the Bush Republican path. Our other choice is to remain a predominantly middle class nation dominated by middle class values like our Founding Fathers envisioned.
It is the firm belief of this writer that American citizens will side with our Founding Fathers. American Democracy is at stake along with the American Dream.
Written by Stephen Crockett (co-host of Democratic Talk Radio http://www.democratictalkradio.com ). Mail: P.O. Box 283, Earleville, Maryland 21919. Email: midsouthcm@aol.com . Phone: 443-907-2367.
Feel free to publish as Guest Editorial, Op Ed, Letter to the Editor or Democratic Voices column in your newspaper, newsletter, website or blog.
www.DemocraticTalkRadio.com
Stephen Crockett is co-host of Democratic Talk Radio and author of the Democratic Voices opinion column.
Fears that the Home Mortgage Deduction will be eliminated are terribly exaggerated. Talk about a third rail--this one beats Social Security. What is being proposed is a ceiling on the deduction, and that can only be in the interest of the middle class. Similarly the deduction would become a tax credit under the current proposal, and that is once again in the interest of the middle class.
Right now, the benefit of such a deduction scales with income bracket. So what may be attractive to the middle class is of much more substantial benefit to the well-to-do. How is that in the interest of the middle class?
Currently the deduction is not limited to first homes. But does it help the middle class to have the Federal budget subsidize the purchase of second homes, when these could be someone else's first home?
What is being missed in the discussion is that the pricing of homes is subject to feedback effects from tax considerations. The present unbounded nature of the Home Mortgage Deduction makes homes most affordable to the highest tax brackets. This helps to escalate the price of homes out of the reach of the middle class. Hence the current state of affairs works against the interests of the first-time homebuyer, someone who is likely to be somewhere in the early earning years, struggling with many demands in raising a family. So the policy effects are the opposite of what is intended.
Robert Reich has realized all this, and has stated that this is one of the few sensible tax proposals to come out of this Administration.
Siegfried Othmer
by
Siegfried Othmer (6 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 4 comments)
on Friday, November 25, 2005 at 1:22:41 PM
1 comments
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