President Obama has promised to end the Bush tax cuts on income in excess of $250,000 when they expire at the end of the year, with his aides saying that he is “100 percent committed” to preventing another extension. Of course, Republicans are again saying that all of the cuts should be extended, even as they claim that the federal deficit is too high.
But according to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office, allowing the high-end tax cuts to expire on schedule would raise $823 billion in revenue and save $127 billion in interest payments on the debt over the next ten years. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities used this chart to illustrate how much would be saved each year:
As the CBPP noted, “Overall, this would mean $950 billion in ten-year deficit reduction, a significant step in the direction of fiscal stability.” That’s nearly $1 trillion in deficit reduction for those concerned about the nation’s finances.
In addition to blowing up the country’s budget, the Bush tax cuts did not lead to the promised economic growth. In fact, the economy has fared worse under the GOP’s supply-side policies, on a slew of economic measurements, than it did when supply-side was not in effect.
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We’ve borne witness to a chaotic first few months in Trump’s presidency.
Over the last months, each executive order has delivered shock and bewilderment — a core part of a strategy to make the right-wing turn feel inevitable and overwhelming. But, as organizer Sandra Avalos implored us to remember in Truthout last November, “Together, we are more powerful than Trump.”
Indeed, the Trump administration is pushing through executive orders, but — as we’ve reported at Truthout — many are in legal limbo and face court challenges from unions and civil rights groups. Efforts to quash anti-racist teaching and DEI programs are stalled by education faculty, staff, and students refusing to comply. And communities across the country are coming together to raise the alarm on ICE raids, inform neighbors of their civil rights, and protect each other in moving shows of solidarity.
It will be a long fight ahead. And as nonprofit movement media, Truthout plans to be there documenting and uplifting resistance.
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