Republicans want to pay for their huge tax cuts with cuts to Social Security and health care

When Congress was on the cusp of passing the Republican tax plan last year, experts lined up to warn about the effect the plan would have on the federal deficit and the stress it would place on future budgets. As predicted, the Congressional Budget Office now reports that the tax cuts will add $1.85 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade.

But rather than recognizing the deficit-ballooning role of their unpopular and lopsided tax cuts, Republican leaders are instead blaming Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

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Instead of targeting seniors and the poor with cuts, political leaders should strengthen and these critical programs, which promote greater economic opportunity for all Americans. Congress should rebuild revenues to historic levels by closing loopholes for the wealthiest and big corporations and start rebalancing the tax code.

A good start would be repealing the Trump tax cuts.

Click here to read the full op-ed by MECEP policy analyst Sarah Austin, posted November 6, 2018, in the Bangor Daily News.