ICYMI: Portland Press Herald Editorial Debunks Collins Claim That GOP Tax Law Would Pay for Itself

“Predictions that cutting taxes on corporations, wealthy families and individuals would spur enough economic growth to increase tax collections – an argument made by Maine Sen. Susan Collins and others – turned out to be wrong.”

"[R]unning the government with insufficient revenue puts pressure on mandatory spending programs like Social Security and Medicare, which make up about two-thirds of federal spending. ... Those mandatory programs are in danger"

 

In case you missed it, yesterday the Portland Press Herald published a scathing editorial on the Republican tax law that Senator Susan Collins helped pass, which is ballooning the deficit to pay for tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy. The editorial specifically calls out Senator Collins for promising the tax law would pay for itself through economic growth, “an argument made by … Collins” that “turned out to be wrong.” The editorial also points out that the tax bill has put Medicare and Social Security "in danger," programs that Republicans have consistently proven they're intent on cutting in order to pay for these reckless tax cuts. 

The editorial comes as Senator Collins faces the lowest approval ratings of her entire career in Washington, has become an increasingly reliable vote for special interests in Washington, threatened health care and protections for pre-existing conditions, and raised more than 97 percent of her campaign cash from special interests and out-of-state donors in 2019. 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Portland Press Herald: Our View: Deficit would be zero if not for tax cuts

Maine Sen. Angus King rightly punctures the persistent claim that tax cuts pay for themselves.

8/12/19

• “What’s running up the debt is not out-of-balance spending but revenue collections that don’t keep up with inflation. And for that we can thank the Republican tax reform package that was pushed through on a partisan basis in 2017. Predictions that cutting taxes on corporations, wealthy families and individuals would spur enough economic growth to increase tax collections – an argument made by Maine Sen. Susan Collins and others – turned out to be wrong. The economy grew, but tax revenues did not.”
• “King concludes that there would have been zero deficit in next year’s budget if not for the tax cuts passed under presidents George W. Bush (in 2001 and 2003) and Donald Trump. If tax rates had remained at the level they were in 2000, when the economy was growing at more than 4 percent per year and the federal budget was running a surplus, we would be reducing the national debt during this historically long economic expansion, instead of adding to it.”
• “[R]unning the government with insufficient revenue puts pressure on mandatory spending programs like Social Security and Medicare, which make up about two-thirds of federal spending. … Those mandatory programs are in danger, not because they are overly generous or because people don’t like them, but because there will soon be nowhere else to cut unless Congress does something that boosts revenue.”
• “If nothing else, this budget should put to rest, once and for all, the notion that tax cuts pay for themselves by generating economic activity. They just don’t. If politicians want to, they can say that the wealthiest Americans have worked hard enough and deserve a break. But no one should ever again be allowed to make the specious claim that giving money away to people at the top will make life better for the middle class.”