Chief Republican Party Propagandist and Broken Record, Mitch McConnell, in a move that sent shockwaves through Washington...
...slammed the door Thursday morning on Democratic demands to raise tax rates on families earning more than $250,000 per year.
From his soapbox on the senate floor, McConnell
proclaimed:
“We’re insisting on keeping tax rates where they are, first and foremost, to protect jobs and because we don’t think government needs the money in the first place.” (emphasis mine)
Nope. No money needed, because...
“The problem, as I’ve said, is that Washington spends too much."
On tax cuts for the rich, wars, and weapons?
No.
If you're a Republican, these things pay for themselves. It's the social safety net, you know, those "entitlements," that are the real "government spending" to which he so contemptuously refers.
"But if more revenue is the price that Democrats want to exact, then we should at least agree to do it in a way that doesn’t cost jobs and disincentivize rates, as we all know raising rates would do.”
No. Not all of us know that. Though McConnell's preface of "we all know" should be reason enough to be suspicious, we're
once again compelled to remind hoodwinked citizens everywhere that the "tax cuts spur growth" trope is a myth—propaganda serving the Big Republican Lie.
If McConnell were actually called to account publicly, he would be forced to acknowledge the facts, much discussed here on this site, but neatly summarized in a fact-laden article from Business Insider as follows:
Athough tax cuts do not appear to spur economic growth, they DO appear to lead to greater economic inequality.
Don't count on McConnell admitting the error of his ways any time soon, but
do count on some of his trademark bombastic, hyperbolic bullshit:
“The only reason Democrats are insisting on raising rates is because raising rates on the so-called rich is the holy grail of liberalism.
“Their aim isn’t job creation, they’re interested in wealth destruction,” he said.
Beware the wealth-destroyers, hell-bent on getting "so-called rich" millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share of taxes!
What McConnell really meant to say was something like this:
[My] aim isn't job creation, [because tax cuts don't create them, I'm] interested in wealth [equality] destruction.
And finally, Mitch reminds us of the impact on dual-income working families,
should the Republicans hold the tax cuts of dual income, working-class families hostage in order to preserve those of the rich:
McConnell warned that raising rates would discourage people from working and investing their money. He said dual-income households would be especially affected, as married women thinking about entering the workforce would have a powerful disincentive.
I'll leave you to ponder the fact that, according to Mitch McConnell, married women are going to forgo a career if the tax cuts [for the rich] expire.
If he's so concerned, he sure has a funny way of showing it.