House Republicans have just released their tax reform bill. It cuts taxes for ONLY the wealthy. It — in combination with the Republican budget that just passed — is nothing short of a full-blown act of war against US, YOU, ME, THE PEOPLE.
The budget, which suggests cuts that will result in the death of thousands of people in America — cuts to Medicaid, CHIP, Medicare and non-defense discretionary spending i.e. everything except military spending — is not binding. However, its passage allows the House to pass today's tax plan with a simple majority because of reconciliation rules.
Combine this with one more recent legislative change and you have literal war against people in the U.S.: this August, Trump removed an Obama-era policy that restricted the type of military weaponry that could be given to police departments by the federal government.
So the tax plan introduced today cuts taxes for the top 1% — think executives of Halliburton or Lockheed Martin and Pharma Bro — the kind of people that benefit from war and dismantling the Affordable Care Act. And the budget that just passed suggests massive military spending increases, although we are supposedly not in any active wars and we already spend more on defense than any other country on the planet.
So military manufacturing will continue to rise, and where will that equipement end up? Now that there is no ban on selling surplus military equipment to police it can go right back into the communities that are already fighting for their lives because of cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP and non-defense discretionary spending. The 1% people receiving tax cuts will be getting their profits from the actual death of people in America.
Surplus military equipment will be used against Dreamers in their homes, it will be used against black mothers calling for help, it will be used against peaceful protesters. It will be used against US.
The GOP budget and the GOP tax bill, combined with the Trump administration's repeal of the ban on selling military surplus to police, is what preparing for war looks like. A war against your own people.
Sure, there are plenty of facts to discuss about the trillions of dollars that this tax bill will cost American middle class taxpayers. It replicates Sam Brownback's tax plan that crippled Kansas. It results in even more tax cuts for the impossibly rich tax bracket. Here is a great article that articulates all that.
But I am DONE hearing only about the rich and about economics when it comes to this tax bill. I think it is high time we direct some focus towards the people it is going to let die because they aren't eligible for Medicare anymore and the people who will freeze to death this winter because they lose their homes to affordable housing budget cuts. I want to focus on the people that will have to stand up to and possibly lose their life to surplus military equipment in their own homes. They, no WE, are the ones who deserve our attention right now. I want to focus on US.