How Trump’s Tax Scam Threatens Earned Benefits

In November, Republicans in both the House and Senate voted for bills that would cut Medicare by $400 billion in the next 10 years. Why make such draconian cuts to the hard-earned benefits of working and middle class Americans? To enact a huge tax giveaway to their billionaire donors.

If you hadn’t heard that Medicare is at risk of huge cuts, that’s because cable news and other corporate media outlets barely talked about that aspect of the bill. Instead of covering how the Trump Tax Scam bill would hurt people, most coverage focused on the horse race politics and prospect of a “win” for Donald Trump and his extreme right-wing Republican lapdogs in Congress.

Their “win” is the American people’s loss. The Trump Tax Scam law triggers PAYGO, an ill-advised law passed in 2010 that requires all increases in the deficit to be offset by cuts to Medicare and other programs, including federal student loans, foster care subsidies and funding for Meals on Wheels. This is not a partisan talking point: The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has announced that, when the Trump Tax Scam is enacted, Medicare will be cut by $25 billion in 2018 and $400 billion over the next decade.

To be clear, this means the law requires these cuts to Medicare. Congress does have the ability to waive the cuts, but it’s doubtful that Speaker Paul Ryan, who freely admits that he has been dreaming of cutting Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security since he was drinking beer at frat parties, would suddenly decide he wants to help prevent cuts. In fact, Ryan has openly signaled that he will target Medicare and other earned benefits programs in 2018.

In fact, the PAYGO cuts to Medicare will be just the start. As Senator Marco Rubio admitted in a recent interview, the Republicans’ plan to use the Tax Scam as an excuse to demand even deeper cuts to Medicare – and Social Security and Medicaid, too. This shouldn’t be a big surprise to anyone familiar with the history of the Republican elite.

They have opposed Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid since their inception. After all, those programs are some of the best evidence that government, which is really just all of us pooling our resources and working together, can have a positive impact on people’s lives. That is anathema to the GOP elite’s anti-government ideology. Republican billionaire donors would rather have all the money that would be spent on these programs redistributed upward to themselves and their lucky heirs. Their greed will force people to put what meager retirement savings they have in the volatile stock market and rely on private insurance for health care throughout their lives — or die if they can’t afford it.

Now is the time to organize for the 2018 midterm elections to change this Tax scam and protect Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Tell all of your friends that their Medicare is at urgent risk, and Social Security and Medicaid are in danger as well. Volunteer for groups or candidates who have a proven track record of supporting Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.