Mounting debt

Regarding “US budget deficit hits highest level in 6 years” (Chron.com, Tuesday): Last week, the Congressional Budget Office reported that the budget deficit for fiscal year 2018 increased to nearly $800 billion. That is significantly higher than when President Donald Trump took office and is a reflection on his tax cuts and spending increases.

Even with the GDP growing at 4.2 percent in the second quarter, the country’s expenditures exceeded its revenues by nearly $1 trillion for the past 12 months. The deficits are projected to grow in 2019 and beyond. Clearly Trump’s fiscal policies are not working and should be repealed.

Americans need to face the facts: Tax cuts for the rich do not trickle down to the rest of us. They deprive the country of billions of dollars in revenue, add to the nation’s debt and weaken the country’s financial future.

America has been waging war in the Middle East since 2001. During that time, we have had two major tax cuts, once under President George W. Bush and again under Trump.

If America is serious about waging a war on terror, we need to pay for it. We should not be incurring debt to pay for these wars.

We need to return to that mindset and find the right tax level so that we can repay our national debt in the same way that generations before us have done. Bill Meyer, Kingwood