A more-taxing worry than student loan debt

Apparently, the lead editorial on President Joe Biden’s $300 billion executive action 10% (or 20% for Pell Grant recipients) college loan forgiveness program didn’t take issue with the concept of loan forgiveness, just how it was done (Editorial, ER Sept. 1st).

The courts will eventually decide whether President Biden did or didn’t have this executive authority.

On the loan forgiveness idea, however, large numbers of working-class conservatives believe it “forces persons who did not attend college to pay for others who did.”

I agree with the conservative talking heads that comparing these loans to the PPE loan forgiveness afforded to small business owners, including several prominent Republicans, is not equivalent. The PPE was created as part of the CAREs Act in response to the COVD-19 pandemic. So long as legally obtained, there was no expectation that PPE loans were to be paid back.

A better equivalent to this “I must pay for others” scenario is the Donald Trump/Republican Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which added $2.289 trillion to the national debt.

The “true tax rate” of the 25 wealthiest Americans is estimated to be 3.4%, compared to the average American’s effective tax rate of 29.8%. Federal income taxes pay for health programs, social security, defense and security, safety net, national debt, federal retiree and veteran benefits, transportation infrastructure, education and science, and medical research. Through the wealthiest taxpayer’s avoidance of paying 26.4% of their taxes, who ends up paying the bill? That same working class, of course.

— Mark S. Gailey, Chico