Republicans love culture war even more than tax cuts

When President Donald Trump was in office, the Republican Party kept its eyes on the prize. GOP politicians seemed willing to overlook their standardbearer’s nest-feathering and political shakedowns. They shunted aside their professed devotion to free trade, free speech, low deficits and family values, all in pursuit of a single goal: tax cuts.

Or, so I and others surmised at the time. Today, tax cuts no longer appear to be the GOP’s top goal. Republicans have made the culture wars an even higher priority.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis decided to exact retribution after the corporate parent of Disney World opposed a state law prohibiting classroom discussion of gender identity or sexual orientation. He called on legislators to dissolve Disney’s special self-governance district. This arrangement has allowed Disney to build more or less as it saw fit. The company also paid for public services throughout the nearly 40-square-mile area.

With the dissolution of the district’s special status set to take effect in June 2023, Disney will lose some control over building and services around its properties. That’s the punishment DeSantis and Republican lawmakers intended.

But it also will dump a huge financial burden on Orange and Osceola counties, where the special district is situated. These counties are expected to inherit the district’s debt obligations and will have to cover the cost of the $163 million the company has been paying annually to fund public services. Orange County’s tax collector has said he expects property taxes would need to rise 20 to 25% to foot the bill.

DeSantis has decided to raise taxes on regular Floridians in order to duke it out with Mickey Mouse.

Some conservatives are urging Republican policymakers nationwide to follow this example and use state power to crush political enemies. This contradicts their longtime aversion to big government intervening in business. And it is a betrayal of their commitment to low taxes.

The cost of the anti-Disney crusade will affect two counties that are heavily Democratic. But other GOP politicians are willing to endorse higher taxes when it suits their political narrative, even when those higher taxes might befall their own base.

Consider the plans proposed by Florida’s Sen. Rick Scott. He has said that every American should be required to pay at least some federal income taxes. About half of Americans pay none, meaning that would require raising taxes on about half of all Americans.

No matter that most of those affected already contribute to federal and state coffers through levies such as payroll and excise taxes.

Scott’s proposal, if taken literally, would raise taxes on millions of retirees. More than half of those 65 and older currently pay no federal income tax, the Tax Policy Center estimates. Lots of them vote Republican.

Scott has wavered on this element of his plan. But in other contexts, GOP politicians have lately seemed to care little about inflicting pain upon their own voters, if doing so can meet some other culture-war objective.

Consider how Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, snarled commercial traffic at the border, allegedly to root out immigrants crossing the border illegally. His “enhanced” truck inspections didn’t catch a single unauthorized migrant or an ounce of drugs.

They did, however, cost his state’s consumers and businesses roughly $4.2 billion, much of it due to spoiled produce, according to a Texasbased economic analysis group.

Between high inflation and rising recession risks, the U.S. economy faces serious challenges. This should afford Republicans ample opportunity to offer voters some sort of progrowth economic agenda.

It’s telling that, instead, GOP presidential hopefuls are focusing their firepower on Mickey Mouse and Mexican fruit.