Numbers don’t lie

Dear editor:

Numerous letter writers have criticized the Trump tax cuts, often citing projections from the Congressional Budget Office. Frequent writer Denny Bosch then writes in rebuttal questioning the validity of the CBO.

Here are some numbers, Denny, no projections, but fact, not coming from the CBO.

The Treasury Department reported last week “the June deficit pushed the current deficit to $607.1 billion, 16.1 percent higher than the same period one year ago.”

The same Associated Press article, citing again the Treasury report, forecasts a

$793 billion deficit for the year. Corporate tax payments in June “totaled $41 billion,” down due to the Trump tax cuts, from

“$61 billion in June 2017.”

One could call that an aberration, but for the fact that “government has run a surplus in June in all but 12 of the last 64 years because it is a month when corporate quarterly taxes are due.”

Finally, the report concluded, “corporate tax payments fell by 83 percent from a year ago and so far 20 percent for the year.”

If Denny doesn’t like the Treasury numbers, two days later the Department of Labor said: “inflation jumped by 2.9 percent from a year earlier.”

Actually, they said it better: “Consumer prices rose in June from a year earlier at the fastest pace in six years.”

In other words, corporations getting to keep more profits is resulting in them charging consumers higher prices for goods you and I are purchasing. Trickle “up” economics? But record earnings for the elite Wall Street chosen few.

How are these tax cuts working out for you, Denny? Thank you, Donald Trump, Tom Cotton, Bruce Westerman and the rest of Washington!