Debt ‘fiction’
Dear editor:
A recently published letter by Jerry Davis lambasted the Republicans for increasing the national debt, and while there is some truth to that, he completely leaves out the Democrats’ role in that. He also presented quite a bit of fiction in his letter.
First off, he tries to say Reagan accelerated our national debt. In reality, the national debt started to accumulate under every president beginning with Herbert Hoover and ending with Trump and now Biden has continued the trend. The list of presidents includes both Republicans and Democrats, which includes Obama adding $8.6 trillion in his eight years. To be fair, if Trump had been reelected, he might have held the distinction of him adding the most.
Secondly, Mr. Davis fails to mention any extending circumstances on why spending was increased during those times. For instance, Roosevelt had the social programs he instituted in the New Deal, as well as World War II to contend with. George W. Bush launched the War on Terror after 9/11 and the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars. Bush also dealt with the 2001 recession and the 2008 financial crisis, which was largely caused by Democrat-pushed policies (Community Reinvestment Act among others). Obama had to deal with the 2008 crisis with several massive spending packages and the bailout of GM. Trump had to deal with the COVID pandemic.
Lastly, Mr. Davis tries to lay much of the blame on tax cuts. This is pure fiction, and a widely used, but false, Democrat talking point. Tax cuts do not add to the deficit; in fact, if one would check the federal revenue tables by year, you would see with the exception of a year or two, revenues increased after every tax cut. It’s because tax cuts tend to have a stimulative effect on the economy. Excessive spending is the cause of increased deficits and debt, not tax cuts.
He also used another worn-out Democrat talking point that only the rich receive the tax cuts. Taking the Trump tax cuts, for instance, IRS data proves Trump tax cuts benefited middle, working-class Americans the most. Filers who earned $50-$100K got a tax break of around 17%, while those earning above $1 million only got around a 6% cut. If you look at raw dollars, then yes, the rich appear to gain the most, but that’s because they most of taxes by a large margin. The top 1% pay nearly 40% of federal income taxes, while the bottom 40% of earners pay none.
Hopefully, this has added a little more balance to Mr. Davis’ one-sided view.
Mike Williams Hot Springs Village