Last night, the Senate adopted the final version of a major tax overhaul that nonpartisan organizations all agree will boost economic growth, make the US corporate tax rate far more competitive on the global stage, and will cut taxes, on average, for every single income group in America. Every single Democrat who cast votes on the bill in both legislative chambers voted no. 'Resistance' now requires consigning your working class and middle-income constituents to higher tax burdens, apparently. Thanks to Democrats' unified failure, more than 80 percent of taxpayers will see an immediate cut, with less than five percent getting an increase -- a tiny group heavily tilted toward wealthier itemizers living in high-tax states. More than eight years from now, those percentages would have barely budged, with the vast majority of all taxpayers (including and especially the working and middle classes) receiving tax relief, totaling roughly $7,000 for the average family by that point. These are facts; facts that Democrats and their media allies have gone into overdrive to hide from the American people. Some of this propaganda push has entailed flat-out lying and laughable hyperbole:
Pelosi: Few things are more disturbing than hearing GOP cheer for raising taxes for middle-class Americans https://t.co/fy3vj5yfn0 pic.twitter.com/gRVMCJk13z
— The Hill (@thehill) December 19, 2017
Shamefully, Republicans were cheering against the children as they rob from their future and ransack the middle class to reward the rich #GOPTaxScam
— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) December 19, 2017
In response to the first quote, Mary Katharine Ham quipped, "this would be a good occasion for one of those parenthetical fact-checking chyrons." (The bill cuts middle class taxes). Pelosi also declared the tax reform legislation to be literally the worst bill ever considered on the House floor. By her own standard, Pelosi must find middle class tax cuts more offensive than a law requiring the return of escaped slaves -- human beings -- to their oppressors, among other shameful items. You do you, Nancy. But Pelosi's ridiculous theatrics wouldn't have nearly the impact that they do without many assists from a pliant and ideologically-supportive mainstream media. This sort of lie by omission is the reason why so many Americans have no idea how the tax bill will affect them, which is by design:
BREAKING: House passes first rewrite of nation's tax laws in three decades, providing steep tax cuts for businesses, the wealthy.
— The Associated Press (@AP) December 19, 2017
My immediate reply:
AP had plenty of characters to spare to add accurate & important context about the bill's sweeping middle class tax cuts. They chose not to, instead rehashing Democratic talking points. Next, they'll hype poll #'s showing the bill isn't popular for some strange reason. https://t.co/S8ElTdVOdF
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) December 19, 2017
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The most sophisticated line of attack, however, has come from lefty reporters, commentators, and wonks who've fixated on the "temporary" nature of the middle class tax cuts, which many liberals have simply pretended don't exist. Let's set aside the "but the corporate cuts are permanent!" half of this criticism (even President Obama wanted to lower our damagingly inefficient and uncompetitive corporate rates, a goal shared by many Democrats until very recently). Let's once again focus on the "but what about 2027?!" argument. Here's my exchange on this point with my misguided buddy and hard-left MSNBC host Chris Hayes:
TPC data shows 75% of taxpayers also get a tax cut in 2025. These middle class tax cuts only expire if Democrats allow them to, which they didn't re Bush cuts in 2012. Media framing here is Democrat framing. Pushing back IS a righteous crusade that will likely fall on deaf ears.
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) December 19, 2017
Ah yes, we've jumped to the hypothetical, wildly unlikely "but 2027!" scenario. Tell me, which of the Bush middle class tax cuts did Obama make permanent? All of them. This (unpersuasive) argument also ignores the ~$7k in tax cuts avg families will accrue prior to that year.
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) December 19, 2017
Yes, how could we possibly anticipate what might happen, in light of recent analogous history & very powerful political incentives? Rather than being baffled, perhaps you should ask every Dem on your show to pledge not to allow the GOP middle class tax cuts to ever expire!
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) December 19, 2017
Every Democratic official and candidate should be grilled and pressured by Hayes and friends to vow unequivocally that they'll never vote against extending or making permanent the GOP's tax cuts for the middle class. Will they do so, on the record? And will liberal journalists and commentators ask those questions? Or is this just a cynical way to bludgeon the Republican plan by people who are well aware that most average voters don't know about the budget rule constraints that prevented the GOP from making the new individual rates permanent -- and who are willing to willfully pretend that a magical desire to raise middle class taxes (heretofore absolute anathema to both parties) will unexpectedly take hold in 2027? As I said to Hayes, given the very recent and relevant history and the extraordinarily potent political incentives at play, the only way those taxes would ever go up is if Democrats are in power and decide to make it so. Perhaps to partially fund a breathtakingly unaffordable, disruptive and extreme policy agenda.
So let's hear it, Democrats: Promise us that you'll work with Republicans stop the fake 2027 "tax increase" you keep warning about. And a variant of the same challenge applies to the media figures pushing this narrative. I very much look forward to this programming: "Good evening, and welcome to 'All In.' I'm Chris Hayes. Today is March 22, 2023, and we begin tonight -- as we have every night for the past five-plus years -- with an impassioned plea that Democrats make permanent the Republican-passed middle class tax cuts of 2017." Meanwhile, let's say it again: This tax bill is hardly perfection, but it's unrecognizable when compared to the monstrous portrait painted by the deceptive Democrat-media echo chamber. Are you part of the 80 percent of Americans who will get a tax cut under the GOP reform package? Click through, and find out:
TAX PLAN CALCULATOR by @maximlott updated for the final bill -->https://t.co/m0vGQ0XH7M
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) December 16, 2017
And if you're part of the very small contingent who will lose money under the bill, be sure to call up your favorite mainstream media outlet -- they'll be heavily invested in profiling folks like you over the coming months and years, in an effort to offset the impact of their self-defeating distortions (once the new withholding tables take effect, at least). Oh, and here's one more factually-unsupported charge leveled against the tax plan biting the dust:
The "Corker Kickback" was BS -- extra tasty false flakes in the blizzard of anti-reform disinformation. Corker didn't seek the change, nor was it 'sneakily slipped in' to the final bill. That provision was in the House-passed bill, sitting in plain sight for weeks. https://t.co/cr9iiK084o
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) December 20, 2017
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