Republicans aren't done hurting American workers with their tax scam

The GOP tax scam was supposed to be key to Republicans keeping control of Congress. But the midterms showed voters thoroughly rejected the failing policy. Republicans lost their majority in the House, and Democrats will have at least 225 seats, but likely more after all districts finish counting ballots.

Even though Americans rejected the Republican agenda, workers are still feeling the pain from Trump-led failures. The New York Times lays out how the tax scam is not living up to promises made by Republican lawmakers.

Workers were promised higher wages, and Republicans touted flashy press releases of one-time bonuses being paid to a very small number of employees. But when the over-hyped press conferences ended, most workers were left out in the cold.

Based on research tracking 1,000 large companies and how they are spending their largess from the tax scam, the Times reports, “the typical worker at one of those large companies has received about $225 this year in increased salary, a one-time bonus, or both, attributable to the new law.”

That comes out to less than $4.50 per week.

Meanwhile, the Times reports Wall Street investors have seen a flood of cash from corporate stock buyback schemes and dividends, expected to total $1.3 trillion in 2018.

Big banks are raking in record profits, thanks to massive kickbacks from congressional Republicans, as are the richest 1 percent of Americans.

As wealthy CEOs enrich themselves, wages for workers are barely keeping pace with inflation.

“In September, the Labor Department reported that inflation-adjusted wages had risen 0.5 percent from the year before,” reports the Times. “That’s a slower rate of growth than the economy itself experienced in September 2017, when it was 0.6 percent.

The wealthy may be celebrating, but their riches are coming at the cost of debt passed down to generations to come. “It’s highly unusual for deficits and borrowing needs to grow this much during periods of prosperity,” reports the Times. “The Treasury expects to borrow a total of $1.338 trillion from global investors this calendar year. That would be 145 percent higher than the $546 billion the federal government borrowed last year.”

In the midst of all this failure, Republicans tried to double-down and pass yet another tax scam just before the midterm election, which would have added even more to the national deficit.

With Nancy Pelosi and Democrats back in control of the House, Republicans will be unable to inflict any additional harm.

Just like President Obama had to clean up the fiscal mess left behind by George W. Bush, Democrats in 2019 will have to work toward bringing fiscal responsibility back to Washington.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.