Ever asked yourself why the Republican Party is so demanding about tax cuts for the wealthy? It has come to the point where the Republican minority House Leader, John Boehner recently said that if the rich, those making over $250,000.00 a year in income can’t get their tax cuts extended, then no one should. The other Republican leaders in the House and Senate have adopted this idea as the way to move forward on whether or not the Bush tax cuts should be extended.
RCN Chairman M. Steele
So again, why are the Republicans willing to take money away from the middle class? The answer is simple:
Extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy will increase the deficit by another $700 Billion dollars. This increase puts an additional $100,000.00 into the hands of the top 2% of income earners in America.
The idea as repeated by Republicans, is that this money will be used to put Americans bask to work, something they call trickle-down economics or supply-side economics. The reasoning here is that rich folks needs this extra cash to create jobs for middle class Americans, thus, the trickle-down effect.
But this policy has been in effect for the all of the Bush years, and if the recession and the lost of over 700,000 jobs per month is any indication, this policy is a huge failure.
So no, trickle-down economics is not the real reason for the push to increase the deficit by continuing the tax cuts for the rich. The real reason the Republicans want this policy to continue is because when the rich gets this extra $100,000.00, that money is then given back to Republican congressmen as campaign contribution.
The Republicans are pushing this policy of tax cuts for the wealthy, because the same funds given to the wealthy makes its way back to the GOP in the form of donations.
Don’t believe me? Let’s dig deeper:
According to Open Secrets, a nonpartisan guide to money’s influence on U.S. elections and public policy, there have been a constant increase in donations to Republicans since the Bush administration and the first tax cuts for the rich was implemented. For example;
In 1990, the average donation by Blue Cross/Blue Shield to House Republicans was $1400.00. In 2000, when Bush took office, the donations increased to $2600.00 per Republican in The House of Representatives. After the first Bush tax cuts for the rich became law, Blue Cross/Blue Shield donated to each Republican congressperson an average of $3200 in 2002, then again increased to $4800 in 2006. In the first nine months of this year, House Republicans have already received an average of $5000.00 from Blue Cross.
Individually, Republicans Thune and Grassley both received $27,000, Eric Cantor got $18,000 and John Boehner has already received $15,000 from Blue Cross in the first nine months of 2010. The top earner from Blue Cross for 2010 however, is a Democratic congresswoman, Blanche Lincoln, who has already pocketed $40,000 from the Insurance group.
This pattern is repeated throughout different industries, from companies and individuals making enough to qualify for Bush’s Tax cuts. But the pattern is not only found with companies, but also with individual donations.
- Comcast Corp’s Knott, Kerry A and Michelle Morgon donated $12,300 dollars in 2002, $15,350 in 2006, and $31,900 in 2008, all to Republican candidates.
- Todd J. and Theresa M Christie of Goldman Sacs donated $11, 200 in the year 2000, but during the Bush Administration, they donated $249,000 to Republicans.
- Phill and Wendy Gramm of UBS AG donated $33,000 to Republicans, and after the Bush tax cuts, that amount went up to $66,300 in 2006. In comparison, Democratic candidates received $0.00
- Joseph and Kathleen Grano, also of UBS AG donated $24,000 to Republicans in the year 2000, but after the Bush Tax cuts went into effect, they raised that donation to $121,969 in the year 2004.
- Stephen and Sandra Lessing of Lehman Brothers donated $4000 before Bush in the year 2000, then after the Bush Tax cuts, Stephen and Sandra donated $101,900 in 2004. That amount went up after more Tax cuts for the rich to $117,900 in 2008.
On and on it goes, the names are almost endless. There’s documented proof that before the Bush Tax Cuts for the rich, the Republicans got a meager amount from the rich. However, after the Bush Administration got their way, these donations dramatically increased.
So Republicans have a vested financial reason to demand more tax cuts for the rich. History has shown that when the rich get more tax cuts, Republicans get more donations.
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Related articles
- Americans’ Incomes Sank After Bush Tax Cuts (crooksandliars.com)
- Did John Boehner Show His Hand on Bush Tax Cuts? [Taxes] (gawker.com)
- Rand Paul On Bush Tax Cut Debate: ‘You Can’t Punish Rich People’ (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)
These rich fat cats are really too high-maintaince for our country. The average middle class American pays a tax rate of 40% while these millionaires and billionaires report a rate of 17%, not including all of the tax loopholes available to them.