Our representatives, and all of us, need to resist the congressional Republicans’ tax “reform” initiatives. Once again, we see an effort to put more money in the hands of the very few and take it from those who have less. This is dishonest, but more importantly has never been a good way to stimulate the economy.

Any legislation that truly meant to help the middle class would not include an end to the estate tax. The only reason this has some support among the people of the U.S. is that most don’t know that this tax will never affect them. The politicians who rail against the “death tax” never mention the $5.5 million-per-person exemption. How many of President Trump’s beloved unemployed coal workers have $5.5 million to bestow on their relatives?

A family that has a serious medical issue (car accident, premature child), or a family that finds itself in the throes of a divorce; thousands of these unfortunate families will find their costs significantly increased so that just one family can inherit $100 million, without being taxed.

Any legislation that truly meant to help the working person would not raise the lowest tax rate 20 percent. And, with a simplified rate structure more people at this lowest level will get a small raise, and discover that their tax rate has more than doubled as a result, and they actually lose money by getting a raise.

And which of the tax “reforms” disappear over time? Not the ones that help the rich but those that might help the working middle class. Does Trump know how many millions this bill gives his family, and how bad it is for almost all of his voters?

Ted Arnold

Portland