It’s not lost on me that Sen. Susan Collins and Rep. Bruce Poliquin are part of the demographic who stand to gain the most from the tax plan they have voted in favor of. I can’t help but wonder how their personal tax savings will trickle down to the rest of us in Maine.

For example, will those who work for them see a $4,000 increase in income, as President Trump said would happen? Will the lawmakers be organizing fundraising bean suppers for sick or injured people who lose their health insurance without the Affordable Care Act mandate? What plans do they have for those of us who can no longer deduct out-of-pocket medical or assisted-living expenses? A nice gesture might be for each of them to make donations to the Treasury Department to help pay down the $1 trillion deficit increase they are creating.

We know our future greatness rests on having skilled and educated workers, so I am wondering how our members of Congress will be helping students in our communities. Maybe they could buy school supplies with their tax savings and donate them to local schools since teachers have had their tax deduction for doing so slashed by Collins and Poliquin.

Or they could start scholarships so college students don’t have to take on so much debt, especially since Congress just took away students’ ability to deduct the interest from student loans.

I am hoping that Collins (whose net worth is $3.2 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics) and Poliquin ($11.1 million) will encourage Education Secretary Betsy DeVos ($1.5 billion) to do the same.

Linda Buckmaster

Belfast

Copy the Story Link