Sen. Susan Collins tells us in her recent commentary (“New tax law will benefit hardworking Mainers, not Washington elites,” Dec. 27) that she backed the Republican tax cut legislation because, among other reasons, “it will help lower-income and middle-income families keep more of their hard-earned money.” Apparently, her constituents are not impressed.
Polls show that a majority of Mainers and other Americans do not favor this new law. People understand that today, the richest 1 percent own 40 percent of the country’s wealth, a concentration of riches not seen since before the 1929 stock market crash and Great Depression. Many of us know that under the tax bill, the wealthiest will gain still more. Not only that, as Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation has concluded, the legislation will not pay for itself through economic growth. So America will be borrowing money to give more to the wealthiest Americans.
The tax law is the Trump Congress’ biggest accomplishment? Their celebration is a mockery to the rest of us. It is understandable and heartening that most voters cannot be bought with a few dollars temporarily sent our way. Soon we can expect Congress to come after Medicare and Social Security. We plainly need better leadership in Washington, or more and more people will suffer the consequences.
Jon Hinck
Portland
Copy the Story LinkSend questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.