Dear Editor,

Republicans are celebrating because their big tax scam bill passed. I call it a tax scam because it was sold as a “middle class tax cut.” It is no such thing.

Eighty-three percent of the benefits go to corporations and the very wealthy. And these provisions are permanent! The pittance that goes to the poor and middle class is temporary and expires in 2025. Trump lied and said that he “would not benefit from this bill — believe me”.

Actually he benefits HUGELY from this bill; it could have been written specifically for the Trump family. He told a gathering of his wealthy friends at Mar-a-Lago that “you all just got a lot richer” because of his tax bill. Non-partisan agencies have forecast that this bill will increase the budget deficit by $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion.

Now get ready. After blowing a huge hole in the budget republicans will come back next year and declare “something must be done about the budget deficit.” Their prescription, as always, will be to cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, and food stamps. In other words, they want to gut the social safety net in order to pay for the tax cut they just gave to large corporations and their wealthy donors!

Is this what you thought that you were getting? Probably not, but this is what the law that the republicans have passed with no Democratic votes does.

If you do not like this prescription, I suggest that you vote for Democratic candidates in 2018.

Jim Porter

Danville