The issue of taxes is a highly controversial one. It’s frustrating for most people to see how much Uncle Sam takes from every paycheck, but it’s even worse when our hard-earned money is then wasted by the government forcibly taking it from us.
Understanding that our tax system is outdated, if not broken, the Trump administration has announced its bold plan for comprehensive tax reform. At first glance, there are a lot of positive changes. But according to legendary conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, Trump’s latest move is more smoke and mirrors than substantive reform.
As reported at Fox News, on Sean Hannity’s primetime show Thursday, Rush went off on Trump’s supposed conservative tax reform plan. Not content to just accept the changes being presented by the Republican president, he highlighted how the proposal is more populist than conservative, and how the wealthy are still being unfairly scrutinized.
“Right there is populism. That is pure private, some might say it’s liberal—it’s a derivative of Democrat party class warfare rhetoric. Our framework includes our explicit commitment that tax reform protects low-income and middle-income households, not the wealthy and the well-connected. They can call me all they want, it isn’t going to help,” Rush ranted.
Rush has a sharp eye when it comes to the nuances of policies. The language of the plan is highly important, as it reflects the underlying ideology that shaped it. Explicitly proclaiming and calling out the “wealthy and well-connected,” and bragging how they’re not going to see their taxes cut, sounds just like something leftists say.
For the president to use such language, it shows that he’s playing into the paradigm that the Left wants us all to believe is true–that the wealthy aren’t paying their fair share. Instead of ignoring such an asinine view, the president’s instead using language that panders to the emotions of folks that have been convinced that the rich aren’t doing their part. That’s not conservative, because it’s using left-wing talking points and policy ideas to get people’s support.
“See, if we continue to demonize high earners and high taxpayers. We demonized them. Somehow it’s not fair, so we demonized them and we punish them. When everybody else is getting a tax break, they don’t, and is called fairness. What it really is—it is how you get votes in the middle class. This is a pure populist approach. This is not a conservative approach to tax reform whatsoever,” Rush continued.
The reality is that about half of Americans don’t end up paying income taxes at the end of the day. It’s the wealthy that shoulder the overwhelming majority of the tax burden, yet they’re constantly accused of not paying their fair share. It’s the Left’s favorite tactic, to seize upon folk’s envious emotions, and demonize the rich so they can get away with taxing them more.
It’s unfortunate to see Trump using the Left’s language in his proposal. True conservative reform would rely on substantive policies, not left-wing talking points, to elicit the public’s support.
Source: Fox News