Well, that was fun. No, seriously, it was fun. And not in a sarcastic, eye-rolling, “Well, that was fun” kind of way.
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, sat down with The Columbian Editorial Board the other day and discussed things such as tax reform, marijuana legalization, the I-5 Bridge, Donald Trump and probably some other issues. It’s all kind of running together, as we kept the congresswoman on her toes for about 90 minutes.
And it was fun. Because while there are many subjects of national importance worthy of discussion, I was particularly interested in the GOP tax bill that was passed last month.
Herrera Beutler supported that bill, and she still supports it. “I’m excited about this bill … it’s going to benefit people in Southwest Washington,” she said.
I did not support it, and I still don’t support it. “I’m disgusted by the voodoo economics and deficit spending that are behind this thing,” I thought.
So, we had a robust discussion. A tense discussion. A discussion that remained respectful despite sharply differing viewpoints. Neither of us resorted to calling the other “sad,” or “loser,” or “crazy,” which means we remained above the level of what often passes for political discourse these days.
In the end, neither of us changed our minds. That’s OK; that’s the way these things work.
But, as Herrera Beutler was saying “we’re already seeing it now” while claiming that companies are increasing hiring and paying out bonuses, it was impossible to ignore the rest of the story.
Take Boeing, which followed the tax cuts by announcing $300 million in expenditures for corporate giving and workplace development. This received much attention at the time, but nobody seemed to mention that in 2013 Boeing was handed $8.7 billion in state tax breaks by the Legislature. And nobody mentioned that Boeing, according to The Seattle Times, has paid a federal corporate tax rate of 3.2 percent over the past 15 years. And nobody mentioned that the company’s state tax rate is just about 0 percent.
Boeing is a great company and is essential to Washington. But it is difficult to believe that new reductions in the corporate tax rate were necessary before Boeing could invest in its community and its workers.
Or take Walmart, which announced it was increasing its minimum wage to $11 an hour and paying $1,000 bonuses to employees. Lost in the fine print is the fact that the $1,000 bonus is for 20-year employees, or that the company also announced the closing of 38 Sam’s Club outlets, affecting 9,400 jobs.
Or take AT&T, which boasted about paying bonuses at the same time it announced 2,000 layoffs. Or Kimberly-Clark, which on Tuesday announced 5,500 layoffs despite $3.3 billion in operating profit last year. Or Toys R Us, which on Wednesday announced the closing of 180 stores.
Plan is a sham
In other words, the notion that corporate tax cuts will spur economic growth and all kinds of spending by “job creators” is a sham. And when Herrera Beutler talks about brewpubs in Clark County being able to grow because of a reduction in taxes, the obvious question is, “So AT&T needed a tax cut?”
Corporate tax cuts will allow companies to buy back their own stock, boosting prices and increasing the bottom line of stockholders. That might help your 401(k), but it will help the people in the corner offices even more. The richest 1 percent of Americans own 38 percent of the stock market, according to a 2013 New York University study.
Meanwhile, Republicans are hoping the public will ignore the fact that individual tax cuts expire after 10 years. Or that the cuts are more beneficial for the ultra wealthy than for the middle class. Or that this was such a great plan that the Senate passed it, literally, in the middle of the night.
All of that should be remembered, and constituents should tell Herrera Beutler that they haven’t forgotten. Trust me, it will be fun.
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