Let’s take a look at how those tax cuts are working out. You know, the ones that are supposed to rain prosperity upon us even though independent analysis says those cuts will increase the federal debt by more than $1 trillion over the next couple years.
Ah, here’s an item. According to Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, the downpour has started. The congresswoman was happy to share news last week that Premera Blue Cross will use $200 million of its $390 million tax cut to stabilize health insurance in Washington in 2019, particularly in rural counties.
This is, indeed, good news. It is self-evident that adequate health care strengthens our communities, and Herrera Beutler said, “Multiple counties in the region I represent were told there would be no affordable health care options last year, so this is welcome and potentially life-saving news and it’s also why I voted to let individuals and communities keep more of their money.”
But what is missing from the rhetoric is why Premera Blue Cross needed to keep more of its money in the first place. After all, CEO Jeff Roe received a salary of $882,000 and a bonus of nearly $3 million in 2017, according to financial records. When the head of a not-for-profit company is receiving a bonus large enough to purchase a small island nation, suggestions that oppressive taxes were hampering business are nothing more than a sham.
Yet Herrera Beutler keeps clinging to that trope, embracing the same philosophy that had Speaker of the House Paul Ryan boasting about a secretary who was “pleasantly surprised her pay went up $1.50 a week.” Yes, while secretaries are gaining $78 a year, Premera reaps an extra $390 million from a one-time tax cut. Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury Department announced last month that it expects to borrow $955 billion during this fiscal year, nearly double the amount from the previous year.
So, the federal government has provided tax breaks to companies already awash in cash and are paying for it with debt that you and I eventually will have to pay.
Now, you might not care about the federal deficit; it can be complex stuff. So let’s allow columnist Paul Krugman of the New York Times to explain: “You go out for dinner with a wealthy acquaintance. ‘I’ll take care of everything,’ he says, and orders you a hamburger. Then he orders himself an expensive steak and a bottle of wine, which he doesn’t share. And when the waiter comes with the check, he points at you and says, ‘Charge it to his credit card.’ Now you understand the essence of the Trump tax cut.”
That makes for an expensive hamburger, and Republicans in Washington, D.C., are desperate to convince us that it is delicious.
Ignoring the deficit
All of which places Herrera Beutler in a curious position. In 2011, she co-sponsored a balanced budget amendment, saying, “If Congress doesn’t stop the overspending, America will cease to be the ‘land of opportunity’ we all know. … Our current national debt is crippling businesses, hurting families and stifling the growth of new jobs.” Now she is boasting about a tax cut that will add $1.44 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Herrera Beutler wrote about this recently in a guest opinion for The (Centralia) Chronicle. And while she highlighted the tax cut’s benefits, she somehow failed to mention deficits or debt or the fact that large companies are using much of their tax savings to buy back their own stock rather than hiring employees.
Stock buybacks are good for shareholders. But because this is being funded with deficit spending, it means the people at the other tables also are dining on your credit card.
All of which should not be ignored in the announcement that Premera is bolstering its coverage throughout Washington. Because while Herrera Beutler might view it as a downpour of good news, the truth is that we are getting trickled upon.
