EDITORIAL: At last, tax relief

OPINION:

It only took nine months, but at last we have a Republican tax plan. Cutting and reforming taxes was a central promise of Donald Trump and of nearly every Republican who sits in Congress. The party has an imperative to get this signed, sealed and delivered. This year.

The details of the plan are almost all positive and pro-growth. This is as much a jobs bill as a tax plan. At the heart of the proposal is a way to reduce business tax rates. American corporations would see their rates cut from 35 percent (40 counting state and local taxes) to 20 percent. The rate would be slashed to 25 percent for most small businesses. You need healthy and profitable businesses to have healthy and plentiful jobs — and higher wages. It’s just that simple.

Chopping the corporate tax nearly in half — it’s the highest in the developed world — is necessary for economic survival. The rest of the nations of the world tax at about 20 percent, according to the Tax Foundation, and that’s half of the American rate. This gives Europe a running head start and President Trump is correct, the rest of the world is laughing at us.

The lower tax rates combined with the so-called repatriation tax of 10 percent on overseas earnings in offshore bank accounts would invite a flood of new factories and jobs pulled back across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This is a tax plan that puts America first. The news could be even better. The proposed corporate tax rate could have been 15 percent, not 20 percent.

The Republicans in Congress want to eliminate the state and local tax deduction because it, in effect, subsidizes high tax states like California, New York and Connecticut. More than half the benefits in the plan go to families with incomes of more than $500,000 a year, so it might be called the rich man’s loophole. (Why don’t rich liberals want to close that?)

The average family would further save about $1,500 a year on their taxes, which in these financially stressful times would be welcome relief to a family with $50,000 to $75,000 of annual income. They will need it to pay the higher health insurance premiums coming under Obamacare.

In the wake of the Republican repeal and replace fiasco, the stakes for tax reform have doubled and tripled. The Republicans must pass this tax bill this year, not 2018, or all credibility will have vanished and the Grand Old Party will be revealed as no more effective than the ghosts of the Whigs. Investors, workers, and employers are counting on this pro-growth stimulant. The higher growth rates will help lower long-term deficits and further boost consumer confidence and a further stock market expansion.

There is no excuse for failure or further delay. If the party fails on this tax cut, voters will conclude that the party is feckless and incompetent, and next year’s midterm elections could be a bloodbath.