The Right in this country are about as political as it gets. Vote after vote they shoot down bills aimed at providing financial relief to the middle and working classes, under the banner of ‘no unnecessary taxing.’ Their stance is ‘pro-economy’ and ‘pro-free market’ and they will never compromise so long as the super rich catch the break, even if that means the middle class are left to pick up the pieces.
GOP lawmakers Tuesday blocked a bill designed to raise taxes on Social Security and Medicare payrolls for the super rich in order to keep student loan interest rates at 3.4% The interest rates are set to double as of July 1st.
Although GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney as well as several prominent GOP lawmakers have stated that they are in favor of keeping the interest rates of student loans fixed at 3.4%, they will only vote in favor of taking the money from Democrat proposed budgets, like the health fund, in order to pay for it. Put simply, the GOP will only vote in favor of a bill that takes money from government programs designed to help the middle and working classes, rather than slightly raising taxes on the super rich. How can the GOP continue to try to convince the American people that their interests are in helping the middle class?
Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) stated that the health fund is something that, on a bipartisan level, “isn’t the best use of taxpayer’s money.” Alexander cited a compromise by Obama earlier in the year where the president agreed to pull money from the Health fund in order to extend tax cuts for the super rich, something the GOP have been unrelenting in their support for. What Alexander failed to bring up was that Obama’s decision was a compromise in order to avoid a government shut down, something that was inevitable if no compromise was reached. These strong-arm political maneuvers have been the GOP’s way of appearing more moderate while systematically deterring any hope of a true bipartisan budget.
Law making and budgeting are the acts of taxing and spending. Talking points and faux political dialogue aside, a lawmakers job is to decide where taxing is appropriate and where spending is in order to achieve a balanced budget. At some point, congress members have to make a conscientious decision as to where to tax and where to spend.
The middle class and working class in this country pay more of their income in taxes than anyone, a tax system that in numbers looks very reasonable but in reality leaves the underdog always having to pick up the slack. If tax reform isn’t an option for GOP lawmakers, it would stand to reason that they might allow a few laws to take place that will lift the burden. And they will, so long as the money comes out of the pockets of the middle and working classes in order to provide for their own relief.
