Sperry: A smarter, kinder approach to redistribution of wealth

The “Big Beautiful Bill,” which was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives, now moves to the Senate.

And it seems clear that, with all the chaos created by the president, many are unaware of how the passage of this bill in its current form will affect the redistribution of wealth in this country. According to the Congressional Budget Office, over 16 million will lose health insurance, and many will lose secondary aid, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. There will also be major cuts to clean energy credits, cuts to student loan programs, cuts in benefits for federal workers and cuts to consumer protection. Public lands and resources will be up for sale. National parks have already seen major staff reductions.

All these decreases are required to renew the 2017 tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations. The Republicans claim that tax cuts for the rich will supercharge economic growth, a claim that has no factual basis (Nobel economist Paul Krugman calls such reasoning “zombie economics”).

Krugman, in his Substack column of May 23, also made some interesting proposals that would spare the poor and middle class:

• Give the IRS enough resources to crack down on wealthy Americans who cheat on their taxes. This would save some $600 billion a year.
• Crack down on Medicare Advantage insurance, which games the system by making clients look sicker to get higher reimbursements. This move would save $1.3 trillion to $2 trillion over the next decade. Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency seem to have overlooked this.
• End tax loopholes that allow corporations to make profits earned in the U.S. disappear and then reappear in low-tax countries, like Ireland. According to Gabriel Zucman, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, such maneuvers cost the Treasury around $70 billion annually.
• Instead of extending the 2017 tax cuts, end them completely. The wealthy and large corporations should pay their fair share of taxes.

We should all be in the streets pushing proposals like these and pointing to the damage to our economy caused by the removal of immigrants, not to mention the utter immorality of it all.

Julia Sperry

Hockessin

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