By Pat Earnest, Hamilton
We have a golden opportunity for the rural families in Montana called the tax reform that is being discussed in Washington, but more importantly, where are these families getting their facts?
I am blessed to mentor and listen to young mothers, a lot who choose to stay at home with their children. This tax reform for an average family of four with an income of $75,000 will see an income tax cut of up to $2,000, cutting their tax bill in half, something that the media won’t report. The framework roughly doubles the standard deduction so that the typical middle class family will keep more of their paycheck. It also significantly increases the Child Tax Credit. It actually eliminates the loopholes for the wealthy and protects bedrock provisions for the middle class.
And yet, many just want to say that it is going to benefit the billionaires.
Another lie that our Governor is telling us – CHIP program is no longer in the bill. On October 30, 2017, the House passed a bill to reauthorize CHIP for five years. Along with 350 of the 450 bills that the Congress has already passed, CHIP is stalled in the Senate. The media does not want you to believe that anything is being done to help the middle class families.
Many of these young moms have husbands who have a dream of starting their own businesses. Our own Sen. Steve Daines just fought hard for Main Street businesses including Montana’s farmers and ranchers, so he could support the tax cut bill. With 68% of Montana’s jobs created by Main Street businesses, he saw this as a much needed relief that will help spur economic growth and provide higher paying jobs. There is great dignity of work, pride of a paycheck and satisfaction of a job well done. So he fought and won to have this in the bill!
Our sole U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte just got his first solely sponsored bill approved, extending a pilot program of telecommuting as a way to boost the Montana economy and end the “brain drain” of young people leaving the state for better pay elsewhere. This will also help our families stay together, not having to leave Montana for a better paycheck. Do any of you know about this?
As the corporate rate is dropped, it encourages businesses to move to, stay in, and hire in America, being on a level playing field, actually boosting our economy. The Democrats want to grow our welfare rolls that we pay for. This bill wants to lift people from welfare to work, from dependence to independence, from poverty to prosperity, to restore hope to our struggling rural communities, from dependence on government.
As long as we have the courage of our convictions and the strength to see these through, there is no goal that we cannot reach. As long as we are true to our values, loyal to our citizens and faithful to our God, then we will not fail. Never give in, never back down, and never, ever, ever stop dreaming. We are Montana proud! We are America – the future belongs to us!
By Russ Lawrence, Hamilton
I call on Montana’s two Republican congressional representatives to vote “no” on the proposed tax bill.
This obscene bill flies in the face of the spirit of the season, showering benefits on those who need them least, while offering crumbs to the rest of us. It will soon result in cuts to programs that help the neediest among us, while further unfettering the wealthy and privileged.
Corporations have already reported that they will “invest” the tax savings not in worker wages, but in share buy-backs and other moves that reward well-to-do shareholders, leaving those who actually produce those profits begging.
Sen. Daines and Rep. Gianforte ran on their presumed business acumen, but anyone with a lick of business sense understands that when business is good – as it most certainly is, right now – you pay down debt, so you’re better positioned to weather the inevitable downturn. This bill does exactly the opposite, piling debt on the backs of our progeny, while the Republican leadership acknowledges that the true cost to posterity is underestimated, depending on tricks and gimmicks to duck under even the Senate’s arbitrary $1.5 trillion debt limit.
Meanwhile, our leering President has yet to release his income taxes (as promised), so that we can know how much he stands to benefit from this bill he is so desperate to force upon us.
No economist I am aware of believes that this is a good idea, nor do most voters, Republican or Democrat; instead we are treated to the sickening spectacle of these two elected representatives dancing only for the resplendently wealthy donors who support this fetid legislation.
Rep. Gianforte and Sen. Daines, you will have much to answer for if this bill becomes law, but at least we will know, more clearly than ever, where your misplaced values lie.