No guarantee of continued benefit for middle class tax cuts

The Jan. 5 letter to the editor from Alfredo Ortiz, of the D.C.-based Job Creators Network, was clearly a plant by a spin doctor (“Criticisms of GOP tax reform are incorrect”). To refresh your memory, Ortiz disputed the assertions of Democrats and others that the recent tax reform will effectively benefit only the 1-percenters and corporations.

The letter stated those opinions were “based on the faulty assumption that the significant tax cuts in the legislation will expire. In reality, no Congress would eliminate the legislation’s provisions that bring … relief to ordinary citizens.” In the summary, the letter states that “If Democrats keep up their … arguments then, they will not only sound like sour grapes but also completely out of touch with reality.”

Reality is what is actually in the tax reform bill, and the benefits to ordinary citizens (middle class) do indeed expire. The only assumption made is by Ortiz, who has no way of knowing what Congress will do in upcoming years. (Congress already passed this tax bill as written, so why would we assume that Congress would revise its provisions in the future?)

Ortiz’s letter should have been a red flag for anyone reading it. If the tax reform were truly beneficial to “ordinary citizens,” there would be no need to rely on assumptions and cleverly worded spin to garner support for the changes.

Dave Maness

Arlington