THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

But that is OK because the Republicans will be doing it and it will be for their own benefit. Indeed if the proposed tax cut budget passed through the Senate is any indication, not only will the deficit be YUGE! but Defense will be the only item in it that can be funded.

The Senate Budget Committee unveiled a 2018 budget blueprint on Friday that would open the door for a $1.5 trillion tax cut, even as an independent analysis concluded that the plan as offered would far exceed that price tag and overwhelmingly benefit corporations and the rich.

The budget resolution could also pave the way to opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil drilling, a hot-button Republican proposal that has languished for decades.

Passing a budget resolution would be a critical step for President Trump and Republican lawmakers in moving forward with their plan to overhaul the tax code. The parliamentary language in the resolution would allow Republicans to pass tax cuts that cost as much as $1.5 trillion over the next decade with only 50 votes in the Senate, not the 60 needed to overcome a filibuster. Republican leaders concede that without a budget, there will be no tax cut.

But the analysis released on Friday by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center could change the politics of tax cutting and make even 50 votes a struggle in a Senate with 52 Republicans. The report estimated that the tax cuts that Republicans are considering would cost the government $2.4 trillion over 10 years — which would worsen budget deficits by considerably more than $1.5 trillion — while showering benefits on the wealthy.

In the first detailed assessment of the plan’s financial impact, the analysis found that the average tax bill for all income groups would decline by nearly $1,600 in 2018, boosting after-tax incomes by 2.1 percent. Those in the top 1 percent — with incomes above about $730,000 — would receive about half the total tax benefit. They would see an average tax cut of $129,000, increasing after-tax incomes by 8.5 percent.

Those with incomes between about $49,000 and $86,000 would see an average tax cut of $660, raising their after-tax income by 1.2 percent.

The analysis said the Republican plan also would provide enormous benefits to corporate America, with a $2.6 trillion cut in business taxes over the next decade. Individual income tax revenue would actually increase by $470 billion over that period, largely as a result of changes in personal deductions and exemptions as well as an increase in the bottom tax rate to 12 percent from 10 percent.

“Tax collections would shift dramatically from businesses to individuals,” said Eric Toder, co-director of the Tax Policy Center.

The loss of deductions would hit the upper middle class the most, and more than a third of the taxpayers who earn $150,000 to $300,000 would see their taxes go up next year, the report found. They would be hit particularly hard by the repeal of the state and local tax deduction.

And all of that would have to be squeezed into a $1.5 trillion budget hole, forcing lawmakers either to scale back cuts, phase them in, find more loopholes to close or identify other taxes to raise.

And the best thing about this budget, from a Republican point of view, is that middle and lower income tax payers will pay most of the burden leaving the corporations and wealthy individuals to enjoy their hard earned riches.