THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

What is the one thing you most need from Congress. If you are a Republican the answer is simple, permenant tax cuts! To do so will require the eager Republicans to like like an evangelical preacher to try and convince people this is a wonderful idea.

There are tough choices at the heart of the Republican tax bills speeding through Congress, and they make clear what the party values most in economic policy right now: deep and lasting tax cuts for corporations.

The bill set to pass the House on Thursday chooses to take from high-tax Democratic states, particularly California and New York, and give to lower-tax Republican states that President Trump carried in 2016, particularly Florida and Texas. It allows for tax increases on millions of families several years from now, if a future Congress does not intervene, but not for similar increases on corporations.

The version of the bill moving through the Senate Finance Committee chooses to give peace of mind to corporate executives planning their long-term investments. That comes at the expense of added anxiety for individual taxpayers, particularly those in the middle class, who could face stiff tax increases on Jan. 1, 2026.

A consistent conservative philosophy underpins all those decisions. So does a very large bet — economically and politically — on the power of business tax cuts to deliver rapid wage growth to United States workers.

There is also the appearance, to liberal critics in particular, of Republicans seeking to reward their prized constituencies first, while leaving others to bear the consequences if their most optimistic scenarios do not play out.

The tax plans have evolved rapidly since House leaders first introduced their bill at the beginning of the month. Amendments in the Ways and Means Committee restored some cherished tax breaks that had been targeted for elimination, including those for adoptive parents, and expanded the bill’s tax breaks for owners of businesses that are not organized as traditional corporations.

The Senate bill differed from the House version when it was introduced last week, and broke further away on Tuesday night, with a package of amendments that included repealing the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that most individuals buy health insurance. To comply with procedural rules that would allow Republicans to pass the bill on a party-line vote in the Senate, the amendment also set an expiration date — Dec. 31, 2025 — on all the individual tax cuts in the legislation.

Despite minor differences both Houses of Congress share a commonbelief that the middle class is to be milked for all they are worth so glorious corporations and their wealthy owners can save a few million more on their taces. The purported idea that the cuts will stimulate growth is hogwash. If the example of Kansas is not enough, consider the meeting between Economic Adviser Gary Cohn and a group of CEO's. When asked how many would invest in their companies, very few said yes.