Democrats vow massive tax hikes if they win

When it comes to distinguishing Republicans from Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections, a tax-policy expert contends it can't be said enough that Democrats intend to roll back the tax cuts and reform that many economists believe have been the major catalyst for the current economic resurgence.

Writing for the Washington Examiner, Alexander Hendrie, tax-policy director at Americans for Tax Reform, cites vows by Democratic Party leaders to undo the Trump tax cuts as soon as they can.

Already, he writes, Democrats are proposing new, trillion-dollar-a-year tax hikes.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has compared Trump's tax reform to Armageddon, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has called it a "stunning deception."

Hendrie contends that in reality, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has been a net positive for taxpayers, with 90 percent of wage earners seeing increased take-home pay.

The tax cuts have grown the economy, he points out, and businesses have responded by giving their employees bonuses and pay raises and increasing retirement contributions, child care and adoption benefits.

Job openings are at a record high, while the unemployment rate is at an 18-year low. In the second quarter, GDP was 4.1 percent, and it's expected to remain strong at 3.8 percent in the third quarter.

Since Trump took office, the economy is averaging over 3 percent growth a 50 percent increase compared to economic growth under former President Barack Obama.

If Republicans keep the House, Hendrie said, there's more tax reform to come, with proposed legislation aimed at protecting middle class and small business tax cuts, promoting family savings and encouraging entrepreneurship.

Senate Democrats, meanwhile, have proposed to raise taxes on businesses as part of a $1 trillion tax hike that would make the corporate rate higher than almost every other developed country.

The 2017 bill lowered the corporate rate from 35 percent to a globally competitive 21 percent.

He pointed out that as a result of the tax bill and other reforms, the U.S. was recently named the world's most competitive economy.

The socialist House candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Hendrie pointed out, is in agreement with 150 sitting Democrats in the House and Senate that the nation should established a single-payer healthcare system, which would cost $32.6 trillion over a decade, according to estimates by the Mercatus Center.

It would require trillions of dollars in tax hikes on middle class families and small businesses, as the 2016 presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders', I-Vt., admitted.

"The contrast between the two parties is clear," Hendrie writes. "Democrats are eager to push for higher taxes on the American people, while the GOP wants to build on the success of tax reform."

If the left has its way, he said, Democrats "will erode the strong economy, employee benefits, and higher take-home pay from the GOP tax cuts, and replace this positive economic news with stagnant growth, fewer jobs and lower wages."