Listen to Heller Dodge a Concerned Constituent’s
Questions About Heller’s Tax Cuts for the 1%
In a tele-town hall Tuesday evening, Dean Heller was confronted by a constituent about the tax bill he’s proudly touted, which has resulted in billions in stock buybacks for corporations’ wealthy shareholders and projected trillions added to the national deficit — all while wages remain stagnant for the majority of Americans.
But confronted with the tax bill’s unequal impacts, Heller didn’t explain himself. He didn’t own up to crafting a bill whose primary motivation was to further enrich the wealthy. A former “deficit hawk,” he didn’t even express proportionate concern about the ballooning national debt. Instead, he gave a condescending lecture to a constituent deeply worried about his economic future.
Key Points:
The constituent, Stan, said to Heller: “The tax bill, the way I see it, I’m just a middle class, normal American, and I figured that probably next year…I may get a $500 tax break…The people at the top — 83% of the top 1%, corporations as well, are going to walk away with trillions — if not trillions, billions — of dollars in savings.
“What this is going to do, is going to actually already doubled, if not close to tripled, our deficit…And they’re going to start taking the money from where? Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security. And then who’s going to end up getting everything from this whole thing?The rich and the powerful.”
Heller: “Yes, our deficits are going up a little bit — they’re not going up a lot, but they are going up more. And when you’re at $21 trillion we have a major problem…short term we’re going to see an increase in our deficit. But long term if we’re smart we’ll use theadditional revenues that we’re getting from great growth — excellent growth at 4%, this president wants north of 5% growth, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t look that way.
“Yes there were some stock buybacks…I do believe that even though these corporations made their billions it helped their stock prices and if you’re a senior today and you have a 401k and that’s your only source of income besides Social Security, you’re better off today.”
Published: Jul 20, 2018