Boy, that didn’t take long.
The House of Representatives just approved an arcane-sounding but important rule change requiring the economic effects of legislation to be included in the bill’s official cost to the Treasury.
That by itself sounds reasonable, but the change involves “dynamic scoring,” which calculates the economic value of tax cuts. For years Republicans have been arguing that tax cuts increase revenue by stimulating business activity. We have a great example in Kansas, where Republican-sponsored tax cuts are bankrupting the state.
The Congressional Budget Office has been a source of objective information since its first director, Alice Rivlin, was appointed in 1975. The CBO was noted for its even-handed analysis, whether the Democrats or Republicans were in power. That’s about to change.
The Republicans plan to appoint a sympathizer of “dynamic scoring” to head the CBO. Tax cuts for the rich will be seen as cutting the deficit.
This is how politics works in America. The rich get richer and the poor don’t vote.
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