Donald Trump has a “yuge” plan to the nation’s crumbling infrastructure as part of his pledge to make America great again. But it’s nothing more than a huge boondoggle to the rich.
1. Rather than taxing the wealthy and then using the money to fix our dangerously outdated roads, bridges, airports, water systems, Trump wants to give rich developers and Wall Street investors tax credits to encourage them to do it. This means that for every dollar they put into a project, they’d actually pay only 18 cents and we would contribute the other 82 cents through our tax dollars.
2. The public won’t even own the roads and bridges that get built. They’ll be owned by the private developers and investors — who will be able to charge us tolls and other fees for using them. So we get taxed twice – once when we subsidize the developers and investors with our tax dollars, and then when we pay the tolls and user fees that also go into their pockets.
3. We get the wrong kind of infrastructure. Projects that will be most attractive to Wall Street investors are those whose tolls and fees bring in the biggest bucks – giant mega-projects like major new thruways and new bridges. Not the thousands of smaller bridges, airports, pipes, and water treatment facilities most in need of repair. And not the needs of rural communities and smaller cities and towns too small to generate the tolls and other user fees equity investors want.
This will be a huge rip-off. To make America great again we need more and better infrastructure. But Trump’s plan will just enrich big developers and investors at the expense of the rest of us. The only way we get the infrastructure we need is if corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes.
What do you think?
Read more
https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED&fref=nf
No comments:
Post a Comment