Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

Doublespeak clouding the facts in budget debate

I have been doing some checking on President Barack Obama’s budget proposal. I loved the phrase “tax expenditure.”

First of all, it presupposes that your income is the government’s money by inferring that you are allowed to keep your wages.

Second, it is a way of not saying that you will have certain deductions reduced or disallowed, such as charitable contributions and mortgage deductions. Not only will this hurt the lower and middle class, but it would certainly touch the housing industry.

A reduction or elimination of these working-class deductions is akin to taxing a business on gross proceeds as opposed to net income. I am sure there would be an immediate and loud outcry from businesses if that were to happen.

Let me be clear. Eliminate solar subsidies, high-speed train subsidies, ethanol subsidies, farm subsidies, wind power subsidies, etc. Doing these things would reduce part of the deficit but would be political suicide, especially before a presidential run. At least politicians would be honorable if they succeeded in doing so.

There are ways to get the budget under control honestly without having the doublespeak and misleading language that I have seen to this point. Demagoguery and rhetoric do not cut it. Give us the facts.

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