My dad worked in the same un-air-conditioned furniture factory for his entire adult life. My mom juggled part-time jobs while raising four children. They worked hard – week in and week out – in order to provide us with more opportunity than they had. And, they taught us that actions speak louder than words.
We heard lots of rosy talk during the 2016 campaign from President Donald Trump about standing up for the working class. We heard him say he would take on the wealthy and well-connected elite, fight for low- to middle-income families, and “drain the swamp.” But, as my parents would say, actions speak louder than words. From President Trump easing regulations on Wall Street, to packing his administration with elite insiders who use public tax dollars to fund their private jets, to cutting back on workplace safety and pay protections for workers, President Trump has demonstrated his actions simply don’t match his words.
President Trump’s so-called “tax reform plan” is just the latest example.
Under his plan, massive tax breaks will go to the wealthy and well-connected elite, with a major beneficiary being President Trump himself. Meanwhile, hard-working families will be left holding the bag, including Granite Staters, who under President Trump’s plan will no longer be able to deduct their local property taxes in their federal filings.
Additionally, all analyses show President Trump’s proposal will grow the nation’s deficit at an alarming rate. That’s not fiscally responsible, that’s not the New Hampshire way.
Unfortunately, Gov. Chris Sununu has pledged his support for President Trump’s proposal, actually saying it will “help” New Hampshire. All “real facts” and “real data” show the opposite.
Gov. Sununu’s support for President Trump shouldn’t come as a surprise, as his budget also included massive tax breaks, with over 80 percent of the benefits going to the wealthiest 3 percent of business owners. Many of the major beneficiaries of the tax breaks in Gov. Sununu’s budget are top corporate executives, including those with headquarters out of state.
For example, corporate executives at Amazon got a massive tax break in Gov. Sununu’s budget, and they got it without any commitment to move their headquarters to New Hampshire. These massive tax breaks came at the expense of meaningfully addressing our opioid public health epidemic, at the expense of child protection, at the expense of workforce development and job training, and even at the expense of a working families property tax cut.
During the 2016 campaign, voters talked often about their perception that a wealthy and corporate elite play by a different set of rules and get everything they want, while middle-class Granite Staters are left with less opportunity and more local property taxes. The Trump-Sununu tax agenda shows their perception is pretty darn close to reality.
As tax policy continues to be debated, let’s reject empty talking points like “reform” and “growth,” and let’s focus on real data and real facts and real people’s lives. Let’s just say “No” to the Trump-Sununu tax agenda. Let’s instead prioritize bipartisan economic policies that work for everyone, not simply the wealthy and well-connected elite.
(Dan Feltes is a former legal aid attorney who lives in the South End of Concord with his wife, Erin, and newborn daughter Iris. He represents Concord, Hopkinton, Henniker, Penacook and Warner in the New Hampshire Senate, and serves on the Finance and Ways and Means committees.)