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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 2017)
Page 12 September 13, 2017 New Prices Effective April 1, 2017 O PINION Martin Cleaning Service Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning Residential & Commercial Services Minimum Service CHG. $50.00 A small distance/travel charge may be applied CARPET CLEANING 2 Cleaning Areas or more $30.00 each Area Pre-Spray Traffic Areas (Includes: 1 small Hallway) 1 Cleaning Area (only) $50.00 Includes Pre-Spray Traffic Area (Hallway Extra) Stairs (12-16 stairs - With Other Services) : $30.00 Area/Oriental Rugs: $25.00 Minimum Area/Oriental Rugs (Wool) : $40.00 Minimum Heavily Soiled Area: $10.00 each area (Requiring Extensive Pre-Spraying) UPHOLSTERY CLEANING Sofa: $69.00 Loveseat: $49.00 Sectional: $109 - $139 Chair or Recliner: $25.00 - $49.00 Throw Pillows (With Other Services) : $5.00 ADDITIONAL SERVICES • Auto/Boat/RV Cleaning • Deodorizing & Pet Odor Treatment • Spot & Stain Removal Service • Scotchguard Protection • Minor Water Damage Services SEE CURRENT FLYER FOR ADDITIONAL PRICES & SERVICES Call for Appointment (503) 281-3949 Tax Cuts for the Rich Help the Rich, Not You It hard to keep an eye on the truth J osh h oxie Soon you’re going to hear about taxes. You’ll see imag- es of families flash- ing across your TV screen while a sooth- ing narrator assures you that the tax plan being debated in Washington really is good for you. The newspapers you read, the social media apps you scroll through, the websites you frequent, and the snippets of radio you catch will all feature ads talking about it. That’s what a marketing blitz looks like, and there’s one coming for the Trump tax plan. It will be well-produced, well-or- chestrated, and completely devoid of facts. President Trump started his sales pitch for his tax cutting agenda in Missouri in August, where the assembled audience was treated to a fact-free sermon on the virtues of his plan. Gone were any specif- ics of what’s in it, or who gets what. Looking at Trump’s tax plan from the campaign, as well as what the Republican majority in the House of Representatives by have proposed, we can see the basic out- lines of what’s coming. Corporations will see their nominal tax rates drop from 35 percent to 20 or even 15 percent. Individual rates will go down — possibly for everyone, but definitely and most strikingly for the very wealthy. Over- all tax revenue will tank, potentially by as much as $10 trillion over ten years. What does all this look like in the real world? On the corporate side, we know for sure that lower corporate taxes do not create jobs. In the ads to come, maybe you’ll see a guy in a hard hat claim that corporate tax cuts will put him back to work. He’s lying. A recent Institute for Policy Studies re- port looks at 92 profitable companies that already pay an effective 20 percent tax rate, thanks to loopholes. On average they’ve cut jobs, even as the rest of the private sec- tor saw a 6 percent jobs increase. On the individual side, half of the pro- posed cuts will go to millionaires, accord- ing to the Institute on Taxation and Eco- nomic Policy. Less than 5 percent go to families with household incomes below $45,000. This is probably the biggest wealth grab in American history by the wealthy, for the wealthy. Selling it as a middle-class tax cut, regardless of the images in the ads you see, is just old-fashioned lying. And finally there’s the revenue. Trump claims his tax cuts will pay for themselves with increased economic growth. That the- ory’s been debunked many times over and yet remains stubbornly in play. So what happens when trillions of dol- lars of tax revenue get slashed? Congress currently bans itself from passing bills that increase the deficit in one of their better acronyms — Pay As You Go (PAYGO). That means the tax cuts Trump proposes will have to come out of public programs. No matter how much hype you hear, you’d better believe those cuts are gonna hurt. From food assistance like the Wom- en, Infant, and Children (WIC) program to Head Start, and from clean water protec- tions to unemployment insurance — it’s all on the line. It’s hard to keep an eye on the truth when savvy marketing campaigns are hell- bent on deflecting your attention away from it. Don’t buy it. The Trump tax cut plan is disastrous for working families and for anyone who cares about a fair and just economy. Josh Hoxie directs the Project on Taxa- tion and Opportunity at the Institute for Pol- icy Studies. Distributed by OtherWords.org.
