Editorial: Kill this terrible tax bill

THE ISSUE:

With no analysis or even a publicly available bill, Republicans press to vote on a massive tax overhaul that most Americans oppose.

THE STAKES:

This is not how representative government works.

"No taxation without representation" was the rallying cry of colonists in the American revolution. This week, as their descendants' representatives scramble to pass a massive tax bill that few people have had time to read, much less understand, the cry of Americans might well be, "No taxation without information."

Late Friday — a time when politicians often release things they don't want closely scrutinized — Republican House and Senate negotiators announced they had cobbled together a compromise of their differing versions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a deceptively rosy name for legislation that will add at least $1 trillion to the national debt in order to deliver a huge tax cut to big corporations and wealthy individuals. There was no bill for rank-and-file lawmakers or the public to read, and only a sketchy preliminary review of it from the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation, which Congress normally looks to for independent, thorough analysis.

This chaotic process has left President Donald Trump — who has routinely lied to Americans since he took office (The Washington Post has logged 1,628 false or misleading claims as of mid-November) — to fill the void by declaring this would be a "big, beautiful tax cut."

Don't you believe it. Certainly not from a president who won't release his own tax returns, and whose lies include claiming that he would be hurt by this bill. He would actually be enriched.

What we know of the bill is that it will raise taxes on many low- and middle-income people, either immediately or within the next decade.

We also know it will sabotage the Affordable Care Act, which Republicans have repeatedly failed to "repeal and replace." The tax bill would end the mandate that people have health insurance — a move that will leave an estimated 13 million people without coverage and undermine the ACA's financial stability. In essence, they would destroy Obamacare with no plan to replace it, and cut Medicaid, the health program for the poor and disabled.

And there's more. House Speaker Paul Ryan has said this bill sets the stage for "entitlement reform" — a euphemism for dismantling Social Security and Medicare. It's a long-standing goal of social Darwinists like Mr. Ryan who would take us back to a time when old age, for many, meant destitution.

All this, to make rich people and big corporations even richer — with the promise of prosperity through the failed magic of trickle-down economics.

Most Americans see this for the con job it is. A Quinnipiac poll found people disapprove of the plan by a 55-to-26 percent margin. The opposition cuts across all demographic groups save one: Republican voters. Most people believe it will either raise their taxes or at least not help them, and mainly benefit the rich.

Mr. Trump and Republican lawmakers may see this as the "win" they so desperately want for themselves and their wealthy patrons, but they would do well to remember what happened the last time so many Americans felt their leaders weren't listening.