The idiocy of tax cuts

Having just done my taxes, I thought I would look at the "stimulus" effect of the proposed Republican tax cuts. It isn't much.

I paid $5840 in federal taxes for 2008. That's just with-holding, not including my refund.
So bear in mind that the "stimulus" I will calculate here will actually be less.
The with-holding works out to $112.30 per week. Let's say the Republicans won me a 10% cut, which is far more than they are proposing.

This would put a whopping $11 (and change) in my pocket each week. Wow. All of my problems are solved, right?

Of course, the real figure once my refund is included is $9.50 each week. Now consider that most of the Republican plans would afford me about a 5% cut in federal taxes, and we see that this wonderful conservative solution would pump the staggering sum of $4.75 into my pocket each week. That isn't even gas for my scooter or a six-pack of cheap beer where I live.

Republicans love to conflate all taxes into the discussion, but the federal government can only cut my federal taxes. They love to combine FICA, Medicare, state and local taxes, and property taxes when they talk about the huge windfall their tax cuts would mean to an ordinary person. The reality is, however, that federal tax cuts produce a "trickle-down" effect of increased taxes down the line. Less federal aid to states means higher state taxes or reduced aid to cities. In my state, with a loony Republican governor, it means the latter. This means cuts in aid to cities, which means my property taxes go up. There goes my $4.75 a week.

Of course, we have already had eight years of tax cuts, which has brought us to this glorious situation. The wealthy have flatly refused to hold up their end of the bargain. They don't invest in job creation; they off-shore jobs instead. They don't invest in small businesses; they buy them out to reduce competition and lay off the workers. They don't invest in capital improvements (updated equipment and machinery, expanded facilities) or worker training; they instead squeeze out a few more pennies from what they have already. They cut workforces, impose hiring freezes and pay cuts on staff, and increase the workloads of those already employed.

In short, it doesn't work.

The wealthy are essentially on strike for a better deal, and the entire economy is being held hostage. What they want is basically a redistribution of wealth from the poor to the wealthy.