Norwich
“It’s ghastly,” said Norwich resident Suzanne Champlin, when asked about the cuts on Sunday. “It’s a sham.”
The tax plan, which would mark the largest one-time corporate tax cut in American history, won’t do enough to help ordinary families afford their bills, she argued during a walk to Dan & Whit’s.
Instead, she said, it’s an attempt by Republican lawmakers to appease donors and create the appearance of progress.
“They’re just trying to shove it through so they can say they’ve done something,” Champlin said.
Others countered that the tax relief plan, which was finalized on Friday, will lower most people’s taxes. Any relief, they argued, is better than the system in place.
A change to the tax system is long overdue, and would provide some relief to the elderly, said Walter Guerin, of Enfield.
“Social Security should give us the money we deserve. The people on Social Security can hardly get by,” said Guerin, 78, at Papa Z’s market in Canaan.
He also expressed hope that President Donald Trump would keep campaign promises to stop elites from benefiting at the expense of the poor.
“They keep the big money for the big people in Washington,” Guerin said. “They shouldn’t have any of it.”
The tax overhaul plan, dubbed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, would drop America’s corporate tax rate from 35 percent down to 21 percent, a roughly $1 trillion tax cut over the next decade, according to the Washington Post.
The bill would also decrease the top tax rate, from 39.6 percent for married couples earning more than $470,700 to 37 percent for individuals making $500,000.
The individual health insurance mandate, which requires people to enroll health insurance as part of the Affordable Care Act, would also go away. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that change would result in 13 million fewer Americans with insurance over the next decade, and a more than $300 million reduction in government spending.
However, it’s not only the wealthy that will benefit under the plan, according to the Post. Most Americans will see their tax bills drop, and the number of Americans who owe nothing will increase to 47.5 percent from 44 percent. The bill also includes a significant reduction in certain small businesses taxes.
Those changes aimed at small businesses and families are scheduled to expire in 2025, though.
And Republicans hope to lower tax deductions for mortgage loans and local and property taxes.
To Micah Porter, of White River Junction, the bill appears to push problems off to the next generation. Porter, who is in his 20s, said the Trump administration’s efforts are all renditions on that theme.
“As a young adult who will have to deal with all these changes that he is making … I’m going to have to deal with them later on as an adult,” he said outside the Hotel Coolidge on Sunday. “I feel like he’s given us the short end of the stick.”
His friend, Hunter Therrien, expressed worries about the national debt. The tax bill is projected to cost the U.S. about $1.46 trillion.
“It’s all about whose got the most money in politics, not whose got the best ideas to help the country,” said Therrien, who was visiting from the Brattleboro area. “It’s going down the wrong road, I think.”
Charlie Smith, a New Hampton, N.H. resident who grew up in the Upper Valley, also lamented the cuts on Sunday.
“It’s a little irritating to see so many benefits going to corporations and the ultra rich,” he said shortly before taking his family to the Tuckerbox Cafe on Sunday.
But the tax debate is to be expected after the last year under the Trump administration, Smith said, adding it’s been a “frustrating” 2017.
Final passage of the bill in both the House and Senate is expected sometime this week.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.