The Ryan Budget = Less Health Care, More Taxes for Poor

So Paul Ryan is back with another budget. It’s a doozy. In it, he proposes repealing the Affordable Care Act entirely, cutting Medicaid and Medicare, cutting food stamps, welfare, federal pensions and assistance to farmers. WOW, you must be thinking, that must put us into budget surplus! Surely, this will reduce our debt!

Well…no. In addition to slashing assistance and health care for the poor, Ryan proposes 4.3 TRILLION dollars in tax cuts, which he claims would be offset somewhat by closing loopholes. According to Deborah Weinstein, at the Coalition on Human Needs:

“Congress would need to end the deductions for mortgage interest, charitable giving, state and local taxes, the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit, the business breaks for accelerated depreciation and research and development, and the deferred taxes on 401(K) investments in order to pay for the new tax cuts.”

Now, Congressman Ryan did not specify these loopholes as his targets. In fact, he punted that hard question to the House Ways and Means Committee. But cutting these tax breaks which mostly help the poor and middle class would certainly “broaden the tax base.”