Right and Left React to the Passage of the G.O.P. Tax Cut

Right and Left React to the Passage of the G.O.P. Tax Cut

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The political news cycle is fast, and keeping up can be overwhelming. Trying to find differing perspectives worth your time is even harder. That’s why we have scoured the internet for political writing from the right and left that you might not have seen.

Has this series exposed you to new ideas? Tell us how. Email us at ourpicks@nytimes.com.

For an archive of all the Partisan Writing Roundups, check out Our Picks.

From the Right

President Trump and Senator Mitch McConnell congratulated each other on the passage of the tax bill at the White House on Wednesday.

Credit
Doug Mills/The New York Times President Trump with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. along with Senate and House GOP members during a Tax Reform victory event on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017. (photo by Doug Mills The New York Times

Michael Graham at CBS News:

“#Resist means no cooperation, no cutting deals, none of the usual give-and-take of democracy.”

Democrats may soon regret that the tax bill was passed along strictly partisan lines, Mr. Graham argues. He contrasts the tax bill with the passage of Obamacare, which he writes “was a fundamental shift in how our government treated health care,” not a dispute over details. Had Democrats not been so loathe to cooperate with the party led by President Trump, he writes, perhaps the two sides could have settled on a compromise to “split the corporate tax rate at 25 percent, get rid of the alternative minimum tax (AMT) Republicans hate, but keep the full deductibility of state and local taxes paid by rich liberals in blue states.” Read more »

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Kevin D. Williamson in National Review:

“Republicans have had their spoonful of sugar. Time for the medicine.”

Mr. Williamson describes the tax cuts enacted by Republicans as a “dessert-first approach to fiscal policy.” Now, he says, they must begin the hard work of closing the deficit gap exacerbated by the cuts. Any claim that the cuts will pay for themselves, he writes, “a free-lunch fantasy.” Read more »

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James Piereson in American Greatness:

“To survive in a competitive universe, blue state governors and legislatures may have little choice but to reduce taxes and pare back public services and public employment — in other words, to abandon the blue state model.”

For Mr. Piereson, there is an added benefit to the new tax bill. By limiting the deductions taxpayers can take for local and state taxes, the new structure will punish highly taxed states and “accelerate the demise of the blue state model.” A model, he argues, that has been too generous to public-employee unions. Read more »

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From the Left

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Senate and House minority leaders, held a news conference to condemn the tax bill on Wednesday.

Credit
Al Drago for The New York Times

Richard Kim in The Nation:

“What the party-line vote revealed is that the Republican caucus is entirely insulated from the normal populist considerations that ought to prevail in a functioning democracy.”

Mr. Kim points out how unpopular the tax bill was among American citizens before it passed. The procedural and partisan gamesmanship that allowed its enactment, he argues, signals that Republicans in Congress are more compelled by personal and political interest than representing the will of the people. Read more »

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