Let’s talk money – basically our hard-earned tax dollars.

I, for one, would like to see my tax dollars spent primarily on Healthcare, Education, and Public Services. I realize we need Defense and Safety coverage also; but, I’m not seeing a Federal Budget from the Republican House of Representatives that prioritizes any of this. While it appears to give nominal tax cuts to average Americans, it averages almost $100,000 in tax cuts to Trump and each of his billionaire buddies as well as large tax breaks for major corporations. These tax cuts are estimated to add at least $4 trillion to our national debt while severely cutting Medicaid and other services from millions of U.S. citizens.

In the meantime, our economy is suffering from Trump’s tariff wars with our allies and foes alike. Any so-called tax cuts for regular hard-working U.S. citizens are going to be more than wiped-out by the cost of goods from Trump’s tariffs. Small businesses, which don’t have the wherewithal to weather Trump’s tariff mania like big corporations can, are facing loss of revenue, if not eventual closure of their independent businesses. Since Trump’s tariff taxes and shaky handling of our economy has caused major uncertainty and diminished trust by investors, our U.S. dollar and credit rating has been downgraded. That means more of our hard-earned tax dollars will go to covering increased interest on U.S. debt.

So, Trump’s “economic vision” has caused us to lose funding for government services and is putting us increasingly in debt, while we ordinary citizens end up paying more for what we buy and more of our tax dollars are being setup to cover U.S. debt.

Meanwhile, Trump is violating U.S. law by having the Department of Defense take possession of a Boeing 747 aircraft from Qatar, without congressional approval. It will cost millions, if not billions, of our tax dollars to retrofit and secure this “gift” as Trump’s luxury “Air Force One” which he plans to keep after he leaves office. This doesn’t even address his use of the Presidential Office to push sales of his cypto-currency to billionaires (mostly foreign) who want access to Trump to further their own agendas.

In other words, Trump is insuring that he gets richer on the backs of ordinary hardworking U.S. citizens who elected him by using our tax dollars for his own enrichment.

Donna JK Smith

Enumclaw