Taxing tradeoffs

President Trump’s tax cuts proposals can only be described as self-serving, given that the Trump family stands to save $5 billion with the elimination of the estate tax. And indeed, if government revenue shrinks by $5 billion, then expenses must shrink by the same amount. Where is the money to come from? Look no further than the budget cuts suggested earlier by President Trump.

He proposes taking $2.5 billion from the EPA, but that is only half of what is needed. He would eliminate $148 million for the National Endowment for the Arts, another $148 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities, and $400 million from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. He would take $400 million from nutrition assistance for Women, Infants and Children, cut $250 million from coastal research programs, $900 million from the Office of Science in the Department of Energy and another $100 million from NASA for funding of earth science. Finally, he would eliminate the Department of Education, saving another $115 million.

So there you have it — a $5 billion saving to one family at the expense of 320 million Americans. Can anyone in good conscience support such a tradeoff?

This story was originally published April 29, 2017 at 11:00 AM with the headline "Taxing tradeoffs."