To the editor:

If some politician proposed a new budget item that would give trillions of dollars to those who qualified, most of us would be concerned; at a minimum it would increase the deficit and be seen as another government handout. If this program’s purpose was to provide luxury goods vouchers to those in the top 1 percent of the income distribution, we would be appalled. And yet here we are; the Republican tax reform bill does exactly this and is being taken seriously. Instead of collecting taxes and showing a budget item to fund these vouchers, the entire transaction will be hidden by letting the top 1 percent keep the trillions of dollars they were supposed to pay for national defense and infrastructure. The top 1 percent would also now be freeloading on those programs.

The Republicans also claim the rich will spend this money to create jobs in the U.S. Fat chance! More likely they will take vacations in Europe, go on African safaris, buy German automobiles and so on. Worse, some will not spend it at all, depositing it in a Swiss bank account. Will those funds be used to create jobs in the U.S.?

If these tax breaks went to those in the middle- and lower-income tax brackets, the money would certainly be spent rather than channeled to a Swiss bank account, and most likely spent in the U.S. to create jobs.