Trump scraps raises for federal workers so the rich can have tax cuts

Right before Labor Day, Trump has decided government workers shouldn’t get a pay raise.

In a letter to Congress, Trump cited a “national emergency or serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare” as his rationale for denying a 2.1 percent raise to federal employees starting in 2019.

That wasn’t a concern for Trump last December, when he signed the Republican tax scam, which will explode the deficit by nearly $2 trillion, into law.

One Bloomberg reporter notes that the GOP tax scam costs the Treasury an average of $190 billion every year for the next decade, while the pay raise for federal workers would have cost about an eighth of that ($25 billion).

Democrats immediately blasted the idea. DNC spokesperson Daniel Wessel called Trump’s move “yet another slap in the face to American workers.”

Of course, the GOP tax scam was always about making the rich richer, whereas most government employees are solidly middle-class workers.

In a review of SEC filings, Politico found wealthy corporate executives “have been profiting handsomely by selling shares since Trump signed the law on Dec. 22 and slashed corporate tax rates to 21 percent.”

Big banks are also joining the celebration, as Trump’s tax giveaway fueled record-breaking second quarter profits of more than $60 billion. According to Reuters, that’s a 25 percent increase over last year.

While Trump lavishes corporate America with deficit-financed kickbacks, regular workers are left out in the cold.

Wages, adjusted for inflation, are lower in July 2018 than they were a year ago, before the tax scam became law. And now Trump is determined to leave another set of working-class families, including park rangers and social workers who help veterans, without a pay raise.

In Trump’s America, CEOs, bankers, and Wall Street millionaires come first and take the most. Workers — whether in the private sector or toiling for Uncle Sam — are consistently left behind.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.