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Letter: Reverse Robin Hood?

Editor, Gazette-Journal:

Robin Hood took from the rich and gave to the poor, right?

In 2017 Donald Trump, the GOP and Rob Wittman gave us, H.R. 1, Tax Reform Act, which was supposed to stimulate the economy and provide more jobs. While it cut taxes for a lot of people, it was sold to us that the reduced taxes on high-income earners, estates and corporations, would free up investment in industry, increase salaries and hiring, and improve the economy.

In 2018, companies spent a record-setting $1.1 trillion to buy back their own stock, and a majority of major firms (84 percent, as polled by the National Association for Business Economics) did not alter their hiring practice or their investment in their business. Bloomberg News reported in January 2020 that the top six American banks saved more than $32 billion in taxes during the two years after enactment of the tax cut, while they reduced lending, cut jobs and increased distributions to shareholders.

Unfortunately, “The Act”...

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