Paying America’s debt

In response to a letter to the editor written by Duncan Bean (“Biden is unbelievable,” Oct. 9) edition regarding the debt ceiling, I would respectfully say Mr. Bean is confused about the debt ceiling debate. Raising the debt limit is the way we pay for debts already incurred. It has nothing to do with proposed future spending.

Historically, both parties have agreed to raise the ceiling with little partisan divide. That has changed with the GOP members now willing to risk America’s credit with worldly lenders. Think of what would happen to your own credit rating should you refuse to pay your mortgage, utility bills, taxes, insurance, etc. Do you seriously think you could decide to not pay these obligations and suffer no consequences?

The Trump administration added almost 8 trillion dollars of debt to our national debt figure. Democrats voted with Republicans every year of the Trump presidency to raise the debt ceiling and pay the obligations incurred. Biden’s Build Back Better plan is paid for by taxing incomes of those making at least $400,000 or more and increasing the corporate tax rate, which was lowered from 35% to 22% by Trump. How much is yet to be determined. In other words, tax those who have the money, the same ones who benefited the most from the Trump tax cuts which added almost 2 trillion dollars to the deficit.

During the Eisenhower presidency, the tax on wealthy individuals was 90% and we paid our bills. Today, that rate is 37% and we carry about 28 trillion dollars of debt. We were recently informed the actual tax rate paid by the wealthy is just under 4%. Workers at McDonald’s pay more.

Allen Roberts

St. John