Tax Cuts for Rich: Appearing in DC

The newly passed DC Council budget includes a round of tax cuts that take advantage of the region' s booming economy. Many of the tax cuts are warranted, especially since lower and middle-class residents have been getting squeezed because of increasing costs. I am happy that one tax cut was actually removed, because its only purpose was to benefit DC's wealthiest residents.

Councilmember Carol Schwartz -- a Republican -- had been supporting the elimination of the estate tax. How she was able to slip that into the budget is beyond me, but with all of the problems faced by residents of DC, tax cuts for the rich does not seem to be responsible policy. My reasoning for this lies in two general areas:

1) Lower and middle-income residents are the taxpayers who truly need the relief, not the rich
2) While we have a surplus right now, we don't know how long the economic boom will last
3) We should use the estate tax revenue for programs like affordable housing and decreasing poverty.

Fortunately, cooler heads have prevailed, thwarting the repeal of the estate tax. But it really does show that if we are not paying attention, deeply flawed policies for DC residents can be implemented right under our noses.