Lynn Rudmin Chong: Personal wealth keeps the blinders on Republican senators

To The Daily Sun,

An Oct. 19, 2019 news article is titled, "Trump Tax Cuts Helped Billionaires Pay Less Taxes Than the Working Class in 2018." True for our wealthiest 400 Americans. Recently an NPR interviewee pointed out legal tax dodging (another benefit for the wealthy) started "going aggressive" in the 1980s. When corporations and individuals benefit from tax loopholes, the rest of us pay more. So, our wealthiest under Trump had, too, that very generous tax cut — while now, in 2020, paychecks have stopped for so many due to COVID-19 and a stay-home strategy to combat its spread. Christopher Shay in The Nation writes, "Since mid-March, America's billionaires have increased their combined net worth by $434 billion — even as nearly 40 million workers have lost their jobs." Shocking.

Under Senate Speaker Mitch McConnell, himself worth around $24 million (includes his wife's inheritance), our elected Republicans drag their feet in authorizing the next financial help regular people need, small businesses need to stay afloat. (McConnell is only the ninth richest U.S. Senator.) Can any with blinders on due to their wealth identify with families' misery and real fear of not-enough-money? Senate Democrats are set to help people, while Senate Republicans stymy the effort. The jobless benefit check and the $600 weekly supplement need continuing in this emergency time.

Lynn Rudmin Chong

Sanbornton