Robed Radicals, Trump's Tax Plan, Breakthrough

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author:  Robed Radicals - Here we go again. Another radical leftist masquerading as a judge handed down an utterly absurd ruling protecting sanctuary cities. Late yesterday, U.S. District Judge William Orrick, III, based in San Francisco, blocked enforcement of President Donald Trump's executive order banning federal funding to those jurisdictions that refuse to enforce federal law on immigration.

President Trump responded to the ruling by tweeting this morning, "See you in the Supreme Court!"

Don't be fooled even for a second into thinking that there must be something wrong with Trump's order against sanctuary cities just because a judge says so. Here's all you need to know about this "so-called judge." Orrick is a major progressive fundraiser who raised at least $200,000 for Barack Obama.

He was also the judge who issued an injunction against the Center for Medical Progress, blocking the group from releasing more damaging videos exposing Planned Parenthood's practice of trafficking in baby body parts.

The idea that Orrick is a constitutional scholar beyond critique is ludicrous. And when a far-left hack in a black robe does something absurd, Republicans in Congress should not be afraid of calling him out for it.

Is it any coincidence that judges appointed by conservatives believe the Second Amendment gives you the right to own a gun for self-defense while judges appointed by liberals do not believe that? It is the same Constitution, the same words, my friends.

Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell should introduce legislation in the House and the Senate TODAY forcing every politician on the record for or against sanctuary cities. This is not a tough call -- 80% of voters oppose sanctuary cities.

Now let's make sure voters know where their elected officials stand when it comes to ignoring the law to protect illegal immigrants, thus putting legal citizens of all races in those cities in danger.

A final point: Most of the media covering this decision have missed a key detail. While Judge Orrick is not allowing President Trump to go as far as he would like, the ruling does not prevent the Justice Department from denying funding for certain programs which require compliance with federal law.

The Washington Times reports that this "clears the path for Attorney General Sessions to strip hundreds of millions of dollars" from sanctuary cities. And the Trump/Sessions Justice Department declared yesterday that it will enforce compliance or cut off those funds to sanctuary cities.

Trump's Tax Plan - Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin outlined today what he described as "the biggest tax cut and the largest tax reform in the history of our country." Here are basic details of President Trump's tax reform plan:

• Corporate and small business tax rates would be slashed from 35% to 15%.
• Individuals would see lower tax rates and the number of brackets would be reduced from seven to three -- 10%, 25% and 35%.
• Individuals would also benefit from a doubling of the standard deduction, meaning couples would see their taxable income reduced by $24,000.
• The alternative minimum tax and the death tax would be repealed.
• All deductions, except for mortgage interest and charitable donations, would be eliminated.

The left is already in full-throated attack mode. In the days and weeks ahead, you're going to hear a lot about tax cuts for the rich and the deficit. Let me briefly address these arguments.

First, any decrease in the marginal tax rate will be attacked as "a tax cut for the rich." There is an obvious reason for this -- they are paying more in taxes. According to the Wall Street Journal, the top 1% of earners pay nearly 46% of all income taxes collected by the Treasury. The top 20% of earners pay 84% of all taxes.

Because so much of the taxes paid to the Treasury is paid by those people, the left will always attack any across-the-board cut as a "tax cut for the rich." But as I have argued before, the problem in America is not that the rich earn too much. The problem is that there aren't enough of them to pay for all the government the left wants.

For those still "feeling the Bern," watch this video.

Second, the left will claim that you can't cut taxes unless the plan is "revenue neutral," meaning that it does not add to the deficit. Keep in mind that this is coming from the people who just doubled the national debt in the last eight years. Now they are attempting to sound like fiscal conservatives.

The problem is that the government has never accurately "scored" or assigned an accurate figure to the economic growth that results from allowing people to keep more of their own money. The left viciously attacked Ronald Reagan's tax cuts, but the economy boomed under Reagan and revenues grew. John F. Kennedy also cut taxes to spur a weak economy.

Sadly, some Republicans, who had a Scrooge-like devotion to high taxes, joined the attack on Reagan's tax reform plan. It would not surprise me if certain Republicans join the left's attack against Trump's tax reform plan.

This will be a huge battle. It is unlikely that even one Senate Democrat will vote to cut your taxes. So if a handful of RINOs break ranks, like they did with Obamacare, they may have to get used to life in the minority again after the 2018 elections.

Breakthrough? Today, the House Freedom Caucus, which represents dozens of conservative House members, officially endorsed an Obamacare reform measure backed by the White House and the GOP leadership.

While frustrated that the legislation does not do all they wanted, the Freedom Caucus said, "We are prepared to support it to keep our promise to the American people to lower healthcare costs. . . Our work will continue until we fully repeal Obamacare."

It remains to be seen, however, whether a sufficient number of GOP moderates in the House are prepared to back the amended plan.

By the way, the United Nations warned the Trump Administration in a February 2nd letter that the repeal of Obamacare may violate international law. It seems the Trump White House ignored the U.N.
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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