Letter: Tax relief will benefit the rich

The Republican tax plan is complicated. Figuring out who benefits and who does not can be problematic. Here is a simple quiz you can take to estimate the bill's effect on you.

1. Is your last name Blum, Grassley, or Trump, or are you any other millionaire or billionaire?

2. Is your name followed by the word 'incorporated”?

3. Are you expecting to inherit more than $11 million from your fabulously wealthy parents?

If you answered 'yes” to any of these questions, great news! You are a big winner. Sure, you've probably been doing very well the last few years, with your record profits and your wildly disproportionate income gains, but here's a bunch more cash for you anyway. Don't forget to let it trickle down.

If you are like the vast majority and answered 'no” to all of the questions, sorry, you lose. A good number of you will find your tax bill going up, not down. The best the you can hope for is a small, temporary increase in take home pay. You'll need every penny when your medical insurance premiums rise, and when the Republicans cut Medicare and Social Security to cover the trillion dollar deficit they are creating.

Hey, wait a minute. Deficits! Didn't Republicans used to be against those?

James McNeill III

Cedar Rapids