EDITORIAL: GOP tax reform plan works — for the rich

House Republicans revealed their tax “reform” plan on Thursday, the one President Trump has never tired of telling us will be really, really terrific — maybe the best idea in the history of American history.

He is, of course, spectacularly wrong. To use Trumpian verbiage, he may be the most wrong of anyone, ever, about anything.

This is a colossal mess, a wildly ill-conceived handout to the wealthy that punishes the middle class and especially targets New Jerseyans and other residents of high-tax states. Trump wants to stick it to blue states who dared not embrace his greatness. By eliminating deductions for state and local income taxes (SALT) –— even while preserving property tax deductions up to $10,000 — many New Jerseyans are looking down the barrel of a tax hike.

Those higher middle-class taxes will be going straight into the pockets of the rich, who get to unwrap a veritable pile of gifts from Republican lawmakers — a reduction and eventual elimination of the estate tax, reducing the impact of the highest income tax rates, and changes to the so-called “pass through” provisions for business owners that could be a windfall for, among others, Donald Trump himself. All of those adjustments can greatly benefit the wealthy — and only the wealthy.

We know New Jersey’s Democratic representatives will treat this plan like the toxic dump it is. But our Republican delegation also needs to stand tall and do what’s right for their state, not the party. They cannot support a tax package that offers so little for New Jersey. They need to unite among themselves and their colleagues in other high-tax states in opposition to this punitive plan.

A “simplified” tax code was among the supposed goals of the reform, but it’s not all that much simpler; just dropping a batch of useful itemized deductions for average Americans — student loans, high medical costs, and more — isn’t the way to get there. Besides, simplicity isn’t a virtue if it costs more.

The plan contains some individual elements that might deserve support on their own. Some standard deductions have been increased. There’s an argument to be made that cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent — or by some smaller percentage — will boost business and generate jobs, although many experts say investors are far more likely to reap the rewards than workers. Ultimately, each taxpayer will have to stitch together the cuts and hikes and other changes to determine individual impact. There will be some winners, even in New Jersey, and not just the wealthy.

But as a whole the proposal inexcusably includes outright gifts to the super-wealthy while leaving most taxpayers keeping their fingers crossed that some combination of individual circumstances will yield a tax break.

That’s not all. We haven’t even yet mentioned that Republicans who have screamed for an eternity about our national debt are now championing tax reforms that will increase that debt by an estimated $1.5 trillion. We’re supposed to believe that the resulting economic boom will take care of that problem. We all know how those sorts of predictions usually turn out.

Trump’s New Jersey supporters are already spinning this as our fault. We are the ones with the high taxes because we are the ones too stupid to put Republicans in power and so we should be punished. We should appreciate tough love from the president, apparently.

There’s a Stockholm Syndrome quality to that line of thinking, as when a kidnapping victim starts feeling affection for a captor. But it also points to an underlying motive of this tax plan. If states feeling Trump’s whip feel properly chastened and turn more red, Republicans gain even more power. Trump’s biggest fans might see this as another brilliant chess move in a checkers world. More likely it’s just cruel, heartless and self-serving.

New Jersey Republicans cannot crumble on this. It was a bad sign when Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen supported the budget resolution that included elimination of SALT deductions, explaining that it was more a procedural issue at this stage and the time will come to assess the broader picture of the entire tax package and cast a final vote. That sounds like an elaborate excuse, a reminder of Frelinghuysen’s rationale when he supported the abysmal House health care plan on the notion that the Senate would then fix it. That says volumes about his mindset these days.

But there is still time to fight. This should no longer be a Democrat and Republican issue for our lawmakers. This is a Jersey thing now.