Letter to the editor: Bad White House math

Who would double the size of an IRS agency (currently 78,000 full-time employees) with the most favorable result predicted being $230 billion in additional revenue over a 10-year period? This would boost the current annual $2.6 trillion in income tax revenue by a “meager” $23 billion. Additionally, this hiring is back-end loaded, but the costs for the increase in the workforce will continue beyond this 10-year period.

Who would undercut our nation’s criminal enforcement organizations? Even liberal think tank Brennan Center identified that after a fairly steady decline in murder rates since 1990, 2020 saw a 29% rise in murders. They also noted that because of a “transition in the way the government collects crime data,” the 2021 data may never be available. The key to addressing issues is having good data. But as of July, 2,700 law enforcement agencies chose not to submit their crime data to the FBI.

Who would spend $6 trillion when the total revenues are $4.9 trillion? This is a record level of revenue. Historically, we see total revenues of $3.33 trillion (2018), $3.46 trillion (2019), $3.42 trillion (2020) and $4.05 trillion (2021). With this record revenue, rather than paying down our debt ($31 trillion) or relieving the finances of Medicare or Social Security (set to become insolvent in 2028 and 2034 — perhaps sooner with increased benefits to cover inflationary costs), the White House claims a “deficit reduction victory” and the right to spend $500 billion to pay student loan debt. Insanity at its best!

Chris Baldy

Murrysville