BY SHARON MARTIN

A tax bill should be about improving the economy of the country and the well being of the citizens. Instead, the GOP has made it about greed and retaliation.

1. The bill was created behind closed doors with no conversation at all with the Democrats.

2. While Democrats were not allowed to contribute to the bill, you can bet your bottom that they will be blamed for not voting for it.

3. Provisions that hurt high-tax states – which, by the way, use those taxes to educate and care for their citizens – were put into the bill expressly to hurt the Democratic legislators in those states.

4. While the bill may hurt those legislators, the provisions actually hurt the citizens in those states. They pay taxes that they cannot write off. This was done on purpose … for political purpose.

5. If GOP legislators hurt the citizens to score a point, if they hurt citizens to reward their wealthy donors, if they hurt citizens for their own gains, why would you vote for them ever again?

6. This single example of political retaliation only scratches the surface of the damage this tax bill will do.

7. And yet, despite the lies and the damage, the GOP base still supports its legislators.

8. Yep, we are all up the creek. You know which creek.

– Sharon Martin lives in Oilton, OK and is a regular contributor to The Oklahoma Observer. Her children’s book, Froggy Bottom Blues, can be purchased in hardcover or paperback from Doodle and Peck Publishing. It also is available in paperback from Amazon.