Tax reform plan will hurt middle class

Rep. Peter Roskam has been running ads on YouTube boasting about how the tax plan he helped author will help middle class people. This is rubbish. Roskam's plan blows up the deficit. The law is not "revenue neutral" as hyped, and the new budget confirms that. The budget will add at least $1.5 trillion to the deficit which we - the middle class which comprises most of his district - will have bear, and it will result in spending cuts down the road that will hurt middle class families.

The inevitable result will have to be a cut in programs which benefit the middle class and that our elderly rely upon. The real game for Roskam and his party is to cut taxes for businesses and the wealthy, and then use the inevitable deficit as a justification for cutting programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security that benefit the middle class, which Roskam is supposedly so concerned with.

Homeowners in northern Illinois - where Roskam's district is based - will lose the ability to deduct their state income taxes and real estate taxes. Where's the benefit?

Roskam does not represent the interests of his constituents. It's time to vote him out of office this fall.

George S. Bellas

Palatine