I'd expect everyone in US to only have a few percent of income tax next year.
(Hint of sarcasm, yes, but an honest question; where is the money going?)
The Republicans hope to pass tax cuts: https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-tax-bill-cuts-sena...
"[The most recent] plan calls for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts over a decade and at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts."
In other words, the tax cuts will actually cost MORE than is being saved by these spending cuts. We're going to go into debt even faster.
It made rich people richer. That’s why they try again.
-Grover Nordquist: Starving The Beast
https://www.pgpf.org/article/chart-pack-the-us-budget/ https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/feder...
The 90% of folks at the lower end are getting tax increases, too, as of the latest plan I've seen.
How much DOGE is saving is very questionable, too. Less than 1% of the annual budget fwiu. And whether those savings are actually permanent, or whether they cost us when consequences of cuts come calling after some time.
The only way to really drive down federal spending is to attack the source of the problem: the regulatory capture of government by the health care system. Medicare is the elephant in the room, and due to the regulatory capture the lobotomized government won't use its negotiating power to keep the costs in check. It's a massive wealth transfer from taxpayers to the health care system.
1) They can’t save the money. Congress has to do that. I mean they can illegally not-spend what Congress allocated, but not legally. Congress decides how much is spent, and on what.
And besides,
2) Their actions so far have guaranteed so much wasted prior spending (actions partway done that got cut off, wasting the prior spending) and certain losses in court that’ll cost money (blatantly illegal firings, rather than following the correct methods) that they’ve dug themselves a hole anyway. Even for generous and wrong (see point 1) versions of “how much they’ve saved” (but not counting lies like claiming already-spent money as savings) they’re way in the red.
I hope those also extend to police forces, which are overwhelmingly far-right.
The failure of the rule of law is going to be hard to law our way out of.
The fact civil servants carried out these orders is itself a good indication the protections are insufficient. Preventing a civil servant from carrying out their function is a criminal offense in some countries and they have authority to arrest the person preventing their exercise on the spot.
Unfortunately, a lot of the layoffs were for servants in probation that don't enjoy the same protections.
In Brazil civil servants have to go through admission tests (which are VERY hard to pass) and, since they have been validated by the admission test, they skip probation and enjoy full legal protections from day 1. This, for instance, has allowed civil servants to refuse direct presidential orders (in one case, a customs officer refused to hand over a foreign authority gift for improper paperwork - indicating potential corruption) and to investigate and report misconduct at the minister-level (in one case, COVID-19 vaccine procurement) without fear of repercussions. This is one of the many reasons they need protection against tyrants.
I also don't see what indications you have that the US is moving in a sensible direction? It seems unlikely to me that the US will learn anything from this.