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Tax cuts benefit middle class

National Columnists

The goal of the Trump tax cut was simple: Strengthen the economy with lower tax rates, and let working and retired Americans keep more of what they earn. The early evidence confirms this is exactly what has happened. Initial IRS data show that almost half of filers have already taken advantage of the bill's middle-income tax provisions. Income taxes have become such an ingrained part of American life that many workers barely notice how much is snatched from their paychecks: payroll taxes, federal income taxes, state income taxes, etc. We see the net amount and forget that the ...

Mamdani's proposal would strip dying of their assets

National Columnists

If New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani gets his way, half of everything New Yorkers work a lifetime for — including their homes, their businesses or farms and their savings — could be stripped away on their deathbeds. No more Empire State; he'd make it the Expropriation State. Only one thing in life is certain: We all die. Mamdani is exploiting that certainty to close what he claims is a $5.4 billion city budget gap. More than that, he aims to undermine the foundations of American life by attacking wealth accumulation, homeownership and private property, per the ...

New extreme in gerrymandering

National Columnists

This year's midterm elections aren't just about who wins in November; they're about who wins fights over gerrymandering taking place right now. Nowhere is the battle fiercer than in Virginia, a state where voters just six years ago approved a constitutional amendment to take partisanship out of congressional redistricting. Now Democrats want to make an exception to the rule Virginia voters approved by a nearly two-thirds majority in 2020: They want this year's congressional map to be drawn up by their own state legislators, erasing the districts set up by the bipartisan ...

Faith among young people surges, providing missing anchor

National Columnists

Last September, Pastor Jason Howard of the Sanctuary Church in Pittsburgh saw a surge of young people flocking to his Christian congregation, the week after Charlie Kirk was murdered. Howard knew that something had shifted. Yes, their congregation had always been predominantly youth-driven, but this was different. Lines began to form for their services. Public transportation was dropping off children by the busload from campuses across the city, and he knew that he had an obligation to expand. Howard teamed up with local college students at the University of Pittsburgh, and a ...

Dogs really are our best friends

National Columnists

My sister-in-law's dog, Molly, died recently. She was a sweet, graying Portuguese water dog, one of the gentlest pups I've ever met. She displayed a propensity for stealing food off the counter, refused to walk in heat, rain or cold and had an unhealthy obsession with eating dirt, but otherwise, she was an excellent pooch. My kids also grew up with her. They don't remember a time before Molly was born. And though she didn't live with us, they somehow felt as if she were also a little bit "their" dog. During the pandemic, my sister-in-law, who lived across the street from us, ...

Debate puts America's melting pot on trial again

National Columnists

As a Black American who is old enough to remember the last days of legal Jim Crow racial segregation, I pay special attention whenever I hear signs that in many American minds the Civil War never really ended. So does President Trump. That may help to explain why he took the extraordinary step on Wednesday of appearing in person in the grand chamber of the U.S. Supreme Court, apparently the first president to do so, as his solicitor general made the case against "birthright citizenship" before the high court justices. The issue, one of the most important Supreme Court rulings expected ...