Senator Cory Booker recently joined former House speaker Nancy Pelosi in leading a campaign to disparage tax cut bonuses, which, as we shall see, can range to upward of $50,000, calling them "crumbs."  The coming midterm elections could get interesting.  

Since virtually everyone prefers to retain his earning as opposed to handing it to the tax man, tax cut foes are straining to minimize the importance of increased take-home pay and corporate one-time bonuses, all while painting mental murals of doomsday deficits, ironically largely of their own making.

The showpiece of tax reform has been a spate of generous bonuses, an immediate proof of concept touted by tax cut advocates.  Highly visible corporations such as Apple and Home Depot were quick to award $1,000 or so to grateful employees, and a number of lower-profile organizations have proved even more benevolent.  

Democrats are struggling to make a case against the importance of the $40-$50 showing up in many paychecks and the practical power of a $1,000 bonus to fund real dreams of real wage-earners, but the real crummy nature of their pro-tax efforts is their failure to appreciate the sweeping power of corporate tax reform.

The public spotlight has focused on the center stage of corporate America, those companies with the success and wealth to demonstrate immediate generosity to their staff, but the real story is to be found backstage and in the back rows of the corporate theater.

The value of tax cuts to the most successful companies is evident, but the consequences for marginal and struggling organizations go unadvertised.  The immediate impact of tax reform on the weakest of companies is that they get to keep their doors open.  The bonuses awarded to all their employees?  They get to keep their jobs.  In the American work force, that's worth an annual average of about $50,000.

The true value of sensible tax law is not limited to making the successful more successful; the value is in giving success a chance.

And these bonuses are not one-time events.  They're paid year after year, at least so long as tax cut advocates hold sway.