Earlier this week Alabama voted to send a Democrat to the White House for the first time in 25 years – repudiating Trump-backed Roy Moore.1 But Senate Republicans are still trying to rush the Trump Tax Scam into law before Jones is seated in the Senate.2 The committee reconciling the House and Senate bills could release its next version as soon as today and the Senate could vote as early as Monday to send the bill to Trump’s desk.3
This fight is still not over. Reports indicate that the new version of the Tax Scam would lower the tax rate for the highest income earners even further and end the corporate alternative minimum tax – making it easier for corporations to get away with paying far less than their fair share.4
It would be disastrous, but key Republicans could still buck their party. We just need to show them what overwhelming opposition looks like.
The Trump tax scam would make deep cuts to the social safety net and raise taxes on middle- and lower-income families – all while giving Trump and his wealthy friends trillions in handouts. Senate Republicans were so desperate to ram the Trump Tax Scam through in the dead of night a few weeks ago, they passed a version with hand-written edits in the margins.5 But for all the Republicans’ secrecy around it, here’s what we do know is in the Trump tax scam:
- Repeal the deduction for state and local taxes, used by the majority of middle-class taxpayers, and strain budgets for local services.6
- Allow massive amounts of wealth to accumulate untaxed by raising the cap and then eliminating the estate tax – a tax paid only by the ultra-wealthy.7
- Slash the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to just 20 percent – less than what most workers would pay.8
- Allow tax dodgers to get away with refusing to pay their fair share by eliminating the alternative minimum tax, which has been a safeguard against the ultra-wealthy like Donald Trump paying virtually nothing in taxes.9
- Sneakily undermine health care by repealing the individual mandate.10
- Increase the burden of health care costs by eliminating the deduction for out-of-pocket medical expenses.11
- Make higher education even more unaffordable by eliminating the deduction for student loan interest and ending exemptions for graduate students paid for research work or teaching while in school.13
- Reduce incentives for consumers to purchase clean energy vehicles.14
- Jeopardize the fragile natural environment of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by opening it up to drilling in order to pay for corporate tax handouts.15
Republicans need to know that going along with Trump’s greedy and cruel tax plan will be devastating for everyone but the 1%. CREDO activists made more than 10,000 calls to key House Republicans, and two of them voted the right way.16 As we showed when we stopped Trumpcare, our collective action makes a difference. We must show up in force to stop this dumpster fire of a bill in its tracks.
Call key Republican senators: No tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations. Click the link below to get started with your calls.
Click below for a sample script and the number to call:
References:
- Alex Seitz-Wald, “In stunning upset, Democrat Doug Jones is projected winner over Roy Moore in Alabama Senate race,” NBC News, Dec. 12, 2017.
- Jordain Carney, “McConnell: Strange to stay in Senate until end of current session,” The Hill, Dec. 12, 2017.
- Alexander Bolton, Scott Wong, and Naomi Jagoda, “GOP strikes deal on Trump tax cuts,” The Hill, Dec. 13, 2017.
- Jordan Weissmann, “Republicans Reach a Tax Deal, Decide to Cut Rates Even Further for the Rich,” Slate, Dec. 13, 2017.
- Jim Tankersley and Alan Rappeport, A Hasty, Hand-Scribbled Tax Bill Sets Off an Outcry,” The New York Times, Dec. 1, 2017.
- Josh Barro, “Here's how the Trump tax plan would raise taxes on many middle-income families,” Business Insider, Sept. 28, 2017.
- Michael Leachman, "House Tax Bill’s Changes to State and Local Tax Deductions Would Hurt States,” The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Nov 2. 2017.
- Heather Long, “The House is voting on its tax bill Thursday. Here’s what is in it.” The Washington Post, Nov. 16, 2017.
- Americans for Tax Fairness, “13 Terrible Things About the House Republican Tax Plan,” Nov. 2 2017.
- Appelbaum, “Republicans May Use Cuts in Entitlement Programs to Reduce Deficit.”
- Jennifer Haberkorn, Seung Min Kim and Bernie Becker, “Senate GOP adding Obamacare mandate repeal to tax bill, senators say,” POLITICO, Nov. 14, 2017.
- Americans for Tax Fairness, “13 Terrible Things About the House Republican Tax Plan.”
- Charles P. Pierce, "This Tax Bill Isn't Just Bad Economics. It's Got a Backdoor Anti-Abortion Measure, Too," Esquire, Nov. 3, 2017.
- Long, “The House is voting on its tax bill Thursday. Here’s what is in it.”
- Ibid.
- Dino Grandoni, “The Energy 202: ANWR drilling is one step closer to happening,” The Washington Post, Nov. 16, 2017.
- K.K. Rebecca Lai, Wilson Andrews and Alicia Parlapiano, “How Every Member Voted on the House Tax Bill,” The New York Times, Nov. 16, 2017.
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