Tell Your Republican Senator: #NoJonesNoVote

Doug Jones was elected to represent Alabama in the US Senate on December 12, 2017—but he won’t be seated until early January. The people of Alabama deserve to have their duly elected Senator vote on the Tax Scam, not a lame duck Senator appointed by a Governor that resigned in disgrace.

Remember: this is a bill that repeals a key feature of the Affordable Care Act, leaving 13 million more people uninsured and spiking premiums an extra 10%. It gives huge tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations while RAISING taxes on 83 million families. And it adds $1 trillion to the deficit, which will force deep cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and more down the road.

The Tax Scam is currently being finalized by the “Conference Committee,” a group of members from the House and Senate that are resolving the differences between the House and Senate bills. Both the House and Senate have to take one more vote on the final version of the bill that the Conference Committee produces. Your Senator should refuse to cast a final vote on the Tax Scam “conference report” until Doug Jones is seated. Call them at 1-855-980-2350 today.

SAMPLE CALL DIALOGUE

Caller: Hello! My name is [___] and I’m calling from [part of state]. I want [Senator] to refuse to take a final vote on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act until the new duly-elected Senator from Alabama is seated.

Staffer: Senator [___] is in favor of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and thinks the American people can’t wait to reform our broken, complex tax code. There is no need to wait until the New Year to vote on it.

Caller: That’s terrible. The people of Alabama deserve to have their voices heard and be represented by the Senator they elected. Keep in mind that [Senator] helped Mitch McConnell keep a Supreme Court seat vacant so that “the people could decide.” Well, here the people have decided and their will should be respected. After Scott Brown was elected in a special election in Massachusetts, there were no further votes on the Affordable Care Act until he was seated. That’s the approach [Senator] should follow here.

Staffer: Thank you. I’ll let the Senator know your thoughts.

Caller: Yes please do, and please take down my contact information so you can let me know what the Senator decides to do. He/she can do the right thing with his/her vote alone. I will be watching to see that he/she does.

- Indivisible 

Do or die effort to stop #GOPtaxcam

In the dead of night last Friday, all but one Senate Republican voted to approve their version of the cruelest, most economically destructive tax bill in recent memory. Now the bill, which attacks the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in addition to raising taxes on millions of working people and families while giving tax cuts to corporations, and the super-rich (not to mention sacrificing our Arctic National Wildlife Refuge), heads back to the House for conference. 

That means we have another chance to fight back. If we can flip at least 11 of the House members who voted for the House version of the bill, we can stop this bill. Many reports indicate that call volumes still haven’t reached the high levels Congress received during the ACA fight; we simply have to flood our representatives with calls, emails, and visits so they understand the potential consequences of selling out most of their constituents for the benefit of their wealthiest donors.

• Dial 202-224-3121 to call your rep today and every day, urging him or her to vote NO on this tax bill, which would force women and families to pay for tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy.
• Are you represented by the House members listed below, or do you know someone who is? It’s especially urgent that these representatives get tons of calls urging them to vote NO on the tax bill.
  • Mike Coffman (CO); Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL); John Katko (NY); Michael Turner (OH), David Joynce (OH); Ryan Costello (PA); Patrick Meehan (PA); Brian Fitzpatrick (PA); Charlie Dent (PA); Will Hurd (TX); Barbara Comstock (VA); Jaime Herrera Buetler (WA); Dave Reichert (WA)

Sen. Sanders: This Tax Bill Will Be Remembered As One Of The Greatest Robberies In American History

Watch video: Sen. Bernie Sanders stood up for the American People about this criminal bill.

Sen. Sanders wrote:

I believe that historians will look back at the early morning hours of Dec. 2, 2017, and conclude that it was one of the great acts of thievery in the history of the United States.

Let me be very clear about what is happening here. It is an extraordinarily cynical "two-step" process. First, Republicans are looting the Treasury. They are stealing trillions of dollars from the American people in order to give huge tax breaks to billionaires and large corporations. Second, as their tax breaks increase the deficit by $1.4 trillion, they will come back and, in the name of "deficit reduction," propose major cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, education, nutrition, affordable housing and other programs desperately needed by the shrinking middle class.

This is class warfare, led by the Koch brothers and other wealthy Republican campaign contributors. More for the rich. Less for working families. Our job now is to stand up and fight back.

That is why last weekend I spoke to large crowds in Louisville, Kentucky, Dayton and Akron, Ohio, and Reading, Pennsylvania. Over 5,000 people took time out of their weekend to attend these high energy meetings in person and almost one million watched on-line. At these rallies activists heard not only from me, but from working people, DREAMers, nurses, Planned Parenthood patients and others about how this tax bill would negatively impact them, their kids, their parents and the future of our country.

Everyone made it absolutely clear that we need to keep fighting against this disastrous piece of legislation and not stop until we defeat it.

This legislation now goes to something called a "conference committee" where the House and Senate work out the differences between their respective bills. Then, the bill comes back for final passage. That means we probably have about three or four weeks to educate and organize the American people to defeat this dangerous bill. Please, get on the phone to your House and Senate members. Email them. Spread the word to your friends by social media. Talk to your co-workers. In the midst of massive income and wealth inequality, this country does not need more tax breaks for billionaires.

I will not stop until we defeat this disastrous piece of legislation. But I cannot do it alone.

- Senator Bernie Sanders

Here's a good summary of the Tax bill from Bernie. 

*Note from Desktop Activist Tucson-

We can help Bernie by getting the word out any way we can and by contacting our members of Congress.

Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard, where you'll be connected with the office of one your senators.

(202) 224-3121

Here's another way to contact our members of Congress about the Tax Bill:

http://stoptrumptaxcuts.org/action/?refcode=e20171205_StopTaxBill_core

Here is an 800 number to call  Rep. McSally:

888-654-1854.

 Arizonans, here's an easy way to tweet our Senators about the #GOPtaxscam

Time to take back our country

Our Senators have disregarded the will of the people. In this time of great income inequality, both houses have passed tax plans that give huge tax cuts to billionaires and big corporations at the expense of the rest of us.

These tax plans will increase the deficit by 1.4 trillion dollars which will lead to dismantling vital social safety nets such as medicaid, medicare and even social security. Remember the uproar when they tried to dismantle the Affordable Care Act? This bill has a sneaky provision that would destroy it. But it's not only the elderly who will suffer. Students would no longer be able to deduct the interest from their college loans. Tuition waivers for graduate students would be considered taxable income. This bill would also be devastating to our wildlife. Despite whole species going extinct everyday from lack of habitats, this bill would allow oil companies to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

This bill disregards the needs of the American people. It increases the financial divide by handing over billions of dollars to the richest people the planet has ever known. They will have even more expendable income to buy our politicians. They will end up privatizing our decaying infrastructure - including our depleted waterways. They will OWN US.

We can't take this lying down. We have got to do everything we can to stop this disastrous tax bill from destroying the country as we know it. Fortunately, there is still time while the bill is being worked on in the conference committee. You can reach your House members at the Whitehouse switchboard: (202) 224-3121. Ask them not to pass either version of the bill as they now stand, but to work with Democrats to construct a bill that addresses the needs of individuals and families.

This is just the first step. We need a government that represents the people. Time to get organized and stand up for America!

Stop the Trump Tax Scam: Call Sens. McCain and Flake

Sens. McCain and Flake just voted to give corporations and the ultra-wealthy a huge tax give-away, but the Trump Tax Scam is not law yet. With enough pressure Sens. McCain and Flake can still stop Trump's plan to slash the corporate tax rate while raising taxes on seniors and working families. Can you make a call today? Click below for a sample script and the number to call:

Republicans – including Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake – just voted to advance the Trump Tax Scam. This fight is still far from over. Even though every single Republican in the Senate voted to move this huge corporate give-away forward, we can still stop the Trump Tax Scam.1 Sens. McCain and Flake's constituents know that they just voted to advance a bill that will hurt middle- and lower-income families while giving Trump and his wealthiest friends a huge tax handout.2,3,4 We need to show them what overwhelming opposition looks like. As we showed when we stopped Trumpcare, our collective action makes a difference. Now we must ramp up the pressure on Sens. McCain and Flake to stop this dumpster fire of a bill in its tracks. Call Sens. McCain and Flake: No tax handouts for the wealthy and big corporations. Click here to get started with your calls. Republicans are desperate to deliver a win to their corporate donors, and the Trump Tax Scam is a massive handout to corporations and the wealthiest Americans. They are trying to pull the wool over their constituents' eyes with the false promise of tax cuts for working Americans, but in reality, the Trump Tax Scam would be devastating.5 The Trump Tax Scam would: 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 Strike an intentional blow to abortion rights and lay the groundwork for banning abortion outright by enshrining the language “unborn child” into the federal tax code.12 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 We need just three Republicans to stand up to Trump in the Senate – and Sens. McCain and Flake could be the deciding vote. Will you call now to tell them we are watching and that it is unacceptable for them to do anything less than fully resist Trump’s tax scam? Call key Sens. McCain and Flake: No tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations. Click the link below to get started with your calls. https://act.credoaction.com/call/trump-taxes-calls-2017/?t=7&akid=26205%2E3130208%2EMA7R_D Kaili Lambe, Director of Organizing CREDO Action from Working Assets Click below for a sample script and the number to call: References: U.S. Senate, “Roll Call Vote 115th Congress - 1st Session," accessed Nov. 29, 2017. Jonathan Easley, “Poll: Majority oppose GOP tax-reform bill,” The Hill, Nov. 16, 2017. Alan Rappaport, “Republicans May Use Cuts in Entitlement Programs to Reduce Deficit,” The New York Times, Nov. 15, 2017. Binyamin Appelbaum, “Trump Tax Plan Benefits Wealthy, Including Trump,” The New York Times, Sept. 27, 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. Long, “The House is voting on its tax bill Thursday. Here’s what is in it.” 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. Heather Long, “The House is voting on its tax bill Thursday. Here’s what is in it.” The Washington Post, Nov. 16, 2017. 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.

#GOPtaxscam up for a vote today! Contact your senators now!

This is it. The #GOPtaxscam is supposed to go for a vote in the Senate TODAY. Time to bombard them with faxes, tweets, facebook posts and messages on their websites! 

Call 202-224-3121 to tell your Senators to vote no.

Click here to send a letter to your senators today. - Scripts from Trumptaxscam.org

*to tweet - see links below

If you have a cell phone, you can contact your senators on RESISTBOT.
Text the word resist to 50409 and answer the questions it asks. You'll be talking to a bot, not a person when you text, so answer just as asked or it won't understand you. 

Arizona constituents: When I tried to call Sen. Flake's office Wednesday afternoon the mail box was full. (520) 575-8633. They are answering today!  Time we bombard Sens. Flake and McCain with phone calls, faxes, tweets and messages! Let's make 'em listen to us!

You can fax for free on the internet at:  freefax.com

Here's Sen. Flake's fax numbers: 

Washington, D.C. Office fax: 202-228-0515
Phoenix Office fax: 602-840-4092
Tucson Office fax: 520-797-3232

Tweet Flake at: @SenFlakeStaff

Here's Sen. Flake's website contact form:
https://www.flake.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact-jeff

Sen. McCain's phone: (520) 670-6334
Here's Sen. McCain's fax numbers:

Phoenix Office fax: (855) 952-8702
Tucson Office fax: (855) 952-8702
Washington Office fax: (202) 228-2862

Tweet him @SenJohnMcCain

Here's Sen. McCain's website contact form:
https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact-form

----

Six key senators haven’t decided whether or not to support a tax bill that puts health coverage on the line for millions — and they could cast a deciding vote this week.

Our Arizona senators are two of the six senators — so make sure you speak out today. These key lawmakers need to hear from as many of us as possible before they vote. Here's an easy way to tweet them — to make sure they reject any tax bill that puts health coverage at risk.

GOP tax scam passed out of the committee and is heading to the Senate floor for a vote TOMORROW (Thurs. Nov 30)

In case you had any question on how it works...

This is it. If it passes, it will give the wealthiest Americans a huge tax cut on the backs of American workers, students, and retirees.(1) For millions of people, it will sacrifice the American Dream so that even more of our country's wealth will flow to the 1%.

We can win this battle against the GOP-Trump tax cuts. Numerous GOP senators have vacillated in their support of this bill. Even GOP voters hate this bill -- this tax cut is less popular than the last tax increase!(2)

Why? Besides making the rich richer while taxing the working and middle classes more, the bill’s Obamacare provision would lead to 13 million more uninsured people and a 10% increase in the cost of insurance premiums.(3) That’s bad news for all of us.

But despite how unpopular this horrible bill is, a number of Senate Republicans who had previously opposed the bill now appear to be caving to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump.(4) 

- the Courage Campaign

 

Footnotes:
1. https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwasik/2017/11/29/how-the-gop-tax-plan-scrooges-middle-class-retired-and-poor/#11bcd5fe6c1e
2. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-gop-tax-cuts-are-even-more-unpopular-than-past-tax-hikes
3. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/collins-individual-mandate-tax-bill-reinsurance-alexander-murray
4. http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/362249-trump-opens-gop-eyes-on-tax-reform

NOTE from Desktop Activist:

When I tried to call Sen. Flake's office Wednesday afternoon the mail box was full. (520) 575-8633. Hopefully, they've emptied it by today.  How about we bombard Sens. Flake and McCain with faxes, tweets and messages! Let's make 'em listen to us!

Here's Sen. Flake's fax numbers:

Washington, D.C. Office fax: 202-228-0515
Phoenix Office fax: 602-840-4092
Tucson Office fax: 520-797-3232

Tweet Flake at: @SenFlakeStaff

Here's Sen. Flake's website contact form:
https://www.flake.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact-jeff

Here's Sen. McCain's fax numbers:

Phoenix Office fax: (855) 952-8702
Tucson Office fax: (855) 952-8702
Washington Office fax: (202) 228-2862

Tweet him @SenJohnMcCain

Here's Sen. McCain's website contact form:
https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact-form

Click here to send a letter to your senators today.

Scripts from Trumptaxscam.org

Six key senators haven’t decided whether or not to support a tax bill that puts health coverage on the line for millions — and they could cast a deciding vote this week.

Our Arizona senators are two of the six senators — so make sure you speak out today. These key lawmakers need to hear from as many of us as possible before they vote. Here's an easy way to tweet them — to make sure they reject any tax bill that puts health coverage at risk.

Sens. McCain and Flake: Listen to our calls!

All week, you’ve made calls, you’ve shown up… you’ve gotten loud. Now it’s time for us to get M-A-D.

Yesterday, in a razor-thin, party-line vote, the Senate Budget Committee passed the #TrumpTaxScam out of committee 12 votes to 11. The bill now heads to the Senate floor where it’s likely Members will vote on a Motion to Proceed (a pre-vote vote) this afternoon and will likely take a final vote on the bill this week.

We’re going to be honest, this will be close. It appears that Republicans have the votes to pass this wretched bill and they could vote on the full Senate floor as early as Friday afternoon. But this is the same exact scenario we experienced right before defeating the health care repeal in July. We can still do this.

Senators Flake and McCain must keep hearing from you. In Arizona alone, 1,017,100 families will see a tax increase by 2027. On top of that, 282,000 families would lose their health coverage by 2025 and many others would see their premiums increase by $2,060 in 2019.

We’re running out of time to stop this bill. So keep up the hard work:

1. Show up. Visit your Senator’s in-district office as often as you can between now and the final vote. Use our event organizing guide to plan your event and then register your event so others can find it here.
   
2. Make a call. Jam those phone lines. Get your friends and family to call. Make sure your voice is counted before your Senators go to vote.

Use our call scripts to inform your conversation with Senators Flake and McCain, and let them know just how much you hate this bill. We’ve set up a toll-free number (1-855-980-2350) to make it easier to call your Senators. It’ll randomly dial one of your Senators on the first call. Then, if you call back, you’ll get your other Senator.

- Indivisible 

Stop the donor payback scam...eh, I mean Republican tax plan

On Thursday, the Senate is expected to vote on the Republican tax plan that provides tax breaks for high-income households and corporations including so-called “pass-through” entities such as hedge funds and private equity firms. The bill could also result in automatic cuts to Medicare, starting as soon as 2018. Instead of tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations―paid for by cutting critical services for working families―call your Senators and tell them to reject Donald Trump and Republican leaders’ tax plan. Here’s a suggested call script:

Call: 888-516-5820 My name is _______. I live in TOWN, STATE and I’m a constituent of the Senator's. I want Senator [NAME] to OPPOSE the Senate tax plan that delivers huge tax cuts to America’s wealthiest families and corporations. Instead of tax breaks for hedge funds and private equity firms ―paid for with cuts to Medicare and Medicaid―we need a tax plan that invests in our country’s future.

This is how we stopped Trumpcare. Millions of Americans stood up and made our voices heard. Let’s stand together now to stop this disastrous tax plan that benefits the rich and powerful at the expense of working families.

- Josh Bivens, Economic Policy Institute


I left a message at Sen. Flake's Washington office: 202-224-4521 and his website: https://www.flake.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact-jeff

Maybe we should try faxing...

Washington, D.C. Office
F: 202-228-0515

Phoenix Office
F: 602-840-4092

Tucson Office
F: 520-797-3232

Paradise Papers Tax Scam

Eight years ago as UK Prime Minister and chair of the G20, I tried to end the injustice of global tax havens. But as the "Paradise Papers" leak shows, trillions are still being siphoned off to dodge tax in the most shadowy places in the global economy.

It’s one of today’s greatest injustices, allowing the richest to stand aside while the rest of us pay for health, education, and protecting the most vulnerable.

But now we have a chance to stop it -- through an international agreement that outlaws tax havens and imposes penalties and prison sentences on tax evaders. And the G20, the leaders of the world's biggest economies, can make it happen.

Please join me in signing this open letter to Argentine President Mauricio Macri, chair of the G20 -- if a million of us sign, I will personally deliver it to him, asking him and other G20 leaders to take urgent action to finish the job we began in 2009. Join with one click:

ADD MY NAME

To President Mauricio Macri and all leaders of the G20: The level of global inequality is appalling -- 8 people own as much wealth as half the planet. And the gap is growing, thanks in part to the shadowy world of tax havens which lets trillions be siphoned offshore from our economies. Right now, the rich get richer, and the rest of us pay. Eight years ago the G20 agreed it would shut down these practices. It's time to deliver. We call on you to act immediately to end tax havens and ensure that those that run and exploit them are held to account. Nobody should be able to evade their duty to pay tax for the public good. It is your responsibility to make that so. As citizens from around the world, we demand action.

The G20 is the right home for this issue -- and has already made real progress in forcing tax havens to clean up their act. So there’s already momentum, and now the Paradise Papers give us the chance we’ve been waiting for to finish the job.

G20: shut down tax havens!

As someone who was the target of Avaaz campaigns when I was Prime Minister, I can tell you that they make a powerful difference. This movement is driving forward the idealism of the world. This scandal gives us the chance to tackle one of the biggest challenges we face head-on -- let’s not waste it.

- Gordon Brown, with the Avaaz team

MORE INFORMATION
Everything you need to know about the massive Paradise Papers leak (Vice)

Reaction around the world to release of Paradise Papers – live (The Guardian)

Just 8 men own same wealth as half the world (Oxfam)

Call your representatives, right now, and demand a better tax plan

This morning, Congressional leaders finally showed the American people their tax bill -- the one they were supposed to show us yesterday, and have been talking about behind closed doors for months.

So why the delay?

They've been afraid to show us what's inside ... and now, we know why.

We already knew this plan would cut taxes for rich people and corporations, and that's still true. But to pay for these unnecessary cuts, the money has to come from somewhere -- and Congress and the White House want it to come from hardworking middle-class families.

We can't let that happen. It's on all of us to call our representatives, right now, and demand a better tax plan CLICK HERE to be connected to your rep.

Here's how this plan could affect you:

1. If you're one of the millions of Americans who count on Medicaid, Medicare, and other middle-class programs ... this plan sets the stage for draconian cuts down the road, by adding $1.5 trillion to our deficit over the next decade.


2. If you claim certain deductions on your federal taxes because you are paying off student loans, or because you've incurred medical expenses, or because you pay your fair share in state income taxes ... this plan will take away your right to claim them.


3. If you're looking to buy a house ... a new cap would be placed on how much mortgage interest you'd be able to deduct.


4. If you get a tax credit because you're retired on disability, or because you have adopted children ... those vanish under this bill.

These moves aren't "closing loopholes," as Congressional leaders have claimed.

They're hurting millions of Americans, all so they can give tax breaks to huge corporations that don't need them. And, allow families worth more than $5 million to not pay a dollar of taxes on their estates.

This is what a bad process leads to: an equally bad bill. We shouldn't be surprised -- but it's up to us to make sure this doesn't go a step further.

Call your representative now to demand a better tax plan:

Rep. McSally

Tucson office
Phone: (520) 881-3588
Fax: (520) 322-9490

Washington, DC Office
Phone: (202) 225-2542
Fax: (202) 225-0378

https://mcsally.house.gov/contact