Congress pass the "For the 99.8 Percent Act" to tax ultra-wealthy

Petition to Congress: "Tax the ultra-wealthy few by passing the For the 99.8 Percent Act." Add your name:

Over the last decade, Republicans exempted more and more millionaires from the estate tax. A married couple can now keep $22 million from being taxed. Fewer than 2,000 families are now subject to the tax, and thousands of super-rich families are dodging millions in taxes.1 The Trump Tax Scam was a Wall Street handout on steroids. On top of handing freebies to multinational corporations, it gave millions in tax cuts to the richest of the rich by cutting the estate tax. Sen. Bernie Sanders is teaming up with Rep. Jimmy Gomez to undo the damage and force America's ultra-wealthy to pay their fair share, and they need our help. Tell Congress: Tax the ultra-wealthy. Raise the estate tax. Click here to sign the petition. Just three white men ‒ Jeff Bezos of Amazon, investor Warren Buffett and Microsoft's Bill Gates ‒ own as much wealth as the whole bottom half of America. An astonishing $2.9 trillion is in the hands of just 400 people. The top 1%, meanwhile, control 40% of the wealth in our country.2,3  This unequal wealth hoarding starves public services and kills job creation, leaving America sicker, less educated and less prosperous. The estate tax was meant to prevent this kind of wealth from being passed down from generation to generation and stop the creation of a new oligarchy. The For the 99.8 Percent Act would fight massive inequality and inherited wealth by:4 Raising taxes on the ultra-wealthy few, starting with estates worth more than $3.5 million and rising to a 77% tax on inherited wealth over $1 billion. Closing the loopholes that allow many ultra-wealthy families to dodge inheritance taxes altogether. Defying Republican attacks on the estate tax by exempting family farms, most of which are worth less than $1 million, and taxing wealth that rich families gathered through other tax loopholes for the first time. Senate Republicans are now proposing to eliminate the estate tax completely in yet another giveaway to their wealthy donors. We need to show how many people are determined to resist and willing to fight for a progressive alternative. Tell Congress: Tax the ultra-wealthy. Raise the estate tax. Click below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/sanders-gomez-estate-tax?t=9&akid=33284%2E3130208%2EPsbv4X - Heidi Hess, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Matthew Yglesias, "Bernie Sanders’s new plan to supercharge the estate tax, explained," Vox, Jan. 31, 2019. Avery Anapol, "Study: Wealthiest 1 percent owns 40 percent of country’s wealth," The Hill, Dec. 6, 2017. Chuck Collins and Josh Hoxie, "Billionaire Bonanza 2018: Inherited Wealth Dynasties of the United States," Institute for Policy Studies, October 2018. Yglesias, "Bernie Sanders’s new plan to supercharge the estate tax, explained."

Tell Congress: No holiday tax handouts for Wall Street

Petition to Congress: "Americans resoundingly rejected Republican tax policy in November. Congress should block the Brady tax bill, which is full of holiday handouts for wealthy special interests and preserves the Trump Tax Scam's incentives for outsourcing jobs." Add your name:

The Trump Tax Scam's handouts for wealthy corporations proved so ineffective and unpopular that the bill contributed to historic blowout losses for Republicans in the recent elections, with the largest gains for Democrats in the House of Representatives since 1974.1 So, of course, Republicans have responded with a new bill full of tax-handout holiday gifts for rich and well-connected elites.2 House Republican Kevin Brady recently introduced a new tax package full of handouts for Wall Street, and Republicans are expected to move it forward as soon as Thursday.3 We can't let that happen. Tell Congress: No holiday tax handouts for Wall Street. Click here to sign the petition. It is a rotten holiday season for General Motors workers. The company announced a few weeks ago that it is cutting 15 percent of its American workforce and shuttering five manufacturing plants.4 The 2017 Trump Tax Scam provides tax incentives for companies to do just this sort of outsourcing.5 But instead of ending Trump's outsourcing incentive, Republicans are trying to make it a very happy holiday season for well-connected elites, financiers and special interests. And in last-minute changes to the bill on Monday, Republicans added even more special interest tax breaks and language repealing a decades-old amendment that prohibits nonprofits from engaging in political activities. The new Brady tax package fails to repeal the worst of the Trump Tax Scam. In fact, it tinkers with a bill American voters soundly rejected at the polls. House Republicans are in such a rush to pass it without hearings or a chance for Democrats to adequately review its hundreds of pages that we are not even sure of the full extent of the damage it would do. But allies already know it "contains handouts and favors for narrowly tailored and wealthy special interests such as NASCAR race track owners, race-horse breeders, movie producers, venture capitalists, and paid tax prep companies."6 The end of year, lame-duck session of Congress creates intense pressure. Lobbyists press their advantage on members of Congress desperate to wrap up business and head out of town. We need a fierce response to make sure corporate Democrats stand strong and Republicans abandon their plans for yet more tax handouts for the wealthiest few. Tell Congress: No holiday tax handouts for Wall Street. Click below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/brady_tax_2018?t=7&akid=30933%2E3130208%2Ew7G2YV -Josh Nelson, Co-Director, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Harry Enten, "Latest House results confirm 2018 wasn't a blue wave. It was a blue tsunami." CNN, Dec. 6, 2018. Jeff Stein, "House GOP’s lame-duck tax package would cost $55 billion, CBO says," The Washington Post, Nov. 28, 2018. Americans for Tax Fairness, "51 National Groups Oppose New Brady House Tax-Cut Package," Nov. 29, 2018. Soo Youn and Jeffrey Kirk, "General Motors to lay off 15 percent of workers, shutter 5 plants in North America," ABC News, Nov. 26, 2018. Americans for Tax Fairness, "51 National Groups Oppose New Brady House Tax-Cut Package." Ibid.

Tell your reps in Congress that cutting protections for those with pre-existing conditions is unacceptable

After cutting taxes for wealthy corporations and the rich, the Trump administration is now trying to cut the Affordable Care Act's protections. This time, they're trying (yet again) to rip away health care from over 130 million Americans with pre-existing conditions.

And get this -- they're using the TrumpTax to justify this heartless decision. Their ridiculous claim: because the TrumpTax repealed one key part of the Affordable Care Act, the rest of the law is now unconstitutional.

Use our one-click tool to tell your reps that saving health care for those with pre-existing conditions is more important than tax cuts for the rich!

When Republicans passed the TrumpTax, we knew that they would try to pay for it by cutting the vital services that so many Americans depend upon. We saw that with their proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and to the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

We know they'll be going after Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security next, but in the meantime, the latest victims of the TrumpTax are folks who have pre-existing conditions like cancer, asthma, and diabetes.

If you or someone you know is one of the 130 million Americans with a pre-existing condition, now is your moment to speak out!

Send an email to your representatives in Congress to tell them that cutting protections for those with pre-existing conditions is totally unacceptable.

Tell your reps that protecting health care for those with pre-existing conditions is more important than tax cuts for millionaires!

https://p2a.co/IpCmZ0J?p2asource=20180615care2email

- The Tax March Team

Tax Day Action: Tell Democrats Fight to repeal the Trump Tax Scam

Today is tax day. On this last day of the pre-Trump tax plan, you should be aware that next year most people won’t be getting as much of a tax cut as the GOP promised. While they lowered the tax rates, they also reduced the amount of deductions for many people. The standard deduction is more, but you won’t get individual deductions. There is a child tax credit, but a family of four would lose money because it doesn’t add up to as much as four individual deductions would  - a nearly $2000 loss. (Of course, there would be an even greater loss for a larger family.) Then the cuts in the tax rate will be phased out by 2026, and the individual deductions will be long gone. Meanwhile, the larger tax cut for the rich and big corporations will increase the deficit by 1 trillion. The GOP will use the bloated deficit (that they caused) to cut earned benefits such as social security, Medicaid and Medicare. So more people on the verge of poverty (low income families with children and the elderly) will really suffer. They will also cut services for the general public so the quality of our lives will diminish. IRS Announces 2018 Tax Rates, Standard Deductions, Exemptions

Petition to Democratic elected officials and candidates: "Commit to fully repealing the immoral and unjust Trump Tax Scam in the next Congress." Add your name:

“Tax cut savings flow to company stockholders, trickle to hourly workers,” USA Today recently reported.1 Another recent headline, in Newsweek, blares: “Trump tax plan: 80 percent of economic gains will end up going to foreigners, CBO says.”2 The ugly truth about the immoral Trump Tax Scam is becoming well-known, just in time for today, April 17, 2018, this year's Tax Day. Our job now is to make it clear just how toxic Trump and his Tax Scam truly are – and demand that every Democratic official and candidate commits to repealing the Trump Tax Scam. Tell Democrats: Fight to repeal the Trump Tax Scam. Click here to sign the petition. The Tax Scam is not just a heartless giveaway to the rich and powerful. Americans have discovered that the Trump Tax Scam is riddled with errors. It gives unintended tax breaks to hedge fund managers, contradicts itself in places and contains the so-called “grain glitch” that could hurt agricultural companies by exempting competitors from taxes.3,4 In this environment, it’s more important than ever that Democrats hold the line. Corporate Democrats will be tempted to preserve parts of the bill to appease donors, others will try to help bail out Republicans with fixes, and before long, no one will be able to tell the difference between the party of Trump tax handouts for billionaires and the muddled opposition. There is no good reason for Democrats to preserve any part of this Tax Scam. It is: Heartless health care robbery. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the Trump Tax Scam could wipe away health care coverage for 13 million people with its sabotage of the Affordable Care Act protections keeping healthy people in insurance markets.5 Horrifyingly unjust. The Trump Tax Scam will pour gasoline on the already-raging fire of inequality in America. International corporations get a massive tax handout despite sitting on billions in offshore profits while Americans lose health care coverage. Poor and middle-income Americans will get pocket change while the super-rich pocket big money.6 An excuse for more cruel cuts. Even before handing trillions to the ultra-wealthy, Trump and the Trump Republicans in Congress began to insist that we must cut the earned benefits that tens of millions of people rely upon. Their phony deficit hysteria is a deliberate ploy to make Americans more dependent on Wall Street and corporate employers by destroying our earned benefits.7 Deeply unpopular. Only 33 percent of Americans support the Trump Tax Scam even with a major Republican publicity push. If progressives lead the charge to point out the way the bill benefits international corporations at the expense of our communities, those numbers will only get worse.8 Democrats will fail if they become the party of tweaking the Trump Tax Scam. They must draw a clear dividing line by promising to repeal the Trump Tax Scam in its entirety in the next Congress. Tell Democrats: Fight to repeal the Trump Tax Scam. Click here to sign the petition. The main beneficiaries of the Trump Tax Scam are Donald Trump himself and the super-wealthy donors who fund Republican political campaigns. The bad news for Republicans is that the American people know a scam when they see one. Americans will not forget this cruel robbery of the poor and middle class to give massive tax breaks to big corporations and Republican donors. But it’s up to us to make sure Democrats seize the opportunity. Tell Democrats: Fight to repeal the Trump Tax Scam. Click below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/taxday_taxscam?t=8&akid=28155%2E3130208%2EGedrhf Josh Nelson, CREDO Action Add your name: #GOPtaxscam References: Adam Shell, “Tax cut savings flow to company stockholders, trickle to hourly workers,” USA Today, April 13, 2018. Nicole Goodkind, “Trump tax plan: 80 percent of economic gains will end up going to foreigners, CBO says,” Newsweek, April 12, 2018. Erica Werner, “Democrats balk as Republicans try to use must-pass spending bill to fix tax law,” The Washington Post, March 16, 2018. David Dayen, “The Botched Tax Bill and Democrats’ Good-Government Dilemma,” The New Republic, Feb. 27, 2018. David Lazarus, “GOP tax bill also manages to needlessly screw up the healthcare system,” Los Angeles Times, Dec. 19, 2017. David Choi, “'Irresponsible, reckless, unjust, and just plain cruel': Democrats blast GOP tax bill after it passes,” Business Insider, Dec. 20, 2017. Tara Golshan, “Top Republicans are already talking about cutting Medicare and Social Security next,” Vox, Dec. 18, 2017. Kenneth Walsh, “Bad Tidings for Trump,” U.S. News & World Report, Dec. 29, 2017.