Tell Democrats: Repeal the Trump Tax Scam

Did you discover that your tax refunds are far smaller than expected?

Petition to Democratic elected officials and candidates: "You must repeal the Trump tax cuts that mostly benefit corporations and the richest 1%. It is time for corporations and the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share. We need trillions of dollars in new revenues over the next 10 years to protect critical services like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, which benefit working families, and to make new investments in education, housing, infrastructure, a Green New Deal and more, to meet our nation’s growing needs. We demand an economy that works for all of us, not just the wealthy few." Add your name:

The admission – buried in the latest economic forecast from the Trump administration – comes as many Americans are angrily discovering that their tax refunds are far smaller than expected, even as corporations hand their million-dollar handouts to rich shareholders.1,2  After making huge promises about the Trump Tax Scam's effects, the White House just admitted it won't actually deliver long-term growth. The Tax Scam was always immoral, and now America is seeing how many lies Trump told to get it passed. Every single Democrat must commit to repealing this monstrosity. Tell Democrats: Commit to repeal the Trump Tax Scam. Click here to sign the petition. Corporate Democrats already attacked commonsense proposals for a top 70 percent tax rate from progressive champions like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Before long, corporate Democrats will propose preserving huge chunks of the Tax Scam in a bid to appease donors. By 2020, it could be difficult for your average voter to distinguish 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 will kill jobs and lower wages by exacerbating income inequality and encouraging growth on Wall Street instead of Main Street.3 On top of that, it is: Heartless health care robbery. The Trump Tax Scam sabotages the Affordable Care Act protections keeping healthy people in insurance markets, which could end up costing 13 million people their health care.4 Horrifyingly unjust. The Trump Tax Scam is pouring gasoline on the already-raging fire of inequality in America. Multinational corporations are seeing massive tax handouts despite sitting on billions in offshore profits, while everyday Americans get pocket change. White Americans are disproportionately benefiting while communities of color struggle.5 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.6 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 multinational corporations at the expense of our communities, those numbers will only get worse.7 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. Tell Democrats: Repeal the Trump Tax Scam. Click below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/repeal-trump-tax-scam-2019/?t=9&akid=32136%2E3130208%2Ey0o5iE - Josh Nelson, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Jim Tankersley, "Trump’s Tax Cut Won’t Power the Growth He Predicts, Officials Concede," The New York Times, March 19, 2019. Ben Casselman and Jim Tankersley, "Faster Tax Cuts Could Be Backfiring on Republicans," The New York Times, March 19, 2019. Ryan Cooper, "Democrats need to unabashedly support raising taxes," The Week, Oct. 25, 2017. David Lazarus, “GOP tax bill also manages to needlessly screw up the healthcare system,” Los Angeles Times, Dec. 19, 2017. Jim Tankersley, “'White Americans Gain the Most From Trump’s Tax Cuts, a Report Finds,” The New York Times, Oct. 11, 2018. Tara Golshan, “Top Republicans are already talking about cutting Medicare and Social Security next,” Vox, Dec. 18, 2017. Hannah Levintova, “Yes, Your Tax Refund Is Smaller,” Mother Jones, Feb. 28, 2019. More information:  Is a Tax Refund Ahead in Your 2019? Some Taxpayers Received a Tax Bill Instead - Fortune

The Trump Tax Scam is now Trumpcare!

Make a call to key Senate Republicans: Stop Trump’s handout for the wealthy and big corporations

Donald Trump wants to reward tax-dodging corporations and the ultra-wealthy with a huge tax handout while raising taxes on everyone else and slashing the social safety net. Cruel and craven Republicans in the House voted this month to pass his bill, but a few key Senate Republicans have the power to stop it from becoming law and they need to hear from you. Can you make a call today? Click below for a sample script and the number to call:

Recently cruel and craven Republicans in the House voted in favor of a huge giveaway to corporations and the wealthiest Americans. Now the fight turns to the Senate, where the bill would sneakily repeal part of the Affordable Care Act.1 Senate Republicans may try to rush a vote on the Trump-Tax Scam-turned-Trumpcare as early as this week.2 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.3,4 As we showed when we stopped Trumpcare, our collective action makes a difference, and now that the Trump Tax Scam is Trumpcare all over again, we must show up in force to stop this dumpster fire of a bill in its tracks. Call key Republican senators: 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. Will you call now to tell them we are watching and that it's unacceptable for them to do anything less than fully resist Trump’s tax scam? Call key Republican senators: No tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations. Click the link below to get started with your calls. https://act.credoaction.com/call/Stop_Trump_Tax_Scam_Senate/?t=7&akid=26177%2E3130208%2EmLobc_ - Kaili Lambe CREDO Action from Working Assets Click below for a sample script and the number to call: References: Heather Long, “The House is voting on its tax bill Thursday. Here’s what is in it.” The Washington Post, Nov. 16, 2017. Ashley Killough and Lauren Fox, “Here are the Senate Republicans who will decide the fate of the tax bill,” CNN, Nov. 20, 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. 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.

Fight for a humane tax plan and healthcare: Share your personal story with these maverick senators

First, Senator Ron Johnson, an arch-conservative from Wisconsin, came out against the Republican Party's misguided plan to cut taxes for the wealthy and sabotage Obamacare.1 Then, 13 Republicans voted against the House tax bill. Now, Republican Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski seem to be leaning our way, and a new analysis shows the Senate tax plan will actually RAISE taxes on the poor and the middle class--a huge political blow to the bill's chances.2,3

If Sens. Collins, Murkowski, and Johnson vote no, the bill is dead. That's why we're making Senate phones ring off the hook in Washington, D.C., and organizing our members in key states to tell their stories about what this tax DEFORM plan would mean for them.

Desperate for a win, Senator Mitch McConnell and Trump are pushing to pass their rich-person giveaway when they come back after Thanksgiving. That means we've got just one week to raise hell in Maine, Arizona, Nevada, and Alaska--the same kind of organizing that helped us kill Trumpcare earlier this year.

But just like this summer, we have to keep the pressure on senators from these states. We've got the cold hard facts: 13 million will lose their health insurance.4 Americans earning less than $75,000 a year will see their taxes INCREASE.5

We have to back up those facts with the stories of real people, real voters, who can't afford for this dangerous tax plan to become law.

- UltraViolet Action

Sources:

1. GOP tax plan in trouble after Republican senator says he won’t back it, The Washington Post, November 15, 2017
2. Why Republicans may have lost Susan Collins in their tax reform fight, Bangor Daily News, November 16, 2017
3. Murkowski Tax Vote Contingent on Stabilizing Individual Health Insurance Market, Roll Call, November 17, 2017
4. Repealing the Individual Health Insurance Mandate: An Updated Estimate, Congressional Budget Office, November 8, 2017
5. $1.5 Trillion Tax Cut Passed by House in Mostly Party-Line Vote, The New York Times, November 16, 2017

Does the #GOPTaxPlan treat corporations and individuals the same in terms of who gets to keep deductions and who doesn’t? Nope, not even close. WATCH VIDEO.

Contact Republican Senators Susan Collins
https://www.collins.senate.gov/contact
Washington office (202)224-2523

Contact Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski
https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/contact/email

Phone: (202)-224-6665
Fax: (202)-224-5301

Tax reform roadblocks emerge in Senate: Sens. John McCain and Lisa Murkowski have been wildcards, avoiding taking a public position on the proposal.

Senator McCain is also also a key player in this fight. 

You can contact Sen. McCain at his Tucson Office:

(520) 670-6334
Fax: (855) 952-8702

One way to reach him is to share you personal stories on his website:

https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact-form

Here's mine for inspiration:

Dear Senator McCain,

I live in Tucson where so many of your constituents are living paycheck to paycheck. They are one medical emergency from going bankrupt and losing their homes. Everyday I see more and more homeless people - some vets, some people who had to quit their jobs to care for a sick loved one, some who had a medical emergency. I'm urging you to take care of vulnerable Tucsonans. It is just heartless to pass a huge tax cut for the wealthiest Americans on the back of the most vulnerable. Why are you raising taxes on married couples who make less that $19050 a year? When my husband left me, I struggled to get by on spousal support. No one would hire me because I had been a stay at home mom. I could have easily become homeless. So many of us are just one emergency away from being homeless.

My parents in Missouri are just getting by on their limited retirement plan and social security.  My dad recently had gallbladder surgery. He could not have had that surgery without the help of Medicare.  They finally had to get a home health aide. That is also paid for by Medicare. This immoral tax plan even cuts the dependent deduction that enables families to take care of their elderly parents at home AND the deduction for their medical expenses. How are people supposed to get by? 

Senator McCain, please, don't take away our healthcare or make it even harder on the poor. I know you are a moral man; vote your conscious. Vote no on that cruel tax bill.

The GOP sneaks bad bills that the public fought into their tax reform bill

Will the GOP tax plan bring back jobs? 

The GOP has found a way to sneak the bad bills that the public fought into their tax reform bill - all under the guise of giving us a tax cut. This includes allowing drilling in our Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, cutting the EV tax credit that makes clean vehicles affordable, limiting the ability of clean energy developers to use solar and wind tax credits (while fossil fuel companies still get theirs), cutting tax deductions for student loan interest, and not just dismantling Obamacare, but defunding Medicare and Medicaid!

The truth is that this tax plan will benefit big corporations and billionaires at the expense of the working class. After this irresponsible tax cut raises the deficit by $1.7 trillion, the GOP will use that as an excuse to cut even more vital services for the American people.

And for what? The taxes for the poorest Americans will actually go up. Married couples making less than $19,050 will pay 2% more. The taxes for the lower and middle class will increase steadily after 5 years. But the tax cuts for the wealthiest people the planet has ever known, will last FOREVER.

The 1% already has 90% of the wealth in America. But that isn't enough for them. They have invested millions of dollars in bribing our politicians. The GOP tax bill is their big payoff.

This will increase wealth inequality and give them even more power over our government and the American people. And they have no intention of giving anything to the American people. Look at the cabinet that Trump nominated. His choice to head the Department of Labor was Carl's Jr. CEO Andy Puzder who fought raising the minimum wage and cheated managers out of overtime pay.

They say this tax bill will bring companies back. Then why does it include a provision allowing companies to deduct moving expenses for relocating abroad? This tax bill won't bring back companies until the GOP succeeds in making the US "competitive" - which is code for paying us slave wages and dismantling worker protections. For a temporary minimal tax cut, are we willing to give up the protections that our ancestors sacrificed for?

When they say "Make America Great Again" is that code for going back to a time when a privileged few benefited from slavery?

Don't believe your bought and sold Representatives. (Rep. McSally, I mean you.) Do your own research on how the average American will fare with the new tax code.

Tell your Senators to reject Donald Trump and the GOP's tax plan that cuts taxes for the top 1 percent - at our expense

House Republicans have unveiled their tax plan, and you shouldn’t believe the hype.
 
They’ll tell you that high-income households won’t receive tax breaks. And that their tax plan will result in higher wages for working people. Both are false.
 
Thanks to another loophole they’ve added for so-called “pass-through” income, top 1 percent households will receive a massive tax cut. They call this a tax cut for small businesses. That’s also false. According to a recent Treasury Department report, 70 percent of “pass-through” income is claimed by the top 1 percent.
 
They’ll also claim that lower corporate tax rates will trickle-down to working people. But, across U.S. states, reductions in corporate tax rates are not associated with faster median wage growth. They result in a higher share of income going to the top 1 percent.

Stand with the EPI Policy Center and our partners in rejecting Donald Trump and Republican leaders’ tax plan that benefits corporations and the top 1 percent at the expense of working families. Write to your members of Congress today!
 
A big tax cut for the rich is just one half of the plan set out in the budget resolution approved by Republicans last month. The other half includes huge cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and other valuable programs that help the most vulnerable.
 
Instead of tax breaks for hedge funds and private equity firms that are paid for with cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, we need a tax plan that invests in our country’s future.

Write to your members of Congress today and tell them to reject Donald Trump and Republican leaders’ tax plan that cuts taxes for the top 1 percent.
 
We should be crystal clear on this point: Claims that cutting taxes for rich businesses will trickle-down to boost the wages of typical Americans are baseless. This is a tax cut that starts with the rich and will stick with the rich. America is a rich country that can do much better for working families, but only if the “tax cuts for the rich, first and always” zealotry of today’s Republicans is rejected by the American people and defeated in the halls of Congress.
 
- Josh Bivens, Economic Policy Institute 

Participating organizations:

AFL-CIO
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund
Courage Campaign
CPD Action
Daily Kos
Demand Progress
Democracy for America
EPI Policy Center
People Demanding Action
People For the American Way
People’s Action
Tax March
The Nation

Call your representative today and tell them to vote NO on Trump’s tax scam

Yesterday, Republican leaders released their tax plan: a government-funded handout to millionaires, billionaires, and big corporations -- at the expense of everyone else.

Paul Ryan and House Republicans delayed releasing their plan for days because they knew it wasn’t ready for prime time. But now it’s here, and it’s worse than we expected.

This half-baked, “trickle-down” plan would make rising income inequality worse -- a lot worse. Paul Ryan knows his plan is unpopular, so he is rushing toward a vote. Your representative could be the key to stopping it -- but they need to hear from you.

Click here to call your representative today and tell them to vote NO on Trump’s tax scam.

Trump’s tax scam is nothing more than a taxpayer-funded handout to billionaires and big corporations at the expense of working families. Call your representative and tell them to vote NO!

Call

Here are three reasons we must stop this bill:
It provides the Trump family a billion-dollar handout, by eliminating the estate tax. (Talk about self-serving!)
It eliminates popular deductions that middle-class families rely on just to slash the tax rate for big corporations.
It opens the floodgates to churches acting like Super PACs by reversing a decades-old law that prevents religious groups from endorsing political candidates.

This bill is terrible, and it should be a non-starter for every member of Congress who’s serious about serving the American people.

The stakes are too high to do nothing.

Call your representative today and tell them to vote NO:

http://act.standupamerica.com/Tax-Call

- Sean Eldridge, Stand Up America

Petition to Stop the Republican tax plan!

Republican leaders are about to give their best friends and donors -- millionaires, billionaires, and giant corporations -- a massive tax break. They plan on paying for these tax breaks by gutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, public education, and other critical services that working families rely on.(1) And they’re trying to sell it all to the American people as “tax reform.”

The Republican tax plan is not only an attack on our health but on the very fabric of our well-being. But it’s not over yet! We’ll have to mobilize as vigilantly as we did in the fight to protect our health care to stop this blatant abuse of working families.

Sign the petition to reject Republican plans to cut Social Security, health care, and public education, while giving massive tax breaks to the rich and powerful.

Congress’ first vote on a tax proposal was held two days ago and the GOP is scrambling to try to push their Trump-Ryan tax plan through and set it on a fast-track.

Their proposed budgets would slash between $4 and $6 trillion from services that children, seniors, people with disabilities, and working people depend on. All while middle-class families will pay up to 25% more in taxes.(2)

Taxes increased and services cut to those that need the most assistance so that wealthy campaign donors can receive up to 80% in tax cuts!(3) This is a scam -- plain and simple. And we know Trump is no stranger to scamming.

As Senator Elizabeth Warren puts it, “Washington already works great for those who can afford to stash money in the Cayman Islands or ship jobs overseas. Now Donald Trump and Republican leaders want to rig the system even more.”(4) We won’t let the GOP continue to rig the system. We stopped their plan to kill our health care and we can stop their plan to rob us blind.

Sign our petition demanding that any tax plan Congress passes must require the wealthy and giant corporations to pay their fair share of taxes while protecting the American people's essential services.

People like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan are willing to take health care, affordable housing, quality education, job training, and food assistance away from millions of Americans. All to give massive tax breaks to billionaires and wealthy corporations.

$450 billion cut from Medicare. $1 trillion cut from Medicaid.(5) And that’s just health care. There’s also the billions of dollars they want to cut from programs that feed low-income children and seniors, provide job training to help lift people out of poverty, and support public education and college for the next generation to get ahead.

It’s way past time for the rich to pay their fair share so we can invest in our country’s future. A better and brighter America with exceptional schools, health care for all, affordable homes, staffed libraries, clean parks, new roads, and retirement funds. And it all depends on you. We must make our voices heard.

Help stop the Republican plan to cut essential services working families rely on while increasing their taxes to fund tax giveaways for the rich and wealthy.

-the Courage team

Footnotes
1. https://theintercept.com/2017/10/04/senate-budget-tax-cuts-medicare-medicaid-health-care/
2. http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/sites/default/files/publication/144971/a_preliminary_analysis_of_the_unified_framework_0.pdf
3. Refer to note
4. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/4-trillion-cut-from-social-security-medicare-medicaid-henley-haugh
5. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/9/29/16387518/senate-republicans-budget-cut-medicare

Protect working families: Stop Trump's tax cuts for the wealthy & corporations!

President Trump, Republican leaders in Congress and a massive special-interest lobbying machine (run by the Koch brothers and corporate America) are gearing up to give massive tax breaks to millionaires and wealthy corporations. They want to pay for them by cutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, public education and other critical services for working families.

President Trump and Republican leaders have proposed budgets that would slash between $4 trillion and $6 trillion from those services we all depend on—just so that they can afford huge tax cuts of similar amounts that would further enrich billionaires and big corporations and encourage the offshoring of jobs. This is the health care fight all over again. We can win, but only if we all speak out.

Sign the petition telling members of Congress to reject a budget that cuts Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, public education and much more while giving massive tax breaks to the rich and powerful.

To: All members of Congress

Any tax and budget plans you support must meet the following principles:

• The wealthy and big corporations must be required to pay their fair share of taxes. They must not get one penny in new tax cuts.
• Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and services that protect the most vulnerable must not be put at risk of cuts. Congress must raise the revenue needed to fund investments that create millions of new jobs rebuilding roads and bridges, educating our children, expanding health care, researching new medical cures and ensuring a secure retirement for seniors.
• Tax breaks should be eliminated that encourage multinational corporations to shift jobs and profits offshore. Corporations should pay what they owe on current offshore profits. And Congress should not establish new tax rates for overseas earnings that encourage companies to stash money abroad.
• Congress must not use a fast-track, partisan process, known as reconciliation, to pass tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations that lose revenue.

Sign petition to stop Trump's tax plan now - deadline Monday!

While Trump and the GOP are trying to ram through legislation that guts our health care, they’re also hoping to ram through a disastrous tax plan that will only benefit millionaires and wealthy corporations – at your expense.

To pay for massive tax credits for the richest one percent, they plan to make deep cuts to critical public services our communities depend on, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and education.

The Republican senator leading this giant tax giveaway is Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, who is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. He’s requesting input from Wall Street, corporate lobbyists, and other “experts” on how best to reform the tax system. But Sen. Hatch really needs to hear from key stakeholders like you! We only have until July 17 to respond.

Sign our petition to tell Sen. Orrin Hatch and Congress: No more tax cuts for the wealthy!

Tax loopholes for the wealthy elite already exist, and the GOP’s new plan would only make things worse. If economic inequality is to become a thing of the past, we need to fight back against this uneven system and protect, not cut, services that lift up working families.

We need real tax reform to make sure the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share – a lot more than they pay now. Our government should then invest those tax dollars in our country’s future – in public roads and transit systems; quality and affordable early childhood education; public schools and higher education; researching new medical cures; and ensuring a secure retirement for all of us by strengthening Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Send a message to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, and tell him we demand an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few. That means the richest Americans need to pay their fair share in taxes!

Let’s drown out the corporate lobbyists and make sure Sen. Hatch hears our collective demand for a fair economy. We only have until Monday to make our voices heard. Please sign our petition now.

- Brian Kettenring, CPD Action

UPDATE on heath care

Update on health care -- the biggest policy story heading into next week’s congressional recess…

Mitch McConnell is scrambling to adjust the disastrous Senate version of Trumpcare and pick up more support, after the CBO scoring of the bill predicted 22 million Americans would lose their healthcare under the bill. Polls show that, at best, fewer than 20% of Americans support the Republicans’ efforts to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, but it remains a high priority for the most committed members of their far-right base and, more importantly, for the Koch brothers and their other ultrawealthy donors who would reap a MASSIVE tax cut from the bill.

That’s all stuff you might already know… but in just the last couple of days, as more analysis of the legislation has continued to come out, we can see just how sneaky and insidious McConnell’s bill is … no wonder he thought developing the bill in extreme secrecy and ramming it through with reckless disregard for debate and process as perhaps his only chance of getting it passed.

We knew that the bill “back-loaded” many of the cuts, so that many wouldn’t take effect until 2021 and others not until later than that. But a new report yesterday by the CBO points out that the cuts to Medicaid would be even deeper and more devastating down the road due to future funding being tied to the consumer price index, which has a lower growth rate than inflation of medical costs. So not only are there deep cuts, but the money that still would be provided for low-income, disabled, and some elderly Americans would shrink in real terms and not go far enough to cover their care.

- Ben Betz, People for the American Way

Call your members of Congress NOW and tell them to vote "No" on this disastrous tax plan.

Paul Ryan just gave a passionate call to cut taxes of on the wealthy and corporations. I watched his press conference and left these responses. 

Easy tax forms would be GREAT. But that doesn't mean not taxing corporations and the richest people the planet has ever known. How do you think they got that way? They don't pay their workers a living wage and they don't pay their taxes .

Our country will never recover from the trillion dollar tax cut they are giving to the rich. That is part of their plan. Then they can sell off our services to their rich friends. They will privatize our highways and bridges - so we will pay for them twice (with the incentives to the banks and continuing tolls.) How do you think Ryan got as rich as he is? He is working for them, not us.

In the fifties corporations and the rich paid more taxes and our economy thrived. That is also true of the states that tax the rich more. The rich don't want to pay anything. They get subsidies and they use up our resources and they use our services - but they don't want to pay for that. Why do you think our infrastructure (which they use for their businesses) is crumbing. They take out, they don't put enough in. And now they want to be taxed even less!

Repealing the estate tax will only benefit the richest families in America. They will not invest that money in the economy. They aren't now. They are hording it and buying our politicians with it. Less than one percent of the population has more money than 90% of Americans combined. This tax plan will just increase that divide.

In order to give these tax cuts to the rich, Trump's budget cuts important services and healthcare for the American people. Working Americans will continue to pay taxes, and not get the services we need.

Please call your members of Congress NOW and tell them to vote "No" on this disastrous tax plan.

Sen. John McCain : (202) 224-2235

Local Offices
Phoenix, AZ: tel: 602-952-2410 fax: 855-952-8702
Prescott, AZ: tel: 928-445-0833 fax: 928-445-8594
Tucson, AZ: tel: 520-670-6334 fax: 520-670-6637

Sen. Jeff Flake : (202) 224-4521
Local Offices
Phoenix, AZ: tel: 602-840-1891 fax: 602-840-4092
Tucson, AZ: tel: 520-575-8633 fax: 520-797-3232

President Trump’s tax reform plan highlights

Click to make it larger

This morning the Whitehouse announced President Trump’s tax plan for a 15% tax rate for corporations and businesses. This is how it would pan out...

*The corporate tax rate would be slashed from 35% to 15%―saving the six largest U.S. banks a combined $12 billion annually.

*Banks that stash huge profits offshore would be allowed to bring those profits home at a fraction of the price―saving the six largest U.S. banks an estimated $25 billion in taxes.

*Hedge fund managers and Wall Street CEOs would see a two-thirds cut in their individual tax rates―equaling a $1.5 trillion tax giveaway mostly to Wall Street billionaires and the richest 1 percent.

- compiled by Daily Kos

They announced that they would be simplifying tax forms. The only deductibles would be mortgage interest and charitable contributions. 

Nina Ozlu Tunceli of the Arts Action Fund wrote:

This afternoon, the White House released highlights of President Trump’s tax reform plan (see above). The proposal would reduce tax rates on individuals and businesses. It would also double the standard deduction for individual taxpayers, which would reduce the number of people who itemize their deductions. The plan also states that it would close many of the deductions available to itemizers, except for the home mortgage interest deduction and the charitable deduction. Above is a copy of the plan’s summary that was passed out at the White House briefing today.

More details about the plan will continue to evolve along with Congressional proposals for tax reform. While the charitable deduction is preserved in the current proposal, its impact could actually be weakened by the fact that many middle-class taxpayers would no longer be able to itemize their deductions, like charitable contributions, because of the larger standard deduction. While the standard deduction assumes that taxpayers make charitable contributions, there is no specific incentive nor requirement to prove charitable donations were made.

To get the latest on other tax proposals and their impact, as well as Americans for the Arts “Statement on Tax Reform and the Charitable Contribution Deduction,” please visit the Arts Mobilization 
Center.

Watch The Young Turks thoughts here.

Read former secretary of labor Robert Reich's thoughts here.