At a time when our country needs real investments in infrastructure, education and public services, congressional leaders are doubling down on tax cuts for the rich.
The U.S. House has voted to approve a bill that offers a new round of tax cuts for the richest 1 percent of Americans. Just over a month before the midterm elections, Republicans seem eager to give back to their campaign donors.
Although the Senate is unlikely to take up this bill anytime soon, the move reveals what anti-worker politicians have planned for the long haul. The tax bill would cost up to $3 trillion over 10 years, on top of the nearly $2 trillion already spent on the first round of tax cuts. To pay for it, congressional leaders are bound to trot out their radical agenda of demanding deep cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and public services like education.
In fact, it’s an agenda they are already trying to impose. Just weeks after the first tax cuts were enacted at the end of 2017, President Donald Trump proposed a budget that slashed $1.3 trillion from those safety net programs as well as from the Affordable Care Act. The excuse was to shrink the deficit, but it’s clear from this new tax cut bill that congressional leaders care very little about the deficit.
The rich don’t need more tax cuts. The richest 1 percent are already getting 83 percent of the tax cuts from Trump’s 2017 law. The wealthiest 20 percent would get 65 percent of the tax cuts from the new bill, which is essentially a new set of handouts for the wealthy at the expense of working families.
How is that fair?
Congress should fix the rigged tax system that favors the wealthy and the powerful. The rich and corporations should pay their fair share of taxes.
Only by making the rich pay their fair share can we protect critical priorities like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, education, infrastructure and public services. Only by doing so can we invest in our families and communities; make health care more affordable, not less; and help families achieve a secure retirement.
We need to rewrite the rules to make the economy and the tax system work for working families, not just the powerful and privileged. We don’t need any more tax cuts for the rich and the powerful from this or any other Congress.
