TRUMP’S TAX SCAM: THIS WEEK’S CALLS TO ACTION

[Edited from the IndivisibleGuide]

Rep. Faso:
The budget resolution passed by the House–and which you voted for on October 5–is terrible. It cuts $1 trillion from Medicaid and $480 million from Medicare—all so you can give tax cuts to the rich and corporations. The Senate is working on their own version of the budget resolution that would add $1.5 trillion to the deficit to give tax cuts to the rich and corporations. You have always talked about the need for fiscal responsibility and you call yourself a fiscal conservative. Will you put your money where your mouth is and oppose any conference agreement on the budget resolution that adds to the deficit?

 

Sens. Schumer & Gillibrand:
Republicans will stop at nothing to jam the Trump Tax Scam through the Senate. It will be just like TrumpCare: secret negotiations and every procedural trick they can think of to pass it with speed and secrecy. One of the best things Democrats did during the TrumpCare fight to draw attention to the disaster of TrumpCare was withhold consent. Will you commit to me that you will use every procedural tool at your disposal—including withholding consent if necessary—to defeat the Trump Tax Scam?

 

Background:
Here’s the first thing to know: this is not going to be true tax reform. Calling it “tax reform” suggests they intend to close corporate loopholes or address the growing wealth inequality that the current tax code fuels. But that’s not what Republicans have in mind.

Instead, they want tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations paid for by adding $1.5 trillion to the deficit—which will force deep cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security down the road.

The entire tax plan is a scam—so make sure you call it that. Trump says it’s about the middle class and small business but the non-partisan analysis from Tax Policy Center and Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy shows something else: the vast majority of benefits flow to the wealthy and corporations. Our full explainer on tax cuts for the rich is here, and our explainer on corporate tax cuts is here, and our explainer on the process is here. But here are some highlights:

• It slashes the corporate tax rate, which is a giveaway to shareholders and CEOs that doesn’t actually benefit workers like Trump says it will

• It lowers the top tax rate for the wealthiest individuals and raises the bottom tax rate

• It repeals measures like the estate tax and the Alternative Minimum Tax,  which only benefits the wealthiest of the wealthiest Americans—including Donald Trump himself