CWA: Working Families Will Pay for Tax Cuts for Corporations and the 1 Percent

Statement by CWA President Chris Shelton on the Republican tax plan passed today by the House of Representatives:

Today the House voted to cut taxes for corporations and the 1 percent and make working families pay.

By supporting this plan, House Republicans finally abandoned the pretense that their tax plan will help middle class families. According to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, in just a few years, millions of working and middle income families -- earning $10,000 to $75,000 -- will be paying higher taxes.Many families will see their taxes increase immediately.

Across the board, members of my union and middle class families will be hurt by this plan, whether by the loss of the medical expense deduction, new taxes imposed on education benefits, the inability to deduct interest on student loans, the loss of the state and local tax deduction, or the forced budget cuts to Medicare and other critical programs.

In the Senate plan, all the changes that could help middle income and working families are temporary. That would result in as many as 47 million middle income families paying higher taxes in just a few years.

The tax cuts for corporations, however, are permanent. These corporate tax cuts are being proposed at a time of unprecedented corporate profits, and this tax plan gives corporations new incentives to send jobs overseas.

The news gets worse. The Republican $1.4 trillion tax cut plan will trigger mandatory budget cuts in Medicare of $25 billion, and similar cuts in all the programs that working and middle income families depend on. It also would strip health care coverage from 13 million working people.

Congress had the opportunity to simplify the tax code and reduce rates while providing incentives for corporations to keep good jobs in the U.S. Instead, Republicans have designed a tax plan that gives even more to those who have the most.

Working people are saying no to this outrageous money grab by and for the wealthy. Members of Congress will keep hearing from us until they get the message and vote no on this legislation.