Issue: Yesterday, the House passed the #TrumpTaxScam. The bill now moves on to the Senate where, somehow, the Republicans have made the bill even worse by including a repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK), made the intent clear when asked by a reporter if the mandate’s repeal would be a “death blow” to the Affordable Care Act. Inhofe said, “I hope so.”
Even without repeal of the mandate, the proposals are more of a tax cut to the wealthy than a revision/simplification of our Tax Code. And this will hurt the middle class. Period. We cannot let this legislation come together as law. Every MoC needs to hear your demand that they vote no on this tax scam. We defeated TrumpCare with massive constituent power. Defeating the current legislation will take the same level of effort, and the stakes are just as high. Time is of the essence: The Senate wants to pass its legislation before Thanksgiving, and Trump wants a bill on his desk by the end of the year
Action: Call our MoC’s now and tell them: no tax cuts for the wealthy at the expense of everyone else. We recommend calling their offices both here in South Carolina and in Washington, DC. And please also mention that you are part of the Sea Islands Action Network and that you represent people with voting power!
For contact information for Senators Graham and Scott and for Representative Sanford click here.
Talking Points: For a suggested script, please see below.
Caller: Hello! My name is [NAME] and I’m calling from [part of state]. I’m calling to let [Congressman /Senator] know that I strongly oppose the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This tax bill is a scam that will give massive cuts to the wealthy, paid for by leaving tens of thousands of people in South Carolina uninsured, raising premiums, and raising taxes on middle-class families.
Staffer: The Congressman/Senator is in favor of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. He thinks it is important that we reform our broken, complex tax code so that middle-class families can benefit.
Caller: This tax bill won’t help middle-class families get ahead. Every single provision intended to help the middle class expires, but the corporate tax cuts are forever. Even worse, the CBO estimates that health insurance premiums will increase 10% more per year than they would without this bill and we know 13 million more people will be uninsured! And this will add to the deficit; we all know that our country cannot make up massive tax breaks with assumed growth; this has been tried before and does not work. Corporations will merely keep their windfall; not spend it. Corporations are already sitting on huge piles of cash. Why do they need more?
Staffer: I’ll pass your thoughts along to the Congressman/Senator.
Caller: Yes please do, and please take down my contact information so you can let me know what he decides to do.
Background: Both the House and Senate bills would give massive tax cuts to the wealthy. They are designed that way: they lower the tax rate for wealthy individuals and phase out or outright repeal other provisions, like the estate tax and the alternative minimum tax. That only benefits the wealthy because those taxes only affect the wealthy—and there’s nothing that benefits the middle class that isn’t wiped out by some other change these bills make. And to add insult to injury, in order to “make the numbers look better” the individual tax cuts designed to lure constituents to support these bills will be phased out in 2025, while the corporate/business cuts will be permanent. In addition, the proposed limits on deductions for state taxes will hurt South Carolinians. Not only will we see limits on the tax deductibility for our real estate taxes, but deductions for our state taxes (which are relatively high – as high as many Northeastern states) will also be limited. And finally, the Senate bill includes repeal of the health care mandate, meaning that millions of healthy people will be able to opt out of mandatory coverage, leaving the more elderly, sickly and poor people with less systemic support.
Now that Republicans have reported their bill out of committee, their plan is to continue using the same secretive, partisan process they tried (and failed) to use for health care. That means they’ll use “reconciliation” to pass this tax scam through the Senate with only 51 votes.
For further information:
https://www.trumptaxscam.org
Sea Islands Action Network 