Recording and resources that FCNL Legislative Director Amelia Kegan and Executive Secretary Diane Randall highlighted in their November 22 conference call on the tax reform bill speeding through Congress.
Key resources
- One-page ask sheet to drop by local congressional offices. Printable version is here.
- Online action - write your senators
- How will the Senate tax bill affect your state? (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)
Key points from the call
- The tax bill threatens our country’s fiscal future. It balloons deficits by at least $1.5 trillion, which will put enormous pressure on Congress to cut all the key priorities and programs we care about: Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP (food stamps), housing assistance, education, environmental protection, etc.
- The bill is extremely regressive, giving large tax cuts to big corporations and the wealthiest households at the expense of everyone else.
- The bill undermines the Affordable Care Act by repealing the individual health care mandate, leaving 13 million more people uninsured and increasing premiums for millions of Americans.
- Additionally, the bill threatens state budgets by repealing state and local tax deductions. This not only penalizes higher-tax states, but it puts states on course to cut services and push regressive tax hikes.
- It expands the Child Tax Credit for high-income families but leaves out millions of low-income kids. A single parent working minimum wage sees an additional $75 while a household with an income of $500,000 sees an additional $4,000 benefit.
- This bill is moving very fast. We expect a vote next week! It will only take 50 votes to pass.
- Every senator matters, but senators in these states need particularly to hear opposition:
- Tennessee (Sen. Corker)
- Oklahoma (Sen. Langford)
- Maine (Sen. Collins)
- Kansas (Sen. Moran)
- Arizona (Sens. Flake and McCain)
- Reps in New York, California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Illinois also particularly need to hear from their constituents.
- Tell Congress to oppose this bill. Instead of this rushed, regressive, and fiscally irresponsible bill, Congress should work on a bipartisan bill that doesn’t add to the deficit.
Additional resources
- Faith leader sign on letter - open for signatures, closes Tuesday Nov. 28.
- stoptrumptaxcuts.org (Americans for Tax Fairness)
- Senate tax bill skews to the top, hurts low- and middle-income Americans (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)
- Center for American Progress resources on budget and taxes
