It’s only two weeks since Republicans narrowly avoided a national default crisis by passing the Fiscal Responsibility Act, and they are already doing all they can to back away from any semblance of fiscal restraint. Instead, the House GOP is opting to go full speed ahead with their tax giveaway agenda for the rich and corporations while they keep insisting that Congress must cut spending on healthcare, education, nutrition and public safety.
This week, they are advancing their American Families and Jobs Act, which does anything but benefit families or create better jobs. The package is a buffet of bad tax ideas that incudes everything from retroactive tax breaks for big corporations to souped up loopholes that will enable the super wealthy to hold onto more of their money instead of paying their fair share of taxes like the rest of us. The richest 20% of households and foreign investors will be the big winners if this legislation becomes law. The top 1 percent alone would receive $28.4 billion in tax breaks. Meanwhile, the rest of us will get big cuts in services and benefits that affect housing, schools, energy costs, and much more.
Corporations, including price-gouging prescription drug corporations, oil and gas firms, manufacturers, and online retailers who made record profits during the pandemic already got a huge reduction in their taxes under the 2017 Trump tax law. They would also see big rewards under this proposal which doubles down on loopholes and incentives that encourage corporations to move jobs, profits, and resources outside the United States.
These tax breaks and loopholes for the rich and corporations aren’t free: they’ll cost the rest of us.
Currently, the GOP proposes to offset the cost of these lavish giveaways by rolling back tax credits that passed last year to help families switch to climate friendly energy sources like wind or solar and to purchase electric vehicles that cut down on pollution and reduce reliance on gas.
Ironically, Republicans introduced their bills on a day when the smoke from Canadian wildfires was creating hazardous conditions for millions in the United States. Every year, we are more and more at the mercy of episodic climate disasters like virulent hurricanes, tornadoes, extreme heat, wildfires, and unpredictable weather that is driving up food costs and putting housing at risk. Although climate change has terrible consequences for health outcomes, Republicans are proposing to both roll back clean energy resources and to cut healthcare–all so they can double down on tax breaks for the rich.
Making this package permanent would cost $1 trillion over the next ten years. That $1 trillion is partially on top of the $3.5 trillion cost of extending the Trump cuts which is the ultimate goal for the GOP. Together, the combined cost for the GOP’s tax breaks for the rich agenda could be over $4 trillion—all heavily tilted toward the ultra-wealthy, billion-dollar corporations, and foreign investors.
More money for the rich takes money from services that help everyone else.
Over a million people have already been dropped from Medicaid this year and millions more are expected to also lose coverage, but the current GOP leaders in Congress are oblivious as they scheme to give their wealthy donors more tax breaks. Nor are they worried about the growing hunger that millions of families face as they have lost food stamps at a time when the price of food has continued to escalate. For instance, egg prices have increased 70% in the last year and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The cost of everything from housing to prescription medicines continues to rise while Republicans in charge of the U.S. House of Representatives continue to press for more cuts in services that help people make ends meet.
Constituents everywhere should contact their lawmakers as soon as possible and urge them to reject this legislation that takes us all backward to give a boost to the people who least need it–America’s richest households and Wall Street corporations raking in big profits. Instead of increasing the deficit and draining the budget to provide big giveaways to the wealthy, Congress should be taxing the rich and corporations fairly so that they contribute to investments in education, health, safety and nutrition and that create opportunity for everyone to prosper.
