April, 17 2018, 12:00am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Jack Pfeiffer, 202-641-8574
jpfeiffer@americansfortaxfairness.org                 Â
Morgan Williams Grogan, 202-836-9890
morgan.williams@berlinrosen.com
Americans' Health Care And Public Services At Risk From Trump Tax & Budget Cuts, New Report Warns
Trump/GOP Tax breaks for wealthy, Rx and insurance companies, and Trump budget show grim future of drastic health care and other service cuts for working families.
WASHINGTON
This week in communities across the country advocates are holding events to educate the public about the harmful effects of the new tax law. Advocates at the events are releasing a new report from Americans for Tax Fairness and Health Care for America Now that shows how much the tax cuts in each state favor the wealthy and prescription drug companies and health insurers, and how the $1.5 trillion hole the Trump-GOP tax law blows in the national debt jeopardizes funding for Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, education and more in each state. The national report is here and state reports are here.
"America's working families are, as usual, getting the short end of the stick from the new Trump-GOP tax law. Most of the tax cuts benefit the wealthy and big corporations, which shows the power of special-interest lobbyists in Washington," said Frank Clemente, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness. "The biggest threat for working families is how the tax law puts Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security and education at risk because it blows a nearly $2 trillion hole in the national debt. This report documents those effects based on President Trump's proposed budget for next year. Tax reform should have helped working families get ahead, not tilted the playing field further in favor of the wealthy and well-connected."
"Trump and his Republican allies are playing politics with the health and the lives of millions of Americans," said Health Care for America Now Co-Directors Ethan Rome and Margarida Jorge. "The new tax law hands tens of billions of dollars in tax savings to prescription drug companies and health insurers while repealing a key part of the Affordable Care Act that results in higher premiums for American families and 13 million losing coverage. Trump and the Republican Congress need to know that American voters are not going to take this lying down."
National Report Executive Summary:
On Tax Day 2018, health care and other vital public services are much less secure for America's working families due to $1.5 trillion in tax cuts enacted late last year by President Trump and the Republican Congress.
- The tax cuts take revenue out of the federal budget that could be used for public services and investments and divert most of it to the richest households and largest corporations. When the new tax law is fully phased in, 83% of the tax cuts will go to the wealthiest 1%.
- Moreover, these tax cuts will explode the national debt and thereby endanger future funding for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other public services working families rely on.
The Trump-GOP tax cuts put the interests of the wealthy and corporations over those of working families and local communities:
- The richest 1% of taxpayers will get 27% of the nation's total tax cut. The bottom 60% of taxpayers will get just 13% of the tax cuts.
- The richest 1% will get a tax cut of $55,190, on average. The bottom 60% will get a tax cut of $440--about a dollar a day.
Prescription drug companies and health insurers will reap tens of billions of dollars in tax savings under the new tax law, but few are sharing the wealth with their workers, and none are planning to cut their drug or insurance prices:
- Among the top 10 U.S. drug companies just Merck and Pfizer have said that they will share any of their new tax cuts with employees in the form of one-time bonuses, wage increases or fringe benefits.
- Of the 10 biggest health insurance and managed-care companies just three--Anthem, Cigna and Humana--have said that they will share any of their new tax cuts with employees.
To pay for their $1.5 trillion in tax cuts that mostly benefit the wealthy and corporations, President Trump and the GOP Congress have targeted vital public programs, particularly health care, for service reductions:
- The new tax law reaps $314 billion in savings by repealing a key part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), resulting in higher premiums and millions losing coverage. By eliminating the requirement that those who can afford it buy health insurance, the GOP will be responsible for 13 million Americans losing coverage by 2027 and insurance premiums spiking by 10%, or $2,000, on average in 2019 for the remaining insured who buy policies on the individual market.
- In his budget for next year, Trump proposed more than $1.7 trillion in spending cuts. This would slash services that working families rely on:
- Health care: The Trump budget proposes repealing the ACA, which would cause 32 million Americans to lose their health coverage by 2027.
- Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps): Trump's cuts to food stamps could cost more than 5 million households their benefits in 2019 and 5.5 million households could lose benefits by 2028.
- Disability programs: Trump cuts a total of $72 billion over 10 years from Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
- Infrastructure: Trump proposes cuts of $240 billion over 10 years to infrastructure programs. This includes a $99 billion cut to highway funding and $39 billion cut to transit funding between 2021 and 2027. These cuts could mean the loss of more than 1.7 million "job years" (one job for one year) over this time.
- Education: Trump's budget eliminates federally-subsidized student loans, which could affect many of the 5.6 million college students who received $20.9 billion in aid last year.
- Affordable housing: More than 198,600 families could next year lose the housing vouchers that help them afford rent in private housing. $3.1 billion could be cut in 2019 from a fund to repair and upgrade public housing facilities. The HOME Investment Partnerships Program would be eliminated, costing $958 million that helps provide affordable rental housing and homeownership opportunities. The Community Development Block Grant program would be zeroed out, cutting $3 billion that helps localities pay for a variety of community and economic development services, including affordable housing.
The Congressional Budget Office, a non-partisan scorekeeper, now reports that the tax cuts will add $1.9 trillion to the deficit--one-quarter more than the $1.5 trillion estimated when the tax law was approved in December. This is close to the $1.7 trillion cut to Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security disability programs, SNAP and more proposed in Trump's budget.
Top Six States with Most Skewed Distribution of Trump-GOP Tax Cuts, Effects of Individual Mandate Repeal on Insured Population and Premiums, and Effects of Overall ACA Repeal
Rank | State | Top 1% Share of Trump Tax Cuts | Bottom 60% Share of Trump Tax Cuts | Value of Top 1% Tax Cut | Value of Bottom 60% tax Cut | # Losing Health Care from Individual Mandate Repeal (2025) | Avg Premium Increase from Individual Mandate Repeal (2019) | # Losing Health Care from ACA Repeal |
1 | WY | 42% | 9% | $108,880 | $420 | 22,000 | $3,460 | 51,000 |
2 | NV | 41% | 11% | $104,700 | $500 | 112,000 | $1,730 | 243,000 |
3 | FL | 40% | 8% | $98,480 | $320 | 873,000 | $1,860 | 3,217,000 |
4 | SD | 39% | 11% | $88,650 | $440 | 34,000 | $2,080 | 70,000 |
5 | GA | 34% | 12% | $64,620 | $370 | 392,000 | $1,930 | 1,192,000 |
5 | TX | 34% | 12% | $80,350 | $460 | 1,036,000 | $1,730 | 2,759,000 |
Click Here for full data set on all 50 states with impacts of TCJA and Trump and GOP budget cuts.
Americans for Tax Fairness is a diverse coalition of 425 national and state endorsing organizations that collectively represent tens of millions of members. The organization was formed on the belief that the country needs comprehensive, progressive tax reform that results in greater revenue to meet our growing needs. ATF is playing a central role in Washington and in the states on federal tax-reform issues.
Health Care for America Now (HCAN) is the national grassroots coalition of labor unions, community groups, policy advocates and online organizations that from 2008-2013 ran a five-and-a-half-year campaign to pass, protect, and promote the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) is a diverse campaign of more than 420 national, state and local endorsing organizations united in support of a fair tax system that works for all Americans. It has come together based on the belief that the country needs comprehensive, progressive tax reform that results in greater revenue to meet our growing needs. This requires big corporations and the wealthy to pay their fair share in taxes, not to live by their own set of rules.
(202) 506-3264LATEST NEWS
'Racist POS' Mike Collins Cheers Video of Ole Miss Mob Attack on Black Student
"This is not about Israel, Palestine, or Gaza. This is old-fashioned American racism and misogyny," said one observer. "These are the types of young white men who will grow up to be Republican governors, senators, and members of Congress."
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Republican Georgia Congressman Mike Collins came under fire Friday over a social media post applauding video of white University of Mississippi students racially abusing a Black woman participating in a campus protest for Palestine.
Collins posted the video—in which numerous people can be heard grunting like apes and one young man is seen jumping up and down like a monkey in front of the Black woman—with the caption, "Ole Miss taking care of business."
Collins—or whoever's in charge of his social media accounts—sparred with Black leaders who called out his racism. When former Democratic Ohio state senator Nina Turner said the video showed "anti-Blackness," the congressman shot back, "*Anti-terroristness."
When Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) accused Collins of "fueling white supremacy," the Republican retorted, "Don't take down any more signs at our workplace, please" along with a photo of the Democrat triggering a fire alarm in a House of Representatives office building last year.
Around 30 protesters were rallying in support of Palestine in the Ole Miss Quad when counter-protesters gathered near the demonstrators. Some booed and chanted, "We want Trump!" Others singled out the Black woman—who NBC Newssaid is a graduate student at the school—chanting "Lizzo, Lizzo, Lizzo," "take a shower," "your nose is huge," "fuck you, fat bitch," and "lock her up!"
The counter-protesters also sang the "Star-Spangled Banner." Republican Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves shared a separate video of the singing students on social media, captioning his post, "Warms my heart" and "I love Mississippi."
No racist language can be heard in the video shared by Reeves.
The Daily Mississippianreports the demonstrators were escorted off the Quad after counter-protesters threw water bottles at them.
Collins is no stranger to accusations of racism. Earlier this year, he suggested murdering migrants by throwing them from helicopters into the sea, in the manner of U.S.-backed South American dictators in the 1970s.
He also
introduced the Restricting Administration Zealots from Obliging Raiders (RAZOR) Act, which would ban the federal government from removing or altering "any state-constructed barriers installed to mitigate illegal immigration," such as the razor buoys installed in the Rio Grande by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
Collins was also
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Ole Miss said Friday that "statements were made at the demonstration on our campus Thursday that were offensive and inappropriate."
"We cannot comment specifically about that video, but the university is looking into reports about specific actions," the school added. "Any actions that violate university policy will be met with appropriate action."
The Ole Miss incident comes amid rapidly spreading campus protests across the U.S. and around the world in response to Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza, which has killed, maimed, or left missing around 5% of the embattled strip's 2.3 million people, most of them civilians, while forcibly displacing nearly 9 in 10 people and driving hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation.
While numerous Ole Miss students said they did not understand what the pro-Palestine protesters hoped to accomplish, others voiced support for the demonstrators—and for Palestine.
"As we've seen throughout history, time and time again, the student movement is never wrong. Time and time again, anytime there's a student protest, and you're against it, you're on the wrong side of history," Xavier Black, a junior majoring in international studies, told
The Daily Mississippian. "So I would like to be on the right side."
One Palestinian American Ole Miss student was teary-eyed as she thanked the protesters.
"Hey guys, I know that what just happened was really intimidating, and it was a little scary, but I just want to say I'm so proud of you guys," the student—who gave only her first name, Jana—said,
according toMississippi Today. "This wasn't going to happen... without all of you guys. Palestine was being heard. And I just want to thank you guys so much."
"I know that was such a big risk, but this is the most that people have ever thought for us, so don't give up," she added. "I know that was really hard, but we need to keep fighting. This was just the start of it, okay?"
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Nearly two weeks after the British Conservative Party pushed through a proposal to deport asylum-seekers to Rwanda in what one lawyer called "performative cruelty" in the name of winning the general election expected later this year, the local election results announced throughout the day Friday made increasingly clear the ploy hadn't worked.
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Labour leader Keir Starmer said the results represented a decisive call for "change" from British voters, particularly applauding the results of a special election in Blackpool South, where Labour candidate Chris Webb won nearly 11,000 votes while Conservative David Jones came in a distant second with just over 3,200.
Webb's victory represented a 26% swing in favor of Labour.
"That's the fifth swing of over 20% to the Labour party in by elections in recent months and years. It is a fantastic result, a really first class result," Starmer said. "And here in Blackpool, a message has been sent directly to the prime minister, because this was a parliamentary vote, to say we're fed up with your decline, your chaos... your division and we want change. We want to go forward with Labour."
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The Conservatives also lost ground in the northern town of Hartlepool, where they lost six council seats. The region swung toward the Tories after the party led the push for Brexit, the U.K.'s exit from the European Union.
A similar result was recorded in York and North Yorkshire, which includes the area Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak represented as a member of Parliament.
"Yorkshire voted for Brexit in 2016," wrote William Booth, London bureau chief for The Washington Post. "But long gone are the days when many Conservatives want to stand before the voters and extol the advantages of leaving the European Union, which has been, in most sectors, a flop."
Sunak, added Booth, is "betting that immigration is still an issue with resonance and has promised to 'stop the boats,' the daily spectacle of desperate migrants risking their lives on rubber rafts trying to cross the English Channel. Sunak's government plans to fly asylum seekers arriving by boat to Rwanda. No flights have taken off yet. But the Home Office last week began a self-proclaimed 'large scale' operation to detain asylum seekers destined for removal."
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"This 15 years of lost wage growth is estimated by the Resolution Foundation thinktank to have cost the average work ÂŁ10,700 ($13,426) a year," reported the newspaper in March. "The performance has been ranked as the worst period for pay growth since the Napoleonic wars ended in 1815."
Analysts noted one setback for Labour in Oldham, where the party lost some seats in areas with large numbers of Muslim voters to independent candidates, costing it overall control of the council.
Arooj Shah, the Labour leader of the Oldham Council, told the BBC that the party's support for Israel in its bombardment of Gaza was behind its losses.
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According to an unnamed U.S. official and two other people familiar with the plan, Israel would "move people out of Rafah, the main humanitarian hub in the enclave, to al-Mawasi, a small strip of land on the southern Gaza coast." Politico also obtained a copy of a map containing some details of the plan.
The Wall Street Journalreported Friday that Israel has given Hamas until next week to submit to a cease-fire proposal or face an invasion of Rafah.
"Such an invasion could lead to horrific massacres and raise scenarios of a second Nakba," the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights said recently. "After 200 days of horrific genocidal acts in Gaza, the real objectives of the attack are the continuation of the 76-year-long ongoing Nakba and the erasure and genocidal destruction of the Palestinian people in Gaza. Israel is laying the groundwork to fulfill its settler-colonial plan of colonizing Gaza."
Human rights defenders have warned that Israel may ultimately seek to ethnically cleanse as many Palestinians as possible from Gaza.
The situation in Rafah is already dire. Water and other necessities are in desperately short supply. According to James Elder, the global spokesperson for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), there is approximately one toilet for every 850 people in Rafah and one shower for every 3,500 people.
On Friday, Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told reporters in Geneva that an Israeli ground invasion of Rafah would put hundreds of thousands of Palestinians "at imminent risk of death."
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Around 5% of Gazans have been killed, maimed, or left missing by Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza, according to a report published Wednesday by the U.N. Development Program and the U.N. Economic Commission for Western Asia. That's more than 120,000 people, the vast majority of whom are innocent civilians, according to Palestinian officials and international human rights groups.
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