'The Next Big Fight Begins': Groups Mobilize to Stop 'Grotesque' GOP Tax Cuts

Following the Senate Republicans' vote late Thursday to approve a budget resolution that paves the way for massive tax cuts for the wealthy and devastating cuts to the social safety net, MoveOn.org warned in an email to supporters that the fight to stop the "grotesque" GOP budget will be "even harder" than the battle against Trumpcare and urged Americans to begin mobilizing in opposition.

"Are we a democracy, with government by, of, and for the people? Or are we an oligarchy, ruled by a tiny, self-serving elite?"
—MoveOn.orgThe Senate's approval of the Republican budget "is the starting gun for what might be the most consequential legislative fight of the Trump era: the looting of the U.S. treasury to reward billionaire GOP donors and mega-corporations, at the expense of the rest of us," MoveOn noted.

The group went on to caution Americans against becoming distracted by the "constant barrage of other news" and allowing the GOP's tax plan to fly under the radar.

"The public's reaction at that moment will be critical. Donald Trump and his Republican pals will be in turbo spin mode, lying about who would benefit," MoveOn noted. "We can't let them get away with this. If enough of us raise our voices, together—with phone calls, protests, social media posts, letters to the editor—we can break through and make sure that the public learns what's really in the GOP bill and how it will tear at communities and hurt families around the country."

MoveOn will hardly be alone in its mobilization against the GOP's "horrific" scheme to cut over a trillion dollars from life-saving safety net programs in order to deliver enormous tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans—including President Donald Trump and his family.

"The public's reaction at that moment will be critical. Donald Trump and his Republican pals will be in turbo spin mode, lying about who would benefit."The group's letter highlights two coalitions that will be key players in the fight ahead: Not One Penny and Americans for Tax Fairness. Together, these organizations plan to "partner on days of action, coordinate floods of calls to Congress, and use creative ways to channel and dramatize the public's opposition to a bill that would make an already-rigged economy much more rigged in favor of the already best-off."

As Common Dreams has reported, Trump and his allies have continued peddling the lie that their tax cuts are primarily geared toward the middle class, and that any benefits accrued by the rich are incidental. But analysis after analysis has shown that the rich will be the primary beneficiaries of the plan: the top one percent will see 80 percent of the benefits by 2027, according to the non-partisan Tax Policy Center.

"The fight over the GOP tax bill is ultimately a fight about the moral character of our country," MoveOn concluded. "Are we a democracy, with government by, of, and for the people? Or are we an oligarchy, ruled by a tiny, self-serving elite?"