Battle Lines Drawn as GOP Moves Closer to 'Greatest Transfer of Wealth to the Super-Rich in Modern American History'

With their passage of a deeply unpopular $1.5 trillion tax cut bill on Thursday, House Republicans did their part in "paving the way for the greatest transfer of wealth from regular people to the super-rich in modern American history,"--a move that sparked a flood of outrage from progressive activists and lawmakers who vowed to mobilize and do everything in their power to "kill the bill."

"The grassroots resistance they're about to experience will be just as intense as the tidal wave of opposition that repeatedly stopped the zombie Trumpcare bill."
--Murshed Zaheed, CREDO"If we are going to stop Republicans from taking healthcare from millions and slashing Medicare to give tax cuts to the wealthy and large corporations, now is the time to stand up and fight back," said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in a call to action that was echoed by many of the progressive groups that played a significant role in the fight against Trumpcare.

Now that the House bill has passed, "the fight now turns to the Senate, where the Trump tax scam has always faced much tougher odds," noted CREDO political director Murshed Zaheed said in a statement.

As Common Dreams reported on Tuesday, Senate Republicans crammed a provision into their own tax bill that would strip healthcare from 13 million Americans--a fact opposition groups have used in recent days in an effort to galvanize grassroots forces.

"It is no surprise that Trump's lapdogs in the Senate want to use the Trump tax scam to try to gut healthcare for millions of Americans," Zaheed said, "but the grassroots resistance they're about to experience will be just as intense as the tidal wave of opposition that repeatedly stopped the zombie Trumpcare bill. If the Senate manages to pass the Trump tax scam despite massive public opposition, we suspect many senators will come to regret it next year."

Just ahead of the House vote on Thursday, the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) released an analysis that dealt yet another blow to the GOP's insistence that their plan is primarily focused on providing relief to middle- and working-class Americans.

The Senate GOP plan--expected to hit the floor for a vote before Thanksgiving next week--will raise taxes on low-income Americans beginning in 2021, JCT found. More broadly, the Senate plan would sharply hike taxes on millions of families that earn less than $75,000 a year beginning in 2027.

Citing these numbers, the Washington Post's Paul Waldman wrote, "If you're one of those white working-class voters who propelled Donald Trump into the presidency and gave Republicans total control of Washington, the GOP has a message for you: Sucker!"

By contrast, the wealthiest Americans--including President Donald Trump and his family--stand to gain massively from both the House and Senate plans. According to an NBC analysis published Thursday, Trump and his heirs would save more than a billion dollars if the House measure became law.

"The tax plan passed today by the House of Representatives is a flat giveaway to America's richest households and corporations," argued Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute in a statement. "Most of the same people who cast this vote to deprive the government of tax revenue will now cynically pivot and start wringing their hands about the federal budget deficit, arguing that vital programs like Medicare and Medicaid must be slashed."

"Disgusting," concluded Fight for $15 on Twitter, "but the fight isn't over. This is one of the worst pieces of legislation in history. Call your Senators and tell them to vote NO!"