Because 'Richest Americans Do Not Need Another Massive Tax Cut,' 776 Groups Urge Congress to Stop Tax Scam 2.0

"Congressional Republicans have one thing on their mind—how best to please their donors."

The richest Americans do not need another massive tax cut; they and America's corporations need to start paying their fair share, so we have the resources needed to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid and to invest in education, infrastructure and many more services working families and communities need to thrive,

With the Republican Party moving quickly to deliver yet another round of massive, deficit-exploding tax cuts to their wealthiest donors and constituents ahead of November's crucial midterm elections, 776 national and state groups--representing millions of Americans--sent a letter to members of Congress on Wednesday demanding that they oppose the GOP's newly introduced Tax Scam 2.0 and instead invest the $3 trillion experts say the plan could cost into infrastructure, healthcare, and education.

"You might think that the GOP tax scam's abysmal polling means it's a political disaster for Republicans. Nope! It's doing very well with its key objective: convincing its main beneficiaries, the conservative super-rich, to fund Republican campaigns."
--Ben Wikler, MoveOn.org
"The richest Americans do not need another massive tax cut; they and America's corporations need to start paying their fair share, so we have the resources needed to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid and to invest in education, infrastructure, and many more services working families and communities need to thrive," the groups wrote. "America cannot afford the Trump-GOP tax cuts benefiting the rich and corporations, and we sure cannot afford a Round 2 that puts the interests of the wealthy over everyone else."

Signed by AFL-CIO, Public Citizen, MoveOn.org, and hundreds of other prominent progressive organizations, the letter warns that by aggressively pursuing yet another round of massive tax cuts for the rich, Republicans are setting the stage for a future attempt to slash key safety net programs like Medicare and Social Security.

"The original Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) bestows most of its benefits on the wealthy and large corporations," the letter notes. "Its $1.9 trillion cost, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), will vastly enlarge the federal debt and be used as an excuse for conservatives to enact deep cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, education and other vital public services that tens of millions of people rely on--mostly seniors, children, women, and people with disabilities."

"Extending or expanding the law's existing provisions will likewise primarily enrich the already wealthy while further threatening essential services and investments," the groups conclude.

As Common Dreams reported on Tuesday, analysts have predicted that the trio of new bills introduced by House Republicans on Monday would--just like the GOP's first round of tax cuts--send the overwhelming majority of the benefits to the wealthiest Americans.

If passed, the House GOP's so-called "Tax Reform 2.0" would make the individual tax cuts under the current law permanent--a move that the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) estimated could cost nearly $3 trillion over ten years.

Republicans are plowing ahead with their second round of tax cuts even amid survey data showing that their initial $1.5 trillion tax plan is deeply unpopular among voters and has not provided a meaningful boost to most workers' paychecks.

But as MoveOn.org's Washington director Ben Wikler notes, the law was never designed to benefit middle and working class Americans, despite the GOP's repeated claims to the contrary.

"You might think that the GOP tax scam's abysmal polling means it's a political disaster for Republicans. Nope!" Wikler wrote on Twitter. "It's doing very well with its key objective: convincing its main beneficiaries, the conservative super-rich, to fund Republican campaigns."

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