SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
People wear medical masks amid the coronavirus outbreak, walking around the streets of New York on January 30, 2020. (Photo: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Denouncing Trump's Wealthy-Favoring Plan, Progressive Groups Demand Lawmakers Draft Just Economic Coronavirus Response
Instead of payroll tax cuts, groups call for measures including boosted investment in safety net programs and guaranteed paid sick leave.
Mar 11, 2020
Over a dozen progressive groups on Wednesday called on federal lawmakers to develop a speedy response to the economic impacts of the coronavirus outbreak--but urged Congress to the solution centers the needs of those most affected by the crisis and not those of the wealthy.
The call was issued in a letter to members of Congress from 13 groups including AFL-CIO, Economic Policy Institute, and Public Citizen. It came a day after the Trump administration floated the idea of cutting the payroll tax, the primary funding mechanism for Social Security, as a strategy to counteract the economic impact of the pandemic and just before Senate Republicans blocked the advancement of legislation that would have guaranteed paid leave amid the outbreak.
Payroll tax cuts as well as "corporate tax cuts and other tax-law changes (such as indexing capital gains) that primarily benefit the wealthy, who are most insulated from the crisis, should be avoided," wrote the groups, calling such measures "undesirable tax strategies" that are unwise and unfair.
The "payroll tax cuts provide the largest weekly payout to those who least need them and are least likely to spend them," the groups explained, while "workers laid off and those unable to find employment due to the Covid-19 emergency would of course get nothing at all."
According to the groups, better approaches include cash payments to households, ramping up investment in safety net programs including Medicare "to better treat the disease and relieve the financial strain on families and local governments of greater healthcare costs," and federal coverage of "all related costs of the public health emergency, such as increased healthcare spending, public education campaigns, additional funds to administer Unemployment Insurance benefits, and economic support of businesses and citizens."
An appropriate response plan would help address the economic and societal impacts of not just the novel coronavirus but also future public health emergencies that may be in store in the future.
"Other short and long-term reforms that will better prepare us for the next health emergency include guaranteed paid sick leave to slow the spread of infection; universal healthcare so that the sick can afford to seek treatment before they get sicker; and greater investment in public health agencies to more quickly find vaccines and cures," said the groups.
The president's proposal to slash the payroll tax has already drawn rebuke from others this week, including Social Security Works.
" Donald Trump is using the coronavirus crisis as an excuse to propose a reduction in payroll contributions," the group said Tuesday. "This is a Trojan Horse attack on our Social Security system, which will do nothing to meaningfully address the crisis at hand."
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), in a Wednesday tweet, gave a similar assessment.
" Donald Trump is trying to use a global pandemic to give a windfall to corporate America and pay for it by raiding your hard-earned Social Security and Medicare," he said.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Over a dozen progressive groups on Wednesday called on federal lawmakers to develop a speedy response to the economic impacts of the coronavirus outbreak--but urged Congress to the solution centers the needs of those most affected by the crisis and not those of the wealthy.
The call was issued in a letter to members of Congress from 13 groups including AFL-CIO, Economic Policy Institute, and Public Citizen. It came a day after the Trump administration floated the idea of cutting the payroll tax, the primary funding mechanism for Social Security, as a strategy to counteract the economic impact of the pandemic and just before Senate Republicans blocked the advancement of legislation that would have guaranteed paid leave amid the outbreak.
Payroll tax cuts as well as "corporate tax cuts and other tax-law changes (such as indexing capital gains) that primarily benefit the wealthy, who are most insulated from the crisis, should be avoided," wrote the groups, calling such measures "undesirable tax strategies" that are unwise and unfair.
The "payroll tax cuts provide the largest weekly payout to those who least need them and are least likely to spend them," the groups explained, while "workers laid off and those unable to find employment due to the Covid-19 emergency would of course get nothing at all."
According to the groups, better approaches include cash payments to households, ramping up investment in safety net programs including Medicare "to better treat the disease and relieve the financial strain on families and local governments of greater healthcare costs," and federal coverage of "all related costs of the public health emergency, such as increased healthcare spending, public education campaigns, additional funds to administer Unemployment Insurance benefits, and economic support of businesses and citizens."
An appropriate response plan would help address the economic and societal impacts of not just the novel coronavirus but also future public health emergencies that may be in store in the future.
"Other short and long-term reforms that will better prepare us for the next health emergency include guaranteed paid sick leave to slow the spread of infection; universal healthcare so that the sick can afford to seek treatment before they get sicker; and greater investment in public health agencies to more quickly find vaccines and cures," said the groups.
The president's proposal to slash the payroll tax has already drawn rebuke from others this week, including Social Security Works.
" Donald Trump is using the coronavirus crisis as an excuse to propose a reduction in payroll contributions," the group said Tuesday. "This is a Trojan Horse attack on our Social Security system, which will do nothing to meaningfully address the crisis at hand."
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), in a Wednesday tweet, gave a similar assessment.
" Donald Trump is trying to use a global pandemic to give a windfall to corporate America and pay for it by raiding your hard-earned Social Security and Medicare," he said.
Over a dozen progressive groups on Wednesday called on federal lawmakers to develop a speedy response to the economic impacts of the coronavirus outbreak--but urged Congress to the solution centers the needs of those most affected by the crisis and not those of the wealthy.
The call was issued in a letter to members of Congress from 13 groups including AFL-CIO, Economic Policy Institute, and Public Citizen. It came a day after the Trump administration floated the idea of cutting the payroll tax, the primary funding mechanism for Social Security, as a strategy to counteract the economic impact of the pandemic and just before Senate Republicans blocked the advancement of legislation that would have guaranteed paid leave amid the outbreak.
Payroll tax cuts as well as "corporate tax cuts and other tax-law changes (such as indexing capital gains) that primarily benefit the wealthy, who are most insulated from the crisis, should be avoided," wrote the groups, calling such measures "undesirable tax strategies" that are unwise and unfair.
The "payroll tax cuts provide the largest weekly payout to those who least need them and are least likely to spend them," the groups explained, while "workers laid off and those unable to find employment due to the Covid-19 emergency would of course get nothing at all."
According to the groups, better approaches include cash payments to households, ramping up investment in safety net programs including Medicare "to better treat the disease and relieve the financial strain on families and local governments of greater healthcare costs," and federal coverage of "all related costs of the public health emergency, such as increased healthcare spending, public education campaigns, additional funds to administer Unemployment Insurance benefits, and economic support of businesses and citizens."
An appropriate response plan would help address the economic and societal impacts of not just the novel coronavirus but also future public health emergencies that may be in store in the future.
"Other short and long-term reforms that will better prepare us for the next health emergency include guaranteed paid sick leave to slow the spread of infection; universal healthcare so that the sick can afford to seek treatment before they get sicker; and greater investment in public health agencies to more quickly find vaccines and cures," said the groups.
The president's proposal to slash the payroll tax has already drawn rebuke from others this week, including Social Security Works.
" Donald Trump is using the coronavirus crisis as an excuse to propose a reduction in payroll contributions," the group said Tuesday. "This is a Trojan Horse attack on our Social Security system, which will do nothing to meaningfully address the crisis at hand."
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), in a Wednesday tweet, gave a similar assessment.
" Donald Trump is trying to use a global pandemic to give a windfall to corporate America and pay for it by raiding your hard-earned Social Security and Medicare," he said.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.