August, 16 2017, 11:15am EDT

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Chris Fleming,Email:,chris@redhorsestrategies.com
ATF Launches New Campaign Showing The True Costs Of Trump's Tax Cuts For The Wealthy And Corporations
StopTrumpTaxCuts.org Will Show Visitors How Cuts to Healthcare, Education, and Other Priorities for Working Families Line Up Against Trump's Tax Cuts for the Wealthy and Corporations
WASHINGTON
Americans for Tax Fairness, a coalition of 425 endorsing groups united in support of a fair tax system, is launching a new campaign against Donald Trump's and Congressional Republicans' plans to slash taxes for the wealthy and corporations, which will threaten deep cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, public education and many more critical services.
The online hub of the campaign is www.StopTrumpTaxCuts.org, where visitors can see how Trump's proposed tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations would seriously harm working families.
For example:
- The $1.9 trillion in proposed cuts to Medicaid and other healthcare services in Trump's budget is similar in size to the $1.4 trillion to $2 trillion business tax cut Trump is proposing, which would benefit hedge fund managers and real estate developers like Trump.
- The $193 billion in cuts to nutrition assistance in the Trump budget is similar to the revenue lost from Trump's elimination of the tax on estates worth more than $5.5 million, which would cost $240 billion.
- A $72 billion cut in services for people with disabilities will pay for half of Trump's $150 billion tax cut on investment income for the wealthy.
The overall size of Trump's proposed budget cuts, $4.3 trillion, is remarkably similar to the cost of the tax cuts that Trump is proposing - between $3.5 trillion and $4.8 trillion. It's almost as if Trump had planned it that way!
"We can't afford tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations that are paid for by cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, public education and other services that working families rely on," said Frank Clemente, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness. "Side-by-side, there's no denying it: Trump's draconian cuts to services that will harm working families are intended to pay for his massive tax giveaways to big corporations and the wealthy. Helping the American people understand what's at stake is how we will win the tax fight."
StopTrumpTaxCuts.org is an unbranded campaign hub that will provide resources for the public and allied groups in their fight against Trump's tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. It will include materials for organizers to use at protests, rallies, and town halls and provide regular updates on grassroots events and highlights from those events. ATF is coordinating a broad coalition of organizations mobilizing in Washington, D.C. and at the grassroots to oppose Trump's tax giveaways.
Quotes from some of those coalition partners follow:
American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, Lee Saunders, International President: "We need a budget and tax policy that lifts up working people, not one that weakens vital services like Medicaid and Medicare, all to pay for massive tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy. President Trump and Members of Congress were elected to serve working people - people like nurses, firefighters, police officers and teachers who keep our communities healthy, safe and strong. We should put their priorities first, not the privileged and powerful."
AFL-CIO, William Samuel, Government Affairs Director: "President Trump and Republicans in Congress want us to believe our country is broke and we have no choice but to demand sacrifices from working people, but they want to waste trillions of dollars on tax giveaways for the wealthy and big corporations that send jobs offshore. We need a different approach that invests in good-paying jobs for working people in America and eliminates all tax incentives for corporations to send jobs offshore and stash their profits overseas."
Center for American Progress, Winnie Stachelberg, Executive Vice President: "The American people won't be taken in by this scam again. They know from experience under the Bush era that tax cuts for millionaires and corporations will not benefit the U.S. economy, jobs, or the middle class. It's frankly offensive that the Trump administration and Congressional Republican leaders continue to push this myth at a time when economic inequality and corporate profits are at historically high levels. Corporations and the wealthy already don't pay their fair share, and giving them even more tax cuts would further threaten our health care, housing, transportation and schools."
Coalition on Human Needs, Deborah Weinstein, Executive Director: "First, Trump tried to repeal health care for millions to pay for tax cuts for the rich and drug and insurance companies. Americans rejected that, but now Trump is back with something even worse: trillions in tax cuts for corporations and the rich paid for by taking away health care, food, housing, education, job training, and many other vital services from millions of Americans. Don't be fooled: this is a plan to make America weaker, poorer, and sicker, so the rich can get richer."
Daily Kos, Mara Schechter, Campaign Director: "The massive tax cuts for the top 1% and big corporations that Trump and Paul Ryan are proposing are an assault on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and so much more. Just as we did in opposing the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, Daily Kos will mobilize our millions of online supporters against this unprecedented transfer of wealth from working families to the wealthy few."
Economic Policy Institute, Larry Mishel, President: "President Trump and Republican leaders in Congress will try to sell their tax cuts for the rich and wealthy corporations as a magic elixir that will create jobs and grow the economy. But they will generate neither economic nor wage growth for the vast majority. Corporate profits are already near record highs and corporate taxes as a share of the economy at record lows. It's time they paid their fair share."
Indivisible Project, Angel Padilla, Policy Director: "Republicans think they can trick the American people into supporting their massive tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations by calling it 'tax reform' and using the vaguest terms possible to talk about what they're doing," said. "We know their game: this is nothing but a plan to cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations paid for by taking away Medicaid, Medicare, and other basic services. The American people didn't support tax cuts for the rich when they were in the Republican health care bill and they don't support them through this 'tax reform' charade either."
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Vanita Gupta, President and CEO: "StopTrumpTaxCuts.org will highlight who will benefit from the Trump tax cuts-- millionaires, billionaires, and wealthy corporations--and who will be hurt, which is the rest of us. By slashing assistance to the most vulnerable and by cutting crucial programs like Social Security Disability Insurance, Medicaid, and food assistance, Trump will subsidize his tax cuts. This website should help everyone see clearly what is at stake for them and their families in this tax and budget fight and what they can do to make their voices heard."
Mom'sRising.org, Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, CEO and Executive Director: "President Trump's plan to slash taxes on the wealthy and corporations would be a disaster for the country. It would wreak havoc on our economy and punish families that are already struggling to get by, redistributing wealth in ways that perpetuate and deepen inequities. This is not the right direction for our country. We need a plan that boosts our economy by investing in working families and strengthening programs like the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit, while at the same time investing in programs that boost health care, education, nutrition and safety. The Trump plan would threaten the wellbeing of women, communities of color, families, people who live in rural areas, and all those who struggle financially. Its enactment would create a crisis for our nation."
National Women's Law Center, Anna Chu, Vice President for Income Security and Education: "Millionaires, billionaires, and big corporations certainly don't need any more tax breaks. But that's exactly what the administration proposes. Instead, we must invest in women and families, work to secure higher wages that will put more money in the pockets of families, expand access to affordable health care, and provide services that are critical supports for people in need. Trump's misguided tax giveaway for the rich and corporations is the last thing America needs."
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
'Authoritarian Theater' Meets 'Pure F*cking Idiocracy' as Trump Promises White House UFC Match
"Americans, you won't have healthcare, Medicaid, public schools, nursing homes, rural hospitals, or SNAP," said one critic. "But, you'll get UFC fights on the White House lawn. America F-Yeah!"
Jul 05, 2025
Critics of President Donald Trump's announcement of a planned Ultimate Fighting Championship event on White House grounds to celebrate the United States Semiquincentennial next year took to social media Friday to call the proposal something "straight out of 'Idiocracy'"—the comedy cult classic about a dumbed-down 26th-century America—and condemn what one detractor called "authoritarian theater."
"Every one of our national park battlefields and historic sites are going to have special events in honor of America 250," Trump said at the Iowa State Fairgrounds Thursday. "We're going to have a UFC fight—think of this—on the grounds of the White House."
Yearning for a time when every new day isn't exponentially dumber than the day before.
[image or embed]
— Dave Vetter (@davidrvetter.bsky.social) July 4, 2025 at 2:57 AM
While Octagon aficionados cheered the prospect of a 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue fight card, many observers couldn't help but notice parallels with the plot of Mike Judge's 2006 film "Idiocracy," a satirical skewering of issues including the erosion of White House decorum in a future when IQs have plummeted and a sports drink corporation owns the country, whose voters elect Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Camacho, "five-time ultimate smackdown champion and porn superstar," as president.
"If anyone defends Trump saying there will be a UFC fight on the White House lawn never listen to them again," former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois wrote on the social media site X Friday, adding that Trump's announcement was like the "plot to 'Idiocracy' with an equally stupid-ass president."
Another X user fumed: "This is what happens when a failed empire hits rock bottom and throws a party about it. UFC fight on the White House lawn to celebrate 250 years of what used to be a country with brains. This ain't strength, this is pure fucking Idiocracy. Straight out of Rome before it burned, give the mob a fight and some burgers while the world collapses around them.
Yet another social media critic joked that "'Idiocracy' was actually a documentary from the future, sent back in time as a warning to us all."
Some critics pointed to the decadeslong business ties between Trump and UFC President and CEO Dana White, who has donated at least $1 million to Trump's campaign coffers.
Others noted the "bread and circuses" vibes of Trump's proposed event, which some called a cynical ploy meant to distract from the devastating impact of policies like Friday's signing of a multi-trillion-dollar tax cut that will overwhelmingly benefit the rich and corporations, while ballooning the deficit and leaving millions of Americans without desperately needed health insurance coverage and food assistance.
"Americans, you won't have healthcare, Medicaid, public schools, nursing homes, rural hospitals, or SNAP. But, you'll get UFC fights on the White House lawn," New York Times opinion contributor Wajahat Ali wrote on Bluesky. "America, F-YEAH!"
Writing for The Guardian Saturday, Karim Zidan asserted: "Donald Trump's UFC stunt is more than a circus. It's authoritarian theater."
"It carries shades of fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini, particularly its obsession with masculinity, spectacle, and nationalism—but with a modern, American twist," he wrote. "Fascist Italy used rallies, parades, and sports events to project strength and unity."
"Similarly, Trump has relied on the UFC to project his tough-guy image, and to celebrate his brand of nationalistic masculinity," Zidan continued. "From name-dropping champions who endorse him to suggesting a tournament that would pit UFC fighters against illegal migrants, Trump has repeatedly found ways to make UFC-style machismo a part of his political brand."
"There was once a time when the U.S. could point to the authoritarian pageantry of regimes like Mussolini's Italy and claim at least some moral distance. That line is no longer visible," he added. "What was once soft power borrowed from strongmen is now being proudly performed on America's own front lawn."
Keep ReadingShow Less
As Flood Deaths Rise, Texas Officials Blast Faulty Forecast by DOGE-Gutted National Weather Service
"Experts warned for months that drastic and sudden cuts at the National Weather Service by Trump could impair their forecasting ability and endanger lives during the storm season," said one critic.
Jul 05, 2025
As catastrophic flooding left scores of people dead and missing in Texas Hill Country and President Donald Trump celebrated signing legislation that will eviscerate every aspect of federal efforts to address the climate emergency, officials in the Lone Star State blasted the National Weather Service—one of many agencies gutted by the Department of Government Efficiency—for issuing faulty forecasts that some observers blamed for the flood's high death toll.
The Associated Press reported Saturday that flooding caused by a powerful storm killed at least 27 people, with dozens more—including as many as 25 girls from a summer camp along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County—missing after fast-moving floodwaters rose 26 feet (8 meters) in less than an hour before dawn on Friday, sweeping away people and pets along with homes, vehicles, farm and wild animals, and property.
"Everybody got the forecast from the National Weather Service... It did not predict the amount of rain that we saw."
"The camp was completely destroyed," Elinor Lester, 13, one of hundreds of campers at Camp Mystic, told the AP. "A helicopter landed and started taking people away. It was really scary."
Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said during a press conference in Kerrville late Friday that 24 people were confirmed dead, including children. Other officials said that 240 people had been rescued.
Although the National Weather Service on Thursday issued a broad flood watch for the area, Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd—noting that the NWS predicted 3-6 inches of rain for the Concho Valley and 4-8 inches for the Hill Country—told reporters during a press conference earlier Friday that "the amount of rain that fell in this specific location was never in any of those forecasts."
After media reports & experts warned for months that drastic & sudden cuts at the Nat Weather Service by Trump could impair their forecasting ability & endanger lives during the storm season, TX officials blame an inaccurate forecast by NWS for the deadly results of the flood.
[image or embed]
— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) July 5, 2025 at 3:19 AM
"Listen, everybody got the forecast from the National Weather Service," Kidd reiterated. "You all got it; you're all in media. You got that forecast. It did not predict the amount of rain that we saw."
Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice also said during the press conference that the storm "dumped more rain than what was forecasted" into two forks of the Guadalupe River.
Kerr County judge Rob Kelly told CBS News: "We had no reason to believe that this was gonna be anything like what's happened here. None whatsoever."
Since January, the NWS—a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—has reduced its workforce by nearly 600 people as a direct result of staffing cuts ordered by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, as part of Trump's mission to eviscerate numerous federal agencies.
This policy is in line with Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation-led blueprint for a far-right overhaul of the federal government that calls for "dismantling" NOAA. Trump has also called for the elimination of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, arguing that states should shoulder most of the burden of extreme weather preparation and response. Shutting down FEMA would require an act of Congress.
Many of the fired NWS staffers were specialized climate scientists and weather forecasters. At the time of the firings, Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, was among those who warned of the cuts' deadly consequences.
"People nationwide depend on NOAA for free, accurate forecasts, severe weather alerts, and emergency information," Huffman said. "Purging the government of scientists, experts, and career civil servants and slashing fundamental programs will cost lives."
Writing for the Texas Observer, Henry D. Jacoby—co-director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change—warned that "crucial data gathering systems are at risk."
"Federal ability to warn the public is being degraded," he added, "and it is a public service no state can replace."
On Friday, Trump put presidential pen to congressional Republicans' so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a $4 trillion tax and spending package that effectively erases the landmark climate and clean energy provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act signed by then-President Joe Biden in 2022.
As Inside Climate News noted of the new law:
It stomps out incentives for purchasing electric vehicles and efficient appliances. It phases out tax credits for wind and solar energy. It opens up federal land and water for oil and gas drilling and increases its profitability, while creating new federal support for coal. It ends the historic investment in poor and minority communities that bear a disproportionate pollution burden—money that the Trump administration was already refusing to spend. It wipes out any spending on greening the federal government.
Furthermore, as MeidasNews editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski noted Saturday, "rural areas hit hardest by catastrophic storms are the same areas now in danger of losing their hospitals after Trump's Medicaid cuts just passed" as part of the budget reconciliation package.
At least one congressional Republican is ready to take action in the face of increasing extreme weather events. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)—who once attributed California wildfires to Jewish-controlled space lasers—announced Saturday that she is "introducing a bill that prohibits the injection, release, or dispersion of chemicals or substances into the atmosphere for the express purpose of altering weather, temperature, climate, or sunlight intensity."
"It will be a felony offense," she explained. "We must end the dangerous and deadly practice of weather modification and geoengineering."
Keep ReadingShow Less
National Team Member Becomes at Least 265th Palestinian Footballer Killed by Israel in Gaza
Muhannad al-Lili's killing by Israeli airstrike came as the world mourned the death of Portugal and Liverpool star Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva in a car crash in Spain.
Jul 04, 2025
Muhannad Fadl al-Lili, captain of the Al-Maghazi Services Club and a member of Palestine's national football team, died Thursday from injuries suffered during an Israeli airstrike on his family home in the central Gaza Strip earlier this week, making him the latest of hundreds of Palestinian athletes killed since the start of Israel's genocidal onslaught.
Al-Maghazi Services Club announced al-Lili's death in a Facebook tribute offering condolences to "his family, relatives, friends, and colleagues" and asking "Allah to shower him with his mercy."
The Palestine Football Association (PFA) said that "on Monday, a drone fired a missile at Muhannad's room on the third floor of his house, which led to severe bleeding in the skull."
"During the war of extermination against our people, Muhannad tried to travel outside Gaza to catch up with his wife, who left the strip for Norway on a work mission before the outbreak of the war," the association added. "But he failed to do so, and was deprived of seeing his eldest son, who was born outside the Gaza Strip."
According to the PFA, al-Lili is at least the 265th Palestinian footballer and 585th athlete to be killed by Israeli forces since they launched their assault and siege on Gaza following the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel. Sports journalist Leyla Hamed says 439 Palestinian footballers have been killed by Israel.
Overall, Israel's war—which is the subject of an International Court of Justice (ICJ) genocide case—has left more than 206,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing, and around 2 million more forcibly displaced, starved, or sickened, according to Gaza officials.
The Palestine Chronicle contrasted the worldwide press coverage of the car crash deaths of Portuguese footballer Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva with the media's relative silence following al-Lili's killing.
"Jota's death was a tragedy that touched millions," the outlet wrote. "Yet the death of Muhannad al-Lili... was met with near-total silence from global sports media."
Last week, a group of legal experts including two United Nations special rapporteurs appealed to the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the world football governing body, demanding that its Governance Audit and Compliance Committee take action against the Israel Football Association for violating FIFA rules by playing matches on occupied Palestinian territory.
In July 2024, the ICJ found that Israel's then-57-year occupation of Palestine—including Gaza—is an illegal form of apartheid that should be ended as soon as possible.
During their invasion and occupation of Gaza, Israeli forces have also used sporting facilities including Yarmouk Stadium for the detention of Palestinian men, women, and children—many of whom have reported torture and other abuse at the hands of their captors.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular