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Last month, House Republicans advanced a tax reform measure, the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” (H.R. 1), which does little to benefit middle-class working families.
Now, their Senate counterparts are racing to jam through the Senate a similar version of the bill (S. 1) after just one hearing, with a vote expected on the floor this week.
While the House and Senate bills are not identical, they both aim to cut taxes for corporations and the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans on the backs of letter carriers and working families.
In particular, passage of the Senate bill would result in:
- Higher taxes for 93 million Americans who earn less than $75,000 by 2027—after short-term cuts expire. Meanwhile, the richest Americans (the top 0.1 percent) would receive a $208,000 average annual tax cut and mostly permanent relief.
- Permanent and massive tax cuts for corporations and other special-interest provisions that would incentivize companies to outsource American jobs overseas and develop other tax-avoidance schemes.
- A repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) individual mandate, raising health insurance premiums for a majority of Americans and resulting in 13 million losing insurance by 2027.
- A repeal of the deductions for the state and local taxes (SALT) and other tax provisions important to lower- and middle-class working families.
- Adding $1.4 trillion to the federal deficit over a decade, which would inevitably be paid for with future cuts to vital programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, and with spending offsets, which would put federal employee health and retirement benefit cuts on the table.
NALC urges you to call your senators now and tell them to oppose S. 1 when it comes to the Senate floor. Tell them that this bill is grossly unfair and bad for working families. Dial the U.S. Capitol’s switchboard at 202-224-3121 and be ready to provide your ZIP code to get connected.