The U.S. Senate is poised to vote on a tax bill that will raise taxes on 87 million working families and hurt state and local public services – all to pay for massive new tax breaks for big corporations and the super-wealthy.
Senate leaders are reportedly close to marshalling the votes they need to pass the bill, which would also harm seniors and push millions off their health insurance.
After days of horse trading, Senate leaders are betting that they can muster a narrow majority this week in favor of the bill, which will increase deficits by $1.4 trillion, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), while triggering an automatic cut of $25 billion to Medicare next year, and growing to over $400 billion in cuts over the next ten years.
The CBO also estimates that some 13 million people will join the ranks of the uninsured, thanks to a provision of the bill designed to gut the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by repealing the requirement that people enroll in health insurance. This is expected to push up premiums on working Americans who rely on Obamacare for their health coverage, making it impossible for many families to remain insured.
With fewer Americans insured, less would be spent on subsidies for health care premiums – billions in “savings” it plans to put into the pockets of corporate CEOs.
Meanwhile, workers at the bottom of the income scale will see their taxes go up. According to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, by 2027, the average family with a household income of $75,000 or less will see a tax increase. Meanwhile, CEOs and the super-rich will clean up big.
Congressional leaders are trying to sell this bill as one that will create jobs and increase wages, but the very CEOs who stand to gain beg to differ.
They have no intention of adding jobs or making new investments, some of the top executives of Fortune 500 companies told Bloomberg News. “Major companies including Cisco Systems Inc., Pfizer Inc. and Coca-Cola Co. say they’ll turn over most gains from proposed corporate tax cuts to their shareholders,” Bloomberg reports, undercutting claims of the bill as a boon to working people.
According to a November 15 poll by Quinnipiac University, only 25 percent of Americans approve of the tax plan being advanced by leaders in Congress – and yet the Senate still plans to pass the bill.
Your senators will be among those casting the deciding votes, and they need to hear from you.