The following column was written by State DFL Chair Ken Martin:
As Congress turns to tax reform, details surrounding the Republican tax plan remain blurry. But we know one thing for sure: The plan balances massive handouts for the wealthy on the backs of working Americans.
The Republican tax proposal is written by Wall Street, for Wall Street. Literally. President Donald Trump tapped two former Wall Street executives—Steven Mnuchin and Gary Cohn—to secretly craft a tax plan and force a partisan vote without the American people knowing how much they’ll be harmed.
And the plan is exactly what one would expect to be written by two men who used to work at Goldman Sachs. The biggest winners would be corporations and the wealthy. Trump himself could save $1 billion. In Minnesota, 62 percent of the tax cuts in the GOP’s plan would go to the richest 1%.
Meanwhile, many middle-class taxpayers would see a tax increase. Even Trump’s top economic adviser himself said he can’t guarantee that taxes won’t go up for working Americans. According to a recent nonpartisan study, one in four middle-class families will pay higher taxes over the next decade under the GOP tax plan.
The plan is not just bad for working Americans, it’s bad for the entire economy. It is predicted to blow a $1.5 trillion hole in the federal budget. In an attempt to make up for this, Republicans are looking to cut federal programs Americans rely on every day.
Just last week, House Republicans passed a budget resolution that includes $2 trillion in cuts to health care in order to pay for their tax cuts for the wealthy. These will devastate critical programs like Medicare and Medicaid. This is egregious. It is downright immoral to balance tax breaks for the 1% on the backs of the sick and vulnerable in our communities.
Democrats want real tax reform that works for all Americans. We want to work across the aisle to provide middle-class relief, create incentives to bring money back from overseas, simplify our tax code, and close loopholes that benefit the wealthy. The future should belong to all Americans, not just those who can buy their way onto the playing field.
Americans deserve to know that the Republican tax plan is nothing more than a thinly-veiled giveaway to big corporations and millionaires. Just as we did when Republicans threatened our health care, we must rise up. We must show them we are still paying attention. We must demand Republicans go back to the drawing board, and not think for one second that middle-class Americans will foot the bill for their massive tax cuts for the wealthy.