John,

While congressional Republicans may appear to be in complete disarray as the House enters its fourth week without a Speaker, there is one thing they all agree on: demanding a so-called “Debt Commission.”

These kinds of “commissions” are always presented as unbiased, but they all start with an agenda―and in this case it’s to cut public services. Republicans claim they want to tackle our nation’s debt, but they refuse to consider any new revenues from those who can most afford it: the ultra-wealthy and large, profitable corporations.

Instead of raising taxes on the rich and corporations, Republicans want to slash critical services for working families. And they’re proposing doing so behind closed doors in what House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington calls a “fiscal commission,” and what the White House is calling “a death panel for Medicare and Social Security.”[1]

But it’s not just Social Security and Medicare that are under attack. Republicans want to reduce housing vouchers in the midst of a housing crisis, nutrition assistance even as food prices continue to rise, and Medicaid funding when healthcare is already out of reach for far too many.

Take action today by writing to your senators and representative and demand they reject a Debt Commission that seeks to make working families pay the price for lower deficits instead of making the rich and corporations pay their fair share of taxes.

SIGN & SEND

In the 1950s, 28% of federal tax revenue came from corporate income taxes.[2] In 2019 that number had plummeted to just 7%.[3] And, at the same time, billionaires can get away with paying nothing in federal income taxes in certain years even as Americans for Tax Fairness research shows that they’ve gotten $2.2 trillion richer since the 2017 Trump-GOP tax scam.[4]

In addition to slashing Social Security and Medicare, here are just some of the cuts being proposed by House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington:

$2 trillion in cuts to mandatory health spending—which mostly means drastic cuts to Medicaid
Creating more red-tape requirements to deny people Medicaid
$1 trillion in cuts to economic security programs, including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)

If Congress is serious about tackling our country’s debt, they should start by making the rich and corporations pay their fair share of taxes, not by cutting services for working people.

Write to your members of Congress today and tell them, “No debt commission that harms working people and vulnerable communities!”

Thank you for taking action today in our fight for an economy and a tax system that puts working people first, not millionaires and billionaires.

David Kass
Executive Director
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund

[1] White House Calls Proposed GOP Commission a ‘Death Panel’ for Medicare, Social Security
[2] The Decline of Corporate Income Tax Revenues
[3] Policy Basics: Where Do Federal Tax Revenues Come From?
[4] BILLIONAIRES ARE $2.2 TRILLION RICHER SINCE 2017 TRUMP-GOP TAX LAW

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