Fellow Illinoisan,

It’s hard to believe that it has been two years since Republicans in Congress gave out more than $1 trillion in tax cuts to billionaires and corporations, leaving middle class families behind without a second thought.

My Republican colleagues threw bipartisanship out the window to pass a slap-dash, rushed bill that not one of them can honestly say they fully reviewed or understood before the vote.  That’s not the way to go about reforming our nation’s tax code.

So what was included in the Republican tax bill?  Well, it slashed the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. 

And what have corporations done with that windfall?  We were told they promised to invest in America’s working families.  Instead, they announced more than $1 trillion in stock buybacks - rewarding their shareholders with a payout - in 2018 alone.  In fact, a number of reports now confirm that major corporations have recently avoided paying any federal taxes at all.

When it’s all said done, in 2027 more than 80 percent of the benefits from this Republican tax bill will go to the top one percent of earners, according to the Tax Policy Center.  And it will add $1.9 trillion to our national deficit.  A real work of art from a party of so-called “fiscal conservatives.”

Congressional Democrats stand ready to restore fairness to our nation’s broken tax system.  I hope on this two-year anniversary of the passage of the Republican tax plan, that my colleagues across the aisle will join us in doing just that.

Sincerely, 

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL)