The Republican Tax Scam and the War on Working and Middle-Class Americans
Floor Speech
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Ms. SEWELL of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to address Americans' concerns over increasing income inequality that has been exasperated by the Republican Tax Scam bill. The so-called Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed by Republicans last fall not only fails to provide a significant tax cut for working class and middle Americans, but it also increases the national deficit by $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years. Moreover, any marginal income tax reduction that it affords everyday Americans will disappear within the next few years. According to the Congressional Budget Office, 76 percent of Americans will actually experience an overall tax increase between now and 2027. It is my strong belief that providing tax relief to small business owners, entrepreneurs, and working-class families is key to creating a strong economy that works for everyone. But requiring working families to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and powerful will not promote real, sustainable economic growth. Here is what the Republican tax law will do: By 2027, Americans in the first, second, and third quintiles will have their taxes increased, while 83 percent of tax breaks will go to the top one percent. By 2027, 86 million households (more than half of America's middle class) will see a tax increase. In Alabama, the richest 1 percent will see a $4,450 tax cut, where the bottom 80 percent will see a $117 tax increase. We do not have to look back far into history to learn that these types of tax cuts hurt the American people. Ronald Reagan's 1981 tax cuts were followed by only 3.5 percent average growth between 1982 and 1985, and required base broadening tax increases. Deficits from the Reagan tax cuts led to tax increases by George H.W. Bush in 1990. George W. Bush's tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 were followed by a precipitous decline in growth from 3.8 percent growth in 2004 down to -0.3 percent in 2008. The Bush tax cuts were also a major driver of the growing deficit, and widened income disparities. We also saw what happened in the state of Kansas when Republicans promised that dramatic cuts to business taxes would bring a new wave of economic growth and thousands of new jobs. Unsurprisingly, the economic growth was never realized and the state was forced to close schools, cut funding to public universities, cut funding to public services, and delay contributions to state pension funds. Columbia University Law professor Michael Graetz said, ``the historical record is pretty clear that tax cuts don't pay for themselves through economic growth.'' Despite this evidence, Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee rammed through a partisan tax scam bill, passed it through the House of Representatives without a single Democratic vote, and passed it through the Senate in the same fashion. As the Trump Administration calls for another round of tax cuts for the wealthy, I urge the President and my Republican colleagues to fulfill their promise to work together on bipartisan legislation that will truly benefit all Americans. We need bipartisan legislation that works to uphold America's strong middle class and provides underserved families with the assistance they deserve to escape the cycle of poverty and enter the workforce.
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