You Can Urge Your Senators to End the Bush Tax Cuts for the Richest 2 Percent
by Glynn Wilson
The Senate is bracing for a tax-cut showdown that is “all about Democrats and Republicans showing voters their differences over taxing the well-off while accusing each other of threatening to shove the government over a fiscal cliff,” according to the AP. Senators planned to vote Wednesday on a $250 billion Democratic bill that would extend expiring tax cuts next year for all but the highest earners.
Democrats would need 60 votes to advance the proposal, but of course, they don’t have 60 votes in the 100-member Senate because of the election of a bunch of tea party Republicans in November, 2010. Unfortunately, the U.S. tax system is rigged to favor corporate CEOs, Big Business and the rich while leaving hard-working people who play by the rules to pick up the slack, according to the AFL-CIO. And when some extreme politicians have had the chance make our tax system more fair and invest in creating good jobs in America, instead they have sided with their deep-pocketed donors. Last week’s vote in the Senate on the Bring Jobs Home Act, which would have ended tax loopholes for big corporations that ship jobs overseas, is a perfect example.
“Despite thousands of calls and e-mails from people like you, extreme Republicans filibustered the bill that would have been a step in the right direction to end the outsourcing of jobs and reward patriotic small businesses that support U.S. workers by creating jobs here,” the AFL-CIO’s Andy Richards said in an e-mail blast to followers on Wednesday. “This week, Congress will have another chance to do the right thing for working families. The House and Senate will vote on bills to end the Bush tax cuts for the richest 2 percent and your elected leaders need to hear from you.”
People who have succeeded in America should pay their fair share, the union says, “because if you do well in America, you ought to do well by America.”
You can take action now by calling 888-744-9958 and telling your lawmakers to end the Bush tax cuts for the richest 2%.
You know things are out of whack when Mitt Romney, who Forbes says would be the wealthiest president in U.S. history if elected, may have paid little or no taxes in 2009.
Or when Verizon, GE and more than 25 other big corporations paid zero in federal income taxes in the past four years.
“Our country simply can’t afford to keep giving outrageous tax breaks to those who don’t need them while cutting investments in job creation, education, Medicare and more,” Richards said. “We need our lawmakers not only to end the Bush tax cuts for the richest 2%.”
He also said Congress should: end the tax preference for investment income by taxing it the same as wages; tax overseas income the same way we tax domestic income, so corporations no longer can lower their tax bills by shifting jobs and income overseas; ask Wall Street and corporations to pay their fair share by imposing a modest tax on financial speculation; and restore the Clinton-era estate tax.
“But you can be sure this won’t be easy,” Richards said. “Extreme lawmakers have signed a pledge promising to never close corporate loopholes and tax breaks for the wealthiest 2%. Corporate lobbyists and deep-pocketed campaign contributors, as they did with the Bring Jobs Home Act, will do everything they can to stop Congress from leveling the playing field and ending the special tax breaks they enjoy at our expense.”
© 2012, Glynn Wilson. All rights reserved.
