Fighting For A Fair Tax System
Fairness for Iowa panel shares Iowa impacts of the proposed GOP Tax Plan
Fairness for Iowa hosted a virtual Tax Education Panel Friday afternoon to discuss the impact that different federal tax proposals in Congress will have on Iowans. The panel included insights from state and federal policy experts and then opened up for Q&A from participants.
The 2017 GOP Tax Law was heavily skewed to benefit those making the most – not working people. In the first few weeks of the new Congress, House Republicans—including Representatives Nunn and Miller-Meeks—are considering cutting funding for benefits Iowans rely on—like Medicaid and food stamps—to pay for even more tax handouts for billionaires and wealthy corporations. Just this week, President Trump ordered his administration to cut federal funding for essential programs while House Republicans plotted in Miami just how much funding they would cut from essential programs to pay for tax breaks for the ultra-rich and big corporations. Before these funding cuts become reality, Iowans need Representatives Nunn and Miller-Meeks to stand up for them instead of corporations and billionaires.
Featured speakers’ quotes:
Michael Linden, Campaign Director of Families Over Billionaires
“It's a whose side are they on fight. Should the government be spending trillions of dollars on those who already have millions and billions in their bank accounts, or should they instead be investing in everyday American workers? We are talking about trillions upon trillions of dollars that instead of going into our communities, hospitals and schools, they’re going into the pockets of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg and giant corporations. No one is asking for tax cuts for billionaires more than the billionaires.”
Shawn Phetteplace, National Campaigns Director at Main Street Alliance
“Corporations need to be held accountable for their fair share. We pay for our schools, roads and everything else we need as a society. These companies need to be pitching in so we can thrive.”
Joel Foster, Deputy Executive Director at Health Care for America Now (HCAN)
“In order to pay for these tax cuts, they will have to make other cuts, the cuts are the only thing that will trickle down. If they cut Medicaid to pay for tax handouts, states will have to make cuts too and they will come from things like education, prisons, everywhere they can to make up for the lack of Medicaid funding.”
Sue Dinsdale, Executive Director at Iowa Citizen Action Network (ICAN)
“As we saw a glimpse of earlier this week, their plan to give more tax breaks to the rich while cutting health care for everyone else won’t always be obvious, they’ll dress up their policies with popular themes like ‘cutting waste and fraud.’ It’s up to us to alert our communities about the truth of these proposals, if the GOP is allowed to advance their agenda, the damage to health care, the economy and everyday people is going to be devastating.”