Tax Cuts for the Rich are Threatening Our Retirement Security

Tax Cuts for the Rich are Threatening Our Retirement Security

The Joint Committee on Taxation, a non-partisan Committee of the United States Congress, originally established under the Revenue Act of 1926, and is Congress’ official estimator of tax legislation, reported that a lopsided 38 percent of the benefits of the tax bill that the president signed in December 2017 (H.R. 1) will go to households making more than $1 million per year (approximately 3 of every 1,000 Americans who file taxes). ¹

Though backers of the law said the tax cuts would pay for themselves, a new analysis by the Congressional Budget Office shows that under the new tax law the nation’s debt could spike by $33 trillion over the next ten years, potentially resulting in another debt crisis. ²

With wages being stagnant for nearly three decades, you might be asking yourself how hard-working Americans are going to find the money to pay for this expensive law which benefits so few.  

The answer – according to some in Congress – cuts to Social Security and Medicare, of course!  As Pennsylvania Republican Senator Pat Toomey explained, “(t)hese big spending programs that are growing faster than the economy,”…“you’ve got to make some curbs.”  That’s easy to say when the people who funded his campaign are the ones seeing the biggest benefit from H.R. 1. ³  

However, not everyone is on board with the idea.  On September 23, 2018, it was announced that 19 U.S. Senators and 140 House members have added their name to a new Expand Social Security Caucus being led by Senators Bernie Sanders (VT), Elizabeth Warren (MA), and Democratic Reps. John Larson and Debbie Dingell of Michigan. ⁴

As union members, we believe every American deserves a secure retirement.  We also understand that Social Security and Medicare are programs that workers have paid into our entire lives.  We won’t forget this when we vote in the pivotal midterm elections which conclude on Tuesday, November 6.  

Sources:

 https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/joint-committee-on-taxation-distribution-tables-confirm-skewed-priorities-of

² https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/09/us/politics/federal-deficit-tax-cuts-spending-trump.html

³https://community.aarp.org/t5/Politics-Current-Events/GOP-Speaker-Ryan-Cuts-OUR-Social-Security-gets-85-000-pension-at/td-p/2045985

⁴https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/406495-more-than-150-democrats-launch-expand-social-security-caucus  

Julie Stein, SOAR Director

SOAR, Rapid Response,

We Owe it to Them

I have written before about the impact that court appointees can and will have on all of us and our children and grandchildren. A decision by the Supreme Court that was recently handed down in a case referred to as “Janus” by a 5 to 4 decision, illustrates this. The President’s recent appointee made the difference that upended a decade of precedent regarding public employees paying a “fair share” to their unions.

It is clear that this decision is anti-union and anti-worker and is intended to reduce funding to the union. These employees will receive all the benefits that the Union negotiates and are protected by the terms of the collective bargaining but don’t have to pay their fair share -“freeloaders.”

Isn’t it ironic that the same people who oppose individuals receiving something for nothing, are okay with individuals getting the benefits of unions and collective bargaining without having to pay to support getting those benefits? Further, they rationalize in the decision that it has something to do with “free speech” and the First Amendment. Think about that. Such logic could be argued that I shouldn’t have to pay taxes passed by politicians I disagree with. How absurd. 

But, we know the real reason is to undermine unions and worker rights. We are already dealing with the adversity of right-to-work laws.

This is just a further example of the number of adverse issues that the current political situation is creating and why we must stand up and fight back. And we must protect retirement benefits, Medicare and Social Security.

I am impressed with what Rapid Response, Next Generation and SOAR are doing to stand up and fight back. Please get involved; these organizations give us the structure to be active and organized to confront these anti-union, anti-worker attacks. We owe it to our children and grandchildren.

Bill Gibbons, PACE Representative