Tax the rich!
“In the 1960's, the people at the very top, the richest 400 Americans, paid about twice the tax rate that the average middle class family did. But in 2018, during the Donald Trump presidency, and for the first time in our history, the billionaires started paying a lower tax rate than nurses, teachers, firefighters and most other middle class Americans who put in an honest day's work and make our economy run. It is unfair, it is absurd, it is wrong.
“How did we get here? For years corrupt right-wing politicians gave tax break after tax break to the billionaires and big corporations who funded their campaigns. And when the billionaires and big corporations don't pay their fair share in taxes, you know who has to carry the load? Working people.
“Working people who can't afford to pay thousands of dollars to go to Mar-A-Lago or Trump hotel. Working people who don't get to move their money overseas or hire an army of accountants to find them tax loopholes or hire an army of lobbyists to create new loopholes for them. Working people who have their health care cut and their veterans benefits cut, working people who have to send their kids to crumbling schools, all because the politicians tell them there isn't enough money left.
“But there's always money when those billionaires come asking for more tax cuts, isn't there?
“Look at Project 2025. Their policy plan for what they will do if they take control. That plan calls for cutting Social Security by raising the retirement age. It calls for repealing the Affordable Care Act, for eliminating Head Start programs that provide preschool for one million children. Eliminating the Department of Education. Eliminating the National Weather Service. Cuts, cuts, cuts to programs that help working people, and at the same time they propose giving even more tax cuts to the people at the top who don't need it.
“But it doesn't have to be this way. We can go back to a system where the tax code is fair and working people aren't asked to pay an unfair burden. By asking the people at the top to pay their fair share again, like they used to, we can do incredible things in this country. We could ensure that Social Security benefits keep up with the cost of living and that the program's life is extended indefinitely. We can cut the cost of health care, we can ensure that every child receives a world class education and, yes, we can provide tax relief to working people who actually need it.
“The
possibilities are right there in front of us. But we need to reverse this
dangerous trend. We need to stop the corruption, we need to start working
for working people, not the big donors and the lobbyists, and we need to put
people over politics.”
Watch Rep.
Magaziner’s full floor speech HERE.
