120 Democrats Demand Repeal of 'Obscene' Tax Cut for Millionaires That GOP Buried in Previous Covid Relief Bill

Authored by commondreams.org and submitted by Fr1sk3r
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More than 100 Democratic members of Congress are calling on their party's leadership to ensure that a tax break for millionaires that Republicans quietly buried in an earlier coronavirus relief package is repealed in upcoming aid legislation, arguing the rollback would free up hundreds of billions in revenue which could be used to help struggling families.

Led by Reps. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) in the House and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) in the Senate, the coalition of lawmakers sent a letter to Democratic leaders on Tuesday demanding the reversal of "costly tax breaks for so-called 'net operating losses' that Republicans tucked into the CARES Act," a $2 trillion relief measure that former President Donald Trump signed into law last March.

"These special-interest giveaways will confer over 80 percent of the benefits to just 43,000 taxpayers, each earning at least $1 million per year," reads the letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). "We urge you to repeal these unwarranted tax cuts, as HEROES and HEROES 2.0 proposed and President Biden has recommended. This would save over $250 billion, which should be repurposed to help Americans who have lost income due to the pandemic and its economic fallout."

"In addition to presenting immediate hardships, the Covid-19 pandemic has laid bare and magnified our nation's troubling economic inequality," the letter continues. "Relief must address this inequality, not exacerbate it. The CARES net operating loss provisions will further worsen economic inequality by providing an average tax break of $1.6 million to just 43,000 very high-income taxpayers. This is unacceptable, especially when compared to the limited relief most Americans have received."

Republicans buried an obscene tax giveaway in the CARES Act that gave $250 billion to the 1% instead of $2000 to working families. Proud to join @RepLloydDoggett & @RosaDelauro in leading a letter w/ 120 colleagues urging leadership to repeal the windfall.https://t.co/wPT1r7nn3f — Steve Cohen (@RepCohen) February 2, 2021

As The Intercept's Akela Lacy reported last April, Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee tried to cut the millionaire tax break from the CARES Act during the negotiation process but were ultimately unsuccessful. The panel's Democrats then failed to alert their colleagues to the provision, which made its way into the final legislative package and into law.

"A spokesperson for Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a member of the House committees on financial services and oversight, said Republican Senate staffers added the provision at the last second to the final bill text, and that relevant leadership and committee staff did not have a heads-up," Lacy reported. "California Rep. Ro Khanna, a member of the House committees on oversight and budget, said he found out about the provision after seeing reporting from the Washington Post."

After a Joint Committee on Taxation analysis released shortly after the provision's passage showed the tax cut would overwhelmingly benefit rich Americans—including wealthy hedge fund and real estate investors—Whitehouse said in a statement that "Congress should repeal this rotten, un-American giveaway and use the revenue to help workers battling through this crisis."

Read the 120 Democrats' full letter:

FetcherLeVache on February 3rd, 2021 at 13:01 UTC »

Trickle up works.

When families were making decent wages back in the post-war era, economies boomed. People had homes, cars, could afford education for children.

It makes sense. If everyone has at least some disposable income, that income gets plowed back into the economy in all kinds of ways. Better housing. Better food. Better transportation. More entertainment and travel. And a tax base spread very, very widely. As a few people have pointed out, widely dispersed money has "velocity", and doesn't just stay in investment accounts, probably offshore.

You get a population of 300+ million people doing that, and you've got a real economic engine. A turbocharged McLaren. What capitalism is purported to deliver.

But no, Republicans love trickle down. So instead, you have millions of weakened, hungry gerbils running in their cages powering the whole thing. And starting to lose the race.

Meanwhile, 90% of the wealth is concentrated in the hands of the people who buy the politicians, the only group that any money ever trickles down to.

Inappropriate_mind on February 3rd, 2021 at 12:36 UTC »

GOP just keep trying to give money to the wealthy. Is that the only people they actually do anything for?

heyjoebyedon on February 3rd, 2021 at 12:34 UTC »

Build the repeal into reconciliation bill. Done.