Together, our country can do more than we could do alone.



Collectively, we can create safe and vibrant communities, provide quality education, and build the buildings, roads and infrastructure our nation needs to continue growing. We can carry out the diplomacy required to build goodwill and project our values throughout the world, defend ourselves and our allies from threats and respond to emergencies. We can ensure that we all have what we need to thrive and – when times are hard – survive. And a fair tax system is the best way to enact these democratic investments.

Republicans in Congress reach deal on tax plan to slash corporate rate to 21% Read more

In their hastily drafted and reconciled tax bills, donor-driven Republicans in the House of Representatives and Senate have put forward principles that would instead weaken our country. They aim to redistribute resources back up to powerful, wealthy individuals and corporations.



Based on the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis of the Senate version, the reconciled scheme reduces taxes on people earning more than $75,000 in both the immediate and the long term. While middle-class households may see an immediate drop in their taxes, over the next decade they will actually end up seeing their taxes increase and the programs that serve them being cut.



And even worse, lower-income families – earning less than $30,000 – will immediately be hurt by this bill. These lowest earners will see sharp increases in their taxes and deep cuts to programs that benefit them, taking a hit of nearly $2.6bn in 2019 and a total of almost $43bn over the next decade.



However, this bill does give tax relief to some Americans, most notably corporations, whose tax rate will drop by 14 points, and the wealthy estate owners who under this bill would only pay taxes if their property is worth more than $22m. Astonishingly, the tax savings from the estate of just one of those households could cover Pell Grants for 1,100 low- and moderate-income students, according to an analysis by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.



Play Video 1:23 US Senate votes 51-49 to pass tax overhaul bill – video

Cynical Republicans will divide and distract voters to build false support for a tax system that will harm many of their own voters. Despite the fact that the estate tax applies to only 0.2% of taxpayers, 69% of respondents to a Kaiser poll believed that they might have to pay the estate tax one day and a similar percentage believe the tax to be unfair.



With the 2010 Pay-As-You-Go requirement, the drop in revenue will automatically result in drops in other programs, including Medicare (-$25bn), a program allowing veterans to receive both retirement pay and VA compensation (-$7.5bn), farm security and rural investment programs (-$3.8bn), national flood insurance (-$1.5bn), unemployment insurance (-$800m) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (-$630m).



The reconciled tax bill would also reduce the deduction for state and local taxes. The impact of this change is indirect, but dramatic. With limits on the deduction, states and cities will find it harder to generate revenue for education, often paid for by property taxes, and other state investments in public services including emergency response, sanitation, housing, transit and roads.



This tax bill will distort the war on poverty into a war on the poor. People of color are overrepresented at the low end of the income ladder, due to historic and current policies and practices of educational and occupational segregation, discrimination and wealth-stripping. They will experience disproportionate harm from these changes to the tax structure and to the programs. However, white people will comprise the largest single racial or ethnic group of people negatively affected.



Shockingly, the CBO estimates of program cuts are likely to be the most optimistic outcome if the GOP gets its way. According to the CBO, 4 million people are likely to lose healthcare coverage in 2019 as the result of the repeal of the individual mandate, but the 10% increase in premiums projected for people still covered under the ACA is not included in the CBO’s budget impact numbers, and could lead to even higher loss of coverage.



Similarly, as the cuts starve programs that economically stabilize our lowest-income citizens and support our middle-class, cynical Republicans will continue to misrepresent the failure of these programs – which they have in fact sabotaged – as evidence that the programs should be further limited or eliminated.

What we know – and don't know – about the Republican tax plan Read more

The decision to tax work more heavily than wealth skews our core values as a nation, rewarding the luck of having been born to wealthy parents rather than the ethic of hard work. And no wonder. With uncharacteristic frankness, Republicans have admitted to rushing to pass this tax bill, which benefits their self-serving donors, because their donors are pressuring them.



A Demos study found that the majority of the donor class – without regard to party affiliation – rejects economic policies proven to reduce inequality and strengthen economic opportunity. The sway of donors over several Republicans and the pressure they are exerting to rush the process is subverting our aspirations and values of our nation.

These tax reform proposals test Congress members’ mettle – will they be able to stand up to the selfish donors looking to consolidate their power and wealth by sowing divisions? Will they be able to defend our core values as a nation, serve their constituents, and create a system that fairly draws contributions from all of us for our common betterment?