Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat, represents New York in the U.S. Senate.



By Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand | Special to Syracuse.com

No one doubts that we need to fix our tax system. A good tax system should do three things: It should reward work, it should be fair for working families, and it should help create good-paying jobs. But the Republican tax plan that passed the House of Representatives two weeks ago in Washington, without a single Democratic vote, not only fails this test, it actually goes further and directly harms middle class taxpayers here in Central New York, and across the country. The Senate is days away from pushing through this harmful tax plan on a party-line vote in the middle of the night. I hope you will fight with me to protect families in our state and stop this bill in its tracks.



Let's be clear about what the Congressional Republican tax plan really is: It is Washington's culture of soft-corruption at its worst - nothing more than paying back wealthy donors and lobbyists through corporate welfare, at the expense of the middle class. This actual quote from New York's own Congressman Chris Collins tells you everything you need to know about who Republicans are fighting for: "My donors are basically saying, 'Get it done or don't ever call me again.' "



No amount of spin can change the fact that this tax plan is designed to primarily benefit two groups: large, profitable corporations that hide money offshore, and the wealthiest Americans. The plan does not seek anything close to the type of relief that regular working people need; instead, it is a blatant attempt to take millions of families' hard-earned money and hand it over to rich corporations on the Fortune 500 list. It even goes so far as to take away tax assistance for teachers who use their own money to buy pens, books, and other supplies for their students. Corporations, meanwhile, will still be allowed to deduct their office supplies from their taxes. If that sounds to you like a terrible deal, you aren't wrong.



One of the most blatant ways the Republican tax plan would hurt Central New Yorkers in particular is by eliminating the deduction for local and state taxes, known as the SALT deduction. The SALT deduction helps ensure that New Yorkers are not double-taxed on their income. In many cases, the SALT deduction makes it possible for families to afford to purchase a home, which is usually a family's largest asset, and it keeps the value of this investment growing. Eliminating the SALT deduction would hurt New Yorkers; there is no other way to spin it.



After the tax plan was released, a lot of talking heads on TV dredged up the talking points about the virtues of "trickle-down economics" - the myth that if only corporations had more money, it would help everyday American families. We've heard this one before. Let's not be fooled again. The stock market has never been higher and many big corporations are flush with cash, but we've still been hit hard by companies that have packed up and left Central New York for cheaper labor and fatter profits for their investors. These companies already turned their backs on us. Why should we reward them by giving them yet another tax cut they don't need and won't go to their workers? We need to start rewarding work again in this country - not doling out lavish tax cuts for giant corporations. President Trump's top economic adviser even asked a room full of CEOs to raise their hands if this extra cash from the tax cut would spur them to reinvest in their communities. No more than a small handful of the CEOs in the room raised their hands.



This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Not long ago, the Dow broke the record with a new all-time high, and many CEOs will no doubt get enormous bonuses for that. But when the Dow broke another record, how many workers on a factory floor in Syracuse or in a grocery store in Cicero saw their pay increase? Have you and your family received generous raises that reflect these historic profits? I didn't think so. This tax plan helps the wrong people. It helps the people and the corporations that don't need any extra help right now. It ignores the people who do. I can't say this clearly enough to Central New Yorkers: If you are not rich - if you are just a regular, hardworking family - then there's a good chance you are going to take a big hit if this bill passes.



We have to oppose this awful plan, and I urge everyone who cares about this to speak out against it. The only way anything ever happens in Washington is when regular people raise their voices and demand it. Tell your story. Make it clear how this tax bill would hurt you and your family. Post it on social media, write letters to the editor - and most importantly, contact your elected representatives and tell them why it's so important that they reject this theft that Congressional Republicans in Washington call a tax plan. If enough of us speak out, we can defeat it. Tax reform shouldn't be a partisan exercise. We should all agree that we need to help middle-class workers, and then pass a bill that actually does that.



