ICYMI: Senate Banking Subcommittee Hearing Makes Case Against Extending TCJA, Details Harms to Workers and Families

ICYMI: Senate Banking Subcommittee Hearing Makes Case Against Extending TCJA, Details Harms to Workers and Families

Today, the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Economic Policy held a hearing “Tax Policy in 2025: Implications for the American Economy,” where AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, National Urban League CEO Marc Morial, and Center for American Progress Senior Director Brendan Duke highlighted the failings of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and how it was a giveaway to the rich and corporations.

Groundwork Collaborative Executive Director Lindsay Owens reacted with the following statement:

“Republicans are digging up their 2017 playbook in order to ram through harmful and unpopular tax cuts for their wealthy donors. That includes hiding the fact that slashing taxes for the ultra-wealthy and corporations would devastate the economy by drastically exacerbating income inequality and encouraging companies to jack up prices.

“Congress can’t cut yet another check to the companies overcharging everyday Americans.”

Email press@groundworkcollaborative.org to speak with one of Groundwork’s experts about tax policy.

HIGHLIGHTS

Liz Shuler, President of AFL-CIO

• “There’s one group that should be really giving thanks next Thursday and that’s the 800 billionaires in this country who are about receive yet another gift that they do not need…now [billionaires] have an incoming administration that wants to hand [them] more money and power at the expense of the rest of us.”
• “Giving trillions in tax breaks to the wealthiest people and companies in the history of the world while they’re fellow Americans struggle to pay for rent and groceries, I believe is the very definition of insanity.”
• “The rich, the large profitable corporations, and Wall Street have all benefitted from the vast opportunities this country affords them. It is time for them to pay their fair share.”

Marc Morial, President and CEO of National Urban League

• “We were promised that the 2017 tax cut bill would be deficit neutral and would provide jobs for the people of this nation. What we know today is that the wealthiest Americans got whole loaves of bread…and working men and women got crumbs.”
• “We have a chance to create a tax system that provides true relief to low- and moderate-income Americans, ensures all Americans pay their fair share, and encourages businesses to invest directly in our underserved communities. This is a pivotal moment to reshape our tax policy for a fairer and more prosperous America for all.”

Brendan Duke, Senior Director for Economic Policy at the Center for American Progress

• “Letting the tax cuts expire is a far, far better alternative than saying yes to a bill that will entrench income inequality and rip off working- and middle-class Americans.”
• “Extending the expiring provisions will increase income inequality–the average tax cut for the top 1 percent of Americans ($63,800) is more than 60 times larger than that of the middle 20 percent of Americans ($950). It is more than 600 times larger than that of the bottom 20 percent of Americans ($110).”