CHN’s Human Needs Watch: Tracking Hardship, June 3, 2024
June 3, 2024
The tax scam edition. In 2025, a massive debate over taxes will be upon us. The outcome of the debate will determine whether the wealthiest Americans and largest corporations will pay their fair share – and whether our federal government will have the resources it needs to fund programs that address crucial human needs.
In 2017, at then-President Trump’s behest, Congress passed the so-called Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), a $2 trillion tax cut that largely favored big corporations and the very rich. The law means fewer federal dollars are now available for programs families rely upon, such as child care, housing, and aging and disability care. Some of the provisions passed in 2017 were permanent, but many were temporary. Most of the temporary provisions will expire at the end of 2025 without Congressional action. So 2025 represents the best opportunity to enact a tax code where everyone pays their fair share and we have enough revenue to invest in programs that matter – such as an expanded Child Tax Credit that benefits all families.
In some ways, the more gargantuan 2025 fight already has begun. Last month, more than 100 groups, including the Coalition on Human Needs, delivered a letter to Congressional leadership demanding a rollback of the Trump tax cuts. Their message: a historic collection of public interest groups is fighting for bold tax reform that delivers shared equitable growth in 2025. “Congress should pursue reforms – including corporate tax reforms – that stem the decades-long tide of tax cuts for the rich and corporations that have undermined fairness, eroded revenues needed for pro-growth investments, and stifled economic opportunity,” the letter states.
Groups also launched a national campaign, “The Payback: It’s Time to End the Trump Tax Scam and Get Our Money Back.”
On the other hand, as noted below, billionaires tend to like their tax breaks, and have been contributing hundreds of millions of dollars in the 2024 election cycle.
2025 might be seven months away, but the fight begins now. Stay tuned.
$61,000
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The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will provide a $61,000 average benefit for the top 1% and a $252,000 benefit for the top 0.1% in 2025. Meanwhile, the bottom 60% of families will receive an average cut of less than $1.25 a day. Tweet this.
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24%20% |
24% of the gains from the corporate breaks in the 2017 tax cut went to the top 1%; just 20% went to the bottom 90%. Tweet this. |
+$2.2 trillion |
Between 2017 and 2023, the wealth of America’s 748 billionaires rose by $2.2 trillion due to the TCJA, according to Americans for Tax Fairness. Tweet this.
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122%96%
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Elon Musk experienced a 122% increase in income during that time period, to nearly $270 billion; Jeff Bezos saw a 96% increase, to more than $163 billion; Larry Ellison realized a 140% increase, to more than $85 billion. Tweet this. |
$4.3 trillion
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Extending some provisions of the TCJA would cost $4.3 trillion over 10 years and increase the deficit by $4.9 trillion. Tweet this.
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50/$600 million |
50 billionaire families (collectively worth over $1 trillion) have donated at least $600 million to political parties, PACs and super PACs so far for the 2024 elections, according to Americans for Tax Fairness.
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77% |
More than three-quarters of respondents (77%) support increasing investments in the care agenda by raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans and big corporations, according to a survey conducted this spring by MomsRising and the National Women’s Law Center. Among Independents, 80% agreed taxes should be raised, along with 59% of Republicans. Two-thirds of respondents (66%) across party lines oppose extending the 2017 tax cuts for the wealthiest 1%.
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1.5 million/
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When Congress temporarily expanded the Child Tax Credit in 2021, 1.5 million women were lifted out of poverty, including 575,000 Latinas and 351,000 Black women.
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30% |
The expanded CTC reduced child poverty by about 30% from July-December 2021.
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Nearly 70% |
A national survey found that nearly 70% of families that received the monthly CTC payments in 2021 reported that the payments reduced their financial stress – and this percentage was even larger among Latina and Latino respondents.
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