Voting Against a Tax Bill That Hurts Middle Class Families

Statement

Earlier today, the House voted on taxes. I voted no. H.R. 1, which ultimately passed, will cause inequality to grow and hurt the very people we so desperately need to be helping. This at a time when America has more wealth and income inequality than any other major developed county on earth. The gap between the very rich and everyone else is currently larger than at any point since the 1920s.

H.R. 1 bets on trickle-down economics working when we know it doesn't. We know that providing billions of dollars in tax breaks to corporations and the richest Americans won't magically help middle class families. Rather, the exact opposite occurs. While nearly 50% of the cuts over $500 billion flows to the top 1%, this tax bill would cause 36 million households in the middle class to see their taxes rise. The rich get richer while the middle class pays up.

The legislation would also repeal the state and local tax deduction. Texas could be uniquely impacted because of our state's high property taxes. More than 2.3 million homeowners across our state claim a tax credit to offset their property taxes. It adds up to $14.8 billion in relief for Texans. But under the new framework, the exemption would be eliminated.

H.R. 1 also cuts dozens of other tax breaks that are critical for our state. This includes the medical expense deduction that millions of Americans use each year. Currently, if a medical expense costs over 10% of a taxpayer's income, it can be deducted on their taxes to help ensure they don't have to choose between debt and their health. The Texas AARP has made it clear that cutting this tax credit hurts seniors the most.

Students are hit hard by this plan too. The bill forces them to count tuition benefits as taxable income and takes away their ability to write off their student loan interest. This leaves students not only trying to pay back loans but also trying to pay taxes on their interest. This will have a negative impact on those Texans using student loans, grants, and graduate work to afford the increasing costs of higher education. That's why Trinity, Rice, and Baylor University have all voiced their concerns.

And the legislation even slams environmental efforts in our state. Nearly $11 billion worth of clean energy projects in Texas is threatened by slashing the wind energy production tax credit. Our state leads the nation in wind energy jobs with more than 24,000 reported in 2014.

All of this while increasing the national debt by $1.5 trillion after rushing through a budget that would cut critical social programs masked as a way to lower it. Last month, I didn't support cutting Medicare by $500 billion, slashing Medicaid by $1 trillion, and a ploy to take $100 billion from Federal student loan programs. And today, I could not vote for a tax bill that would give the money cut from these programs to the very richest.

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