For the better part of 30 years, I’ve been organizing people and communities to win quality, affordable health care for all. These cuts will hurt all of us, especially people who need health care the most: seniors, people with disabilities, children.
The payoff? Our elected representatives get to dole out tax breaks to their big-money donors and corporate friends.
Don’t expect House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and the others behind this scheme to be honest about it. They’re saying their tax cut plan for corporations and multi-millionaires will help ordinary people.
Their idea of who ordinary people are is pretty strange.
The richest 1 percent of Americans will reap 80 percent of the tax cuts, the non-partisan Tax Policy Center calculates, while taxes for many moderate and low-income people would go up. The richest 5 percent of Americans will gain income from these tax cuts — but the rest of us will lose income once those cuts are paid for.
The rich get richer and the rest of us lose income, health care, and other essential services like housing, food, and education. (And don’t think they won’t come for Social Security next.)
We’ll wind up with what Republican leaders wanted from health care repeal: tens of millions of people thrown off their health care to clear the way for more than $1 trillion in tax breaks for the mega-rich.
All this comes at a time of soaring corporate profits — with prescription drug corporations continuing to rake in exorbitant profits by price-gouging patients on lifesaving medications.
Instead of requiring Medicare to negotiate lower prices with drug corporations — which would mean huge savings for the public — Republican leaders in Congress want us to pay for corporate tax cuts with our health care.
What part of “no” didn’t they understand?