The current budget-deficit debate in Washington, like too many fiscal debates over the past 40 years, has been dominated by Republican demands to cut spending on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, education, housing, nutrition programs, and much more.

Instead, Congress should reverse decades of tax cuts for the well-off and well connected and increase funding for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, healthcare, childcare, aging and disability care, paid family and medical leave, housing, nutrition, working-family tax credits, and many other investments benefiting families, people with disabilities, and older adults.

A new poll from Data for Progress shows that 68% of likely voters "Support a Billionaire Tax to Fund Federal Programs and Reduce the Deficit."

And, a new report from the Center for American Progress shows that tax cuts enacted under Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump disproportionately benefited the wealthy and profitable corporations and are severely reducing federal revenues and contributing mightily to the national debt.

The original George W. Bush tax cuts and their extensions will have added $8.4 trillion to the national debt by the end of this year.

The 2017 Trump tax cuts will add another $1.7 trillion in debt through 2023. Moreover, the GOP wants to renew those tax cuts expiring in 2025, which would cost $3 trillion more.

The Bush and Trump tax cuts alone are responsible for 57% of the increase in the debt ratio (debt as a percent of the economy) since 2001 and more than 90% of the increase in the debt ratio if the extraordinary costs of combating COVID-19 ($5.6 trillion) and the Great Recession ($787 billion) are excluded.

Right now, top individual tax rates are about half what they were 40 years ago.

Corporate tax revenue as a share of total federal revenue has dropped from one-third to less than 10% since the middle of the last century.

Some billionaires pay no federal income taxes while others pay a lower tax rate than middle-class families pay when the growth of their investments are counted.

In fact, the top 1% evades $160 billion in taxes that they owe every year.

Meanwhile, spending on the 15% of the federal budget consisting of non-defense discretionary programs, such as healthcare, education, housing, child care, public safety, the environment, infrastructure, and more, has been largely flat as a share of the economy for the last 60 years.

This Tax Season, demand that Congress reverse decades of tax cuts for the well-off and well connected and use that revenue to increase funding for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, healthcare, childcare, aging and disability care, paid family and medical leave, housing, nutrition, working-family tax credits and a lot of other services working people and struggling families depend on. Sign the petition to Congress today!