Say NO to the Senate Tax Bill
Pennsylvania taxpayers, specifically homeowners, would be hurt by the current version of the GOP tax bill in the Senate. Deductions of state and local property taxes, sales taxes and income taxes — “SALT” tax write-offs — take a heavy hit under the Senate bill. Property taxes, state income and state sales taxes previously deducted from federal income taxes would no longer be eligible for a deduction. The Senate’s total wipeout of the deduction would raise federal tax bills for many middle-income Pennsylvanians and their families. The true cost of your property taxes will increase by 10 to almost 40%.
This provision makes a bad tax even worse. Only the top 1% and major corporations benefit from the Senate tax cut plan.
In 2019, the average member of the top 1% will receive a tax cut of $42,210 or 2.3% of their average income of $1.8 million. An average family in the bottom 60% of families will receive a cut of only $360 or only 1% of their average income of $34,100. By 2027, when most individual tax cuts expire the top 1% will still get an average tax cut of $7,040 a year while the bottom 60% pay, on average $100 more each year in taxes.
Why do the top 1% still benefit in 2026? Because they are the ones who own our corporations, and the Senate bill is primarily about giving unnecessary tax cuts to wealthy, huge corporations. They receive most of the benefit of tax cuts even though, once we take into account loopholes, the effective rate of corporate taxation is already at the same level as other advanced countries.
We don’t need to reward corporations to generate economic growth. Since 1952, corporate taxes as a share of all taxes have fallen from 5.9% to 1.9%. At the same time corporate profits as a share of the economy has risen from 5.5% to 8.5%. Business profits are near record highs, as are corporate savings while interest rates are near record lows, which means that businesses have little trouble finding funds to make additional investments.
This is no time to give tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy who have seen their incomes skyrocket or to repeal the ACA. It’s time to reward hard working lower- and middle-income Americans who have seen their wage stagnate.
Tell your Representative to say no to the GOP tax plan if it comes back to the House.
