Right now leaders in Congress are debating a package that would provide $4.5 trillion in tax cuts to large corporations and billionaires like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg – and they plan to pay for it by cutting essential tools families and businesses need to thrive like: health care, public education, nutrition assistance, and child care. This is not okay. 70% of their tax plan benefits go to the richest 5%, while costs will go up for hardworking families, who will feel the impact of budget cuts and tariff hikes the most. This will only raise costs overall, increase grocery bills, and hurt our economy.
Our leaders should make sure the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share in taxes in order to ensure everyone can go to work, raise kids, and contribute to our communities. This means advancing a permanent Child Tax Credit, as well as child care, health care, nutrition assistance, care for the aging and people with disabilities, and paid family and medical leave. Our tax contributions aren't just expenses—they're investments in the systems that allow all of us to thrive.
Our country is swiftly becoming less safe for regular folks (i.e., non-billionaires) and paying one’s fair share of taxes is not only affordable for the super wealthy, it’s the ethical responsibility and morally just thing to do now, in the midst of the widening gap between them and everyone else. Appealing to the conscience of those who consider themselves deserving of their amassed wealth (and by extension, others deserving to struggle) is an insufficient means to reach the just society Americans fight for. We need legal protections too, and the role of Congress is to ensure laws are just for all.
Urge electeds to do what’s right by the country!
Laila Taslimi
