Campaign for America’s Future Urges Senators to Support Tax Cuts for 98%

Washington, DC – Campaign for America’s Future urges Senators to support tax cuts for 98 percent of Americans and to take steps to restore fairness in the tax system. Today the Senate is scheduled to vote on the Middle Class Tax Cut Act (S. 3412). The bill would extend the Bush-era tax cuts for 98 percent of state residents who make less than $250,000 in household income, but would allow the Bush tax cuts on income above that level, which benefit the richest 2 percent, to expire.

“It’s time we stop giving large tax cuts to those who need them the least at the expense of the middle- and lower-income Americans who are struggling to get by,” said Robert Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future. “The Senators who vote for the bill today want to ensure that every American pays their fair share.”

Ending the Bush tax cuts on household income above $250,000 would save the government nearly $1 trillion in the next decade, according to Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation, compared to extending all of the cuts. Wealthy people earning more than $1 million a year get an average tax break of $143,000 from the Bush tax cuts, but middle-class people making about $50,000 a year get an average tax break of only $1,000, according to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

“Opponents of this Bill essentially argue that the rich have too little money and the poor have too much,” said Robert Borosage, “When the rich get tax breaks they don’t need and the country can’t afford, the middle class has to make up the difference – that’s not right. ”

According to a Treasury Department report, fewer than 3 percent of small business owners make over $250,000 a year, so allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire for upper-income households would have a no measurable impact on jobs.

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