I often join you in asking our government to review and clean up our complex, and oftentimes, irresponsible tax and spending policies. So many families I have met wrestle with how they can manage paycheck-to-paycheck. Come tax time, we express uncertainty and nervousness about what our burden will be. It’s past time to review our tax code and the demands it makes on working families. We all agree on that.
The Republicans agree. Only they look to take advantage of their majority to advance their trickle-down economic agenda that notably benefits the wealthy donor class and the President. We need to talk openly about what the Republican tax plan promises, how it will affect our families, and why it matters to elect leadership locally that understands the importance of fiscal responsibility. There are no modern examples of the trickle-down economic logic ever working to help working families. None.
The Republican tax-plan has been described as “the biggest wealth-grab in modern history.” A poll by CBS News found that 66% of Americans said they think this tax-plan gives wealth to corporations.That same poll found that 69% of Americans said it would benefit the wealthy. I think so too.
This tax plan hurts students by taxing tuition waivers for graduate students working and teaching at their universities. It hurts access to healthcare by removing medical and dental deductions. It hurts families by removing the personal exemption rule that includes adult members of a family. All of this to help make up for money lost by giving corporations and the wealthy more tax breaks and benefits.
How does the proposed tax plan affect you and your family? Would you still value a potential short-term tax break this year while seeing a sharp increase in your taxes over the next ten? For those who work independently, like myself and roughly 1/3 of the country, are you interested in losing your ability to make substantial deductions that corporations will continue to make? How about losing your mortgage loan deduction? Cost of college deduction for working families struggling already to make tuition? What is your story? While the details of the tax plan remain in flux, its fundamental shape will not change. Nor will its $1.5 trillion of new deficit funding, the amount stipulated in the recently passed budget resolution.
I am running to represent the 13th District of North Carolina because I want to see meaningful change that impacts the healthcare, jobs and education opportunities for all of us and the communities who feel the weight of the wealthy using their influence to structure a system that brings the wealthy more resources and the rest of us, less. Our Republican congressman says he’s going to vote in favor of his party’s plan. That’s not the what this constituent wants.
Join me as my campaign drives a smart, thoughtful economic agenda forward that focuses on the issues that matter to the people of our state and the people of our nation: fair taxes, access to affordable quality healthcare, jobs that sustain a family, and education that gives hope to our next generation.
Together, let’s move our state and our nation forward.
