Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Bob Casey (DEM) called the tax bill a “raw deal for Pennsylvania families.”
“The GOP tax scheme leaves the middle class with the short end of the stick while the super-rich and big corporations get a windfall. Instead of reauthorizing the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which has now expired, or investing in infrastructure like our roads and bridges to create jobs, congressional Republicans have passed a tax plan that gives over $36 billion dollars in 2019 to the country’s richest 572,000 households – those making over $1 million a year. The 90 million American households making under $50,000 a year will only see a fraction of that,” Casey said in a statement released by his office Tuesday night.
He went on to say “this whole scheme is a gut punch to the middle class. And now, Republicans in the House and the Senate are saying their next step is to go after Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. I will not stand by as Republicans in Washington plot to cut these vital programs for the middle class, especially after they passed into law these tax giveaways for big corporations and the super-rich.”
The $1.5 trillion package would lower the corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, which supporters argue will make American business more competitive overseas. It would also double the standard deduction and replace personal exemptions with a $2,000 partly refundable child tax credit.
Still, many democrats argue it benefits the rich while offering little for the middle class.
The bill could land on the president’s desk today.
