Last night, Senate voted to begin debate on the “Tax Cuts and Job Act” in a strict party-line vote, marking the start of 20 hours of debate, which resumes at 10:30am EST Thursday. It is CRITICAL that we continue to voice our concerns to Senate, even as this debate continues.
This week, call your Senators and write to them to demand they VOTE NO on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Hi, my name is [NAME]. I vote in [State] and I live in [country of residence].
I do not support the tax bill and urge you to vote NO when it comes to a vote in the Senate. Analysts on all sides admit the bill gives large, permanent tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations, paid for by stripping thousands and thousands of people of their health care and raising taxes on middle class families. No matter how many times I hear it it I simply don’t believe the tax cuts will trickle down to average Americans.
If you want to highlight a particular issue that concerns you: I am especially concerned about [see links below for some details]
If you want to highlight issues specific to Americans abroad: I am also concerned that the bill once again includes no provisions whatsoever to address the tax problems of Americans like me who live abroad. Filing taxes on income earned abroad is incredibly complex, expensive and unjust. Many of us pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for help filing the forms that show there is no tax to pay, and those of us who do owe are paying tax on the same dollar of income to both the US and our country of residence. [Personal story about your tax situation, if you have one.]
If the US had a system of residency-based taxation, like nearly every other nation, then I’d still be required to report my US-based income to the IRS, but not the income I make in and pay tax on to [name of country].
I understand that there are some potential amendments that may address this during the debate process, but they have yet to be made public. We need the Senator to be fighting on this issue, and we need to ensure that reform IS addressed and is done so in a way that is revenue neutral, boosts opportunity and helps reduce inequality.
If your Senator is a Democrat: It’s not enough just to vote no, he/she needs to actively work to slow down the Trump Tax Scam and expose it for the scam it is. Democrats started withholding consent during the health care fight—and it worked.
This bill doesn’t help me or any working class American. Please vote NO on the Senate’s tax reform bill. Thank you
MORE INFO
Many details still have to be worked out during this debate, which is why we won’t have a firm idea of exactly what the bill features until just before the final vote. But based on what we’ve seen until this point, we know that the bill will be bad for the country, bad for middle class Americans and the poor, bad for women and minorities, and bad for our national security.
The GOP Bill in its current state:
We are also aware that Sen Heller (R-NV) has put forward two “place holder” amendments (see Heller Amendments 9 and 10) that may be specific to foreign earned income, and Sen Paul (R-KY) may also propose an amendment to repeal FATCA. However, none of this has yet been made public or scored. We commend any discussion around these issues that will bring attention to the concerns of Americans overseas, and we will continue to push hard on this issue. That being said, we have yet to have any details that would allow us to review properly, and we will not be able to support an overall tax bill that cheats so much of the country for the gains of the .1%. We look forward to closely watching the debate for further updates on this issue in particular.
As always, our aim is to turn tiny actions into big results, so we hope we can continue to count on your help! Do you have suggestions for our next tiny action? Email info at democratsabroad dot org and let us know.