[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 126 (Thursday, July 26, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1084]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    THE REPUBLICAN TAX SCAM AND THE WAR ON WORKING AND MIDDLE-CLASS 
                               AMERICANS

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                          HON. TERRI A. SEWELL

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 26, 2018

  Ms. SEWELL of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to address 
Americans' concerns over increasing income inequality that has been 
exasperated by the Republican Tax Scam bill. The so-called Tax Cuts and 
Jobs Act passed by Republicans last fall not only fails to provide a 
significant tax cut for working class and middle Americans, but it also 
increases the national deficit by $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years. 
Moreover, any marginal income tax reduction that it affords everyday 
Americans will disappear within the next few years.
   According to the Congressional Budget Office, 76 percent of 
Americans will actually experience an overall tax increase between now 
and 2027. It is my strong belief that providing tax relief to small 
business owners, entrepreneurs, and working-class families is key to 
creating a strong economy that works for everyone. But requiring 
working families to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and powerful will 
not promote real, sustainable economic growth.
   Here is what the Republican tax law will do: By 2027, Americans in 
the first, second, and third quintiles will have their taxes increased, 
while 83 percent of tax breaks will go to the top one percent. By 2027, 
86 million households (more than half of America's middle class) will 
see a tax increase. In Alabama, the richest 1 percent will see a $4,450 
tax cut, where the bottom 80 percent will see a $117 tax increase.
   We do not have to look back far into history to learn that these 
types of tax cuts hurt the American people. Ronald Reagan's 1981 tax 
cuts were followed by only 3.5 percent average growth between 1982 and 
1985, and required base broadening tax increases. Deficits from the 
Reagan tax cuts led to tax increases by George H.W. Bush in 1990. 
George W. Bush's tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 were followed by a 
precipitous decline in growth from 3.8 percent growth in 2004 down to 
-0.3 percent in 2008. The Bush tax cuts were also a major driver of the 
growing deficit, and widened income disparities.
   We also saw what happened in the state of Kansas when Republicans 
promised that dramatic cuts to business taxes would bring a new wave of 
economic growth and thousands of new jobs. Unsurprisingly, the economic 
growth was never realized and the state was forced to close schools, 
cut funding to public universities, cut funding to public services, and 
delay contributions to state pension funds.
   Columbia University Law professor Michael Graetz said, ``the 
historical record is pretty clear that tax cuts don't pay for 
themselves through economic growth.'' Despite this evidence, 
Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee rammed through a partisan 
tax scam bill, passed it through the House of Representatives without a 
single Democratic vote, and passed it through the Senate in the same 
fashion.
   As the Trump Administration calls for another round of tax cuts for 
the wealthy, I urge the President and my Republican colleagues to 
fulfill their promise to work together on bipartisan legislation that 
will truly benefit all Americans. We need bipartisan legislation that 
works to uphold America's strong middle class and provides underserved 
families with the assistance they deserve to escape the cycle of 
poverty and enter the workforce.

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