November 30, 2017

Duckworth Statement on Senate GOP Tax Bill Vote

 

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - After voting against the GOP tax "plan" written in secret last night with virtually no debate or time for Senators to read the legislative text, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) released this statement:

"I've long said we need to pass tax reform, but reforms need to focus on helping our nation's small businesses and middle-class families, not Donald Trump's well-connected, ultra-wealthy friends and family. Working Americans and small businesses-not mega-corporations-deserve a break, and it is so disheartening to see Wall Street once again benefiting at the expense of Main Street. We know better, and Senate Republicans should know better."

According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the Senate Republican tax bill will leave people making less than $75,000 a year paying higher taxes than they do now while saving billions of dollars for the small number of American households earning more than $1 million a year. The legislation would also eliminate the state and local tax deduction that nearly 2 million Illinoisans - roughly one third of Illinois taxpayers - rely on to avoid being taxed twice on their hard-earned income. The repeal of the state and local corporate tax deduction will also discourage companies from relocating to Illinois and to cities like Chicago, undermining the city's bid for businesses like Amazon to settle there.