Alabama Arise, 55 partner groups urge Congress to oppose more tax cuts for wealthy households

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), enacted in 2017, increased federal deficits by nearly $2 trillion while lavishing tax cuts on the country’s wealthiest households. Many TCJA provisions are set to expire this year, including numerous provisions that disproportionately benefit wealthy people. Alabama Arise joined 55 partner organizations in a letter asking Alabama’s congressional delegation to oppose additional tax cuts for wealthy households and to support expansions of tax provisions that support working people and families. The full text of the letter is below.

Letter text

Dear Senators Tuberville and Britt and Representatives Aderholt, Rogers, Sewell, Palmer, Moore, Strong and Figures:

Congratulations on your election to the 119th Congress. As you know, the new Administration and Congressional Majority have made plans to prioritize extending and potentially expanding the 2017 tax law (Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or TCJA), which is set to expire. We urge you to use the expiration of these provisions as an opportunity to address long-standing inequities with our tax code and to raise more revenue to meet our country’s current obligations and address critical unmet needs.

No matter what you look like or where you’re from, we all believe in caring for our families and community. People in our state work hard and are watching what happens in Congress. We give our all in so many ways: working as teachers, delivery drivers and nurses, volunteering at the local food bank or neighborhood cleanup, and caring for our friends and loved ones. Regardless of who they voted for in November, the vast majority of Americans were not voting to give another tax cut to the wealthy, or for another corporate tax cut.

The 2017 tax law failed in many ways, and there’s no mandate to repeat the mistakes of the past.

The proponents of these tax cuts said big corporate tax cuts would trickle down to big increases in wages for workers – but the typical worker got nothing from it.
They said the bill would pay for itself – but it actually increased the deficit by $2 trillion.
They said the tax cuts would create jobs – but the evidence doesn’t show that.

If Congress decides to give new corporate tax cuts and extend other provisions of the TCJA, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says it would increase deficits by about $7.5 trillion over 10 years. We also know that the Administration’s tax plan favors the rich. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that it would lead “to a tax cut for the richest 5 percent of Americans and a tax increase for the other 95 percent of Americans.”

Americans want you to meet the moment and put the future and well-being of all of us ahead of tax cuts for the wealthy and well-connected. Alabamians prioritize funding services and taxing the wealthy by a wide, bipartisan margin. According to a recent survey:

75% of Alabamians support raising taxes on wealthy corporations.
75% of Alabamians support raising taxes on the wealthiest households in the nation.
76% of Alabamians support raising taxes on households earning more than $400,000 annually.
73% of Alabamians support increasing child tax credits for Alabama families.

Our 56 collective organizations work daily to reduce poverty, expand economic opportunity and create good jobs here in Alabama. Our missions speak directly to the importance of how you and the new Congress act on taxes in the next few months.

The tax code is one of our most powerful tools to shape the economy, but it too often has been used to divide us. For too long, the tax code has been slanted toward the wealthy and large corporations, and the economy, our country, and communities and families across Alabama have suffered as a result. The expiration of key provisions of the TCJA in 2025 is a rare opportunity to unite the vast majority of people who want to correct longstanding inequity in our tax code, and to help produce an economy that works for all Americans.

We urge you and all members of the Alabama delegation to reject renewed or expanded tax cuts for the wealthiest people in our society. And we urge you instead to provide meaningful tax reductions for ordinary families in Alabama and nationwide through an expanded Child Tax Credit and expanded Earned Income Tax Credit.

We appreciate your service and look forward to watching your efforts in the new year.