Civil and Human Rights Coalition Slams Trump’s Tax Plan

WASHINGTON—Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement following President Trump’s tax announcement:

“President Trump’s tax announcement today was light on details but one thing is clear – it’s about tax cuts for the wealthy at the expense of working families, especially communities of color. At a time when big corporations are enjoying record profits and already fail to pay their fair share of taxes, he wants to cut them an even bigger slice of the pie. This isn’t tax reform; it’s a tax giveaway for the wealthy and big corporations.

“Anyone who genuinely cares about working families should support closing tax loopholes that benefit the wealthy and ask the wealthy to pay their fair share so we can invest that money in our communities and families. Instead, the Trump administration is proposing budget and tax plans that would starve our country of the funds needed to pay for vital programs like Meals on Wheels, education, affordable housing, and workforce training programs.

“Trump’s proposal on child care is also tailor made to benefit the wealthy. As the National Women’s Law Center has noted, Trump’s child care plan would give more tax breaks to the wealthy than to working families, and it fails to support better child care options for the vast majority of Americans. Conspicuously absent today was his so-called $1 trillion plan to invest in infrastructure, which is largely a fiction as it’s based almost entirely on tax credits to multinational corporations and billionaire Wall Street firms rather than direct investments in infrastructure. Notably, Trump’s infrastructure plan would also hand over control of public goods like roads and bridges to wealthy private investors in the process.

“A more equitable tax system, where the wealthy pay their fair share, would help ensure that our nation can make the necessary investments to grow our economy and create jobs. With his budget and tax proposals, President Trump has shown that he’s more interested in supporting the powerful, and not the middle class and those aspiring to join the middle class.”

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its 200-plus member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.