Fair Taxes For All Letter to House on H. Con. Res. 95 (Tax Cuts)

Recipient: Public

Oppose H. Con. Res. 95: Irresponsible Tax Cuts to Pay for Draconian Budget Cuts

March 18, 2003

Dear Member:

As co-chairs of the Fair Taxes For All Coalition, a network of more than 230 national, state and local organizations and coalitions – together representing millions of Americans – we are writing to urge your opposition to the irresponsible and inequitable budget plan (H. Con. Res. 95) reported by the House Budget Committee. That plan seriously undermines our nation’s ability to meet critical domestic and foreign responsibilities and does not offer adequate aid to financially strapped states. Moreover, it is unconscionable to vote on a budget resolution at a time when the costs of a war and its aftermath are unknown and have not been included in the budget plan.

Indeed, the tax and budget plan approved by the House Budget Committee provides the clearest evidence to date of the intent to balance tax breaks for millionaires on the backs of poor and middle-income families. Under that plan, $1.6 trillion in tax cuts over the next decade would be funded by cuts in essential programs such as Medicare ($214 billion in cuts), Medicaid ($ 95 billion in cuts), veterans ($15 billion in cuts), food stamps ($12 billion in cuts), farm programs ($7 billion in cuts) and many more.

The Fair Taxes For All Coalition is a massive coalition of coalitions that has signed the attached Statement of Principles opposing the tax cuts proposed by the administration – and now included in the Budget Committee’s mark – as too large, too inequitable, and poorly designed to meet the need for jobs creation, state fiscal stability, and other urgent domestic and foreign responsibilities.

The economic priorities embedded in the House Budget Committee mark are out of touch with Americans’ lives. They shortchange economic security, and the hopes for the future, of millions of ordinary Americans, in order to provide tax breaks for a handful of the wealthiest in our country. They represent an irresponsible, reckless, and inequitable, blueprint for our nation’s economy that should be firmly rejected.

Sincerely,

Ralph G. Neas
People for the American Way

Wade Henderson
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights

Chuck Loveless
American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees

Jeff Blum
USAction

Nancy Duff Campbell
National Women’s Law Center

Roger Hickey
Campaign for America’s Future