Dear Majority Leader McConnell and Minority Leader Schumer:
We, the undersigned faith leaders representing the Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Sikh, Buddhist and other faith traditions and denominations across the country, express our strong opposition to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act adopted by the Senate Finance Committee. This bill violates our moral principles of equality, justice, and fairness.
We call on Congress to oppose the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act due to our strong belief that this bill is fiscally irresponsible, endangers our country’s economic health, and disproportionately benefits the wealthy at the expense of vulnerable people and low-income families. Moreover,we have grave concerns over the manner in which such a large and complex bill, affecting the entire economy and millions of Americans, is being recklessly rushed through Congress.
The Senate Tax Bill does not reflect the priorities of the faith community.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act fails to include proposals that lift struggling workers and families out of poverty. The bill fails to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit even though millions of low income workers are currently taxed into poverty because they do not qualify for the credit.Likewise, the Child Tax Credit is significantly expanded for high income workers but not forlow-income working families. Worse, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminates the child tax credit for immigrant taxpayers whose children do not have social security numbers. This threatens to drive millions of children and mixed-status families into poverty. Targeting immigrant families in this way contradicts our call to care for the vulnerable, especially children.
The flow of benefits show misguided priorities.
While specifics may vary, the general framework for these tax reform efforts reveals a common theme: corporations and the wealthiest in our nation will receive the lion’s share of the benefits at the expense of people experiencing poverty and low-income working families. TheJoint Committee on Taxation found that under the current Senate plan, taxes on households earning $20,000 to $30,000 experience a 13% tax increase beginning in 2021. By 2027, these taxpayers would see a 25% tax hike. At the same time, households with incomes above one million dollars will receive an average tax cut of $43,300.
This public letter to the senate leaders goes on to detail other faults in the bill:
Repeal of the individual mandate undermines the right to healthcare.
The current Tax Cut and Jobs Act is fiscally irresponsible.
The Tax Bill would negatively affect charities by altering the rules about charitable deductions.
The signers go on for ninety pages. Lift every voice and resist!
UPDATE: I used this in my phone call to Senator Ernst’s office, saying Ernst could refer to it to give a NO vote moral authority. The staffer sounded sympathetic and let me send her the statement, and replied promptly thanking me for the follow up!