The candidates running for office in 2020 have offered up plenty of slogans and promises—but moms are hoping to hear more on how candidates will help relieve the financial squeeze working families are feeling.
Since President Trump and his Republican cronies in the U.S. Congress pushed through the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, moms and their families have been forced to make tough financial decisions—while mega-corporations and the super wealthy received an unprecedented windfall. Even though the economy appears to be doing well enough for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates for the first time in more than a decade, the rising costs of healthcare, childcare and even paying increased electricity bills for life-saving air conditioning as our planet warms are taking a toll on families.
That’s why at MomsRising, we’re demanding that lawmakers adopt a tax code that works for moms and families—and all working Americans.
These last few years, President Trump and Republicans in Congress have given massive, unreasonably excessive tax breaks to mega-wealthy corporations and billionaires. The rich are getting richer through huge tax breaks they don’t need. In the meantime, income inequality has soared to a level that we haven’t seen since the Great Depression. Consumer debt is on the rise, as is corporate borrowing.
Nearly 2 trillion dollars has also been added to our national debt because of Trump’s tax cuts—and it’s put funding for Medicaid, child care assistance and food stamps (SNAP) at greater risk. To make up for the lost revenue, some lawmakers are trying to slash programs that provide food, housing, education, health care, childcare and other vital programs that help families survive.
Republicans want more tax breaks for the wealthiest one percent, and they are willing to make devastating cuts to the programs working families rely on in order to pay for them.
You don’t need to be a tax accountant to add up these numbers. These policies mean more poverty, more hunger and homelessness, fewer children getting the education and childcare they need and fewer people getting the health care that can save their lives. It’s no wonder only 20 percent of women approve of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and that the rest of us are looking for an alternative that doesn’t leave working families behind. We’re tired of taking the hit so big corporations and the wealthiest individuals can get another un-needed tax break.
Moms want lawmakers to support programs that boost working families and make sure everyone pays their fair share of taxes, which means expanding and improving the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit, both of which have been proven to reduce poverty and improve prospects for children.
This is an issue of fundamental fairness, of what’s right and what’s wrong, and what the role of our government should be. It’s time to invest in our working families, and it’s time to put an end to a tax code that further enriches the wealthiest while leaving the rest of us behind.
Moms want a tax code, budget and set of fiscal policies that allow their families, communities, businesses and economy to thrive. Candidates running down the ballot in 2020 should take note—and remember that we all do better when moms and women do better.
