NATIONAL COALITION FIGHTING FOR TAX FAIRNESS LAUNCHES “TWEET YOUR SENATOR” CAMPAIGN AS DRASTIC CUTS APPROACH WITHOUT ACTION
Online tool allows people to Tweet their Senator: TX EXAMPLE: @SenTedCruz & @JohnCornyn: Vote to cut tax loopholes, not jobs, education & health care. #JobsNotCuts”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Americans for Tax Fairness, a national coalition representing more than 275 groups pressing for a fairer tax system, launched a national Twitter campaign for folks across the country to ramp up the pressure on Congress to act ahead of the expected U.S. Senate vote. The effort comes as Congress has days to act before March 1 to avoid $85 billion in arbitrary, across-the-board federal cuts—called a sequester—that will result in the loss of 750,000 jobs nationwide in 2013, according to the Congressional Budget Office. To view the online campaign or to sign up and Tweet your Senator visit: http://bit.ly/XGEQ6n
“As more and more folks use the Internet and turn to Twitter for their news, we’re making it as easy as possible for them to send a clear message to their elected officials. This is a critical moment and Congress must act to prevent millions of Americans from getting hit by deep cuts to vital services, all while allowing the rich and big corporations to reap the benefits from special-interest tax loopholes,” said Bill Gordon, digital director, Americans for Tax Fairness. “It’s time we start helping our kids and veterans rather than giving tax breaks to corporations like GE and Verizon that get away with paying no income taxes. We should ask millionaires to pay at least as high a tax rate as their secretaries, instead of cutting education funding for our children.”
About two-thirds of the $85 billion in federal spending cuts could be prevented if Congress enacted the “Buffett Rule,” which would require that people who make at least $1 million a year pay a 30% minimum tax – just slightly above the 28% marginal tax rate of millions of middle-class Americans. This would raise $54 billion.
A recent national survey by Hart Research shows 66% of voters nationwide now say that the richest 2% should pay more in taxes and 64% of voters believe large corporations should pay more in taxes. Congress has already cut $2.50 in spending for every $1 it has raised in new revenues; they have already achieved $2.4 trillion in deficit reduction since 2011, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Of that amount, about $1.5 trillion has come from spending cuts and another $600 billion from new revenues on the richest 1%, with the remainder coming from related interest savings on the debt.
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