ITEP: Tax Cuts for Millionaires in the CARES Act Violate Public Trust
news releaseFollowing is a statement by Amy Hanauer, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, regarding a newly released Joint Committee on Taxation report revealing that taxpayers earning more than $1 million annually will receive 82 percent of a $170 billion tax provision included in the CARES Act.
“Public trust and the broad agreement that families and communities needed immediate relief from the economic crisis allowed the $2.2 trillion economic relief package to move quickly through Congress. Yet during a crisis in which thousands have lost their lives and millions are losing their jobs, their health care and their retirement security, some of our lawmakers snuck in tax benefits for the nation’s richest families.
“COVID-19 is exposing deep inequities and provoking an overdue discussion about what kind of country we want to be. To achieve a more equitable society requires a tax system that raises enough from those most able to pay so we can invest in public health, state and local government, and other critical priorities. A continued policy focus on the wealthy and corporations will return us to the deeply unequal society that has made so many working families economically vulnerable in the first place. We deserve an America that works for all of us and elected officials who will put the needs of the vast majority of us first.”
To learn more about the provision in the CARES Act, read: Partying Like It’s 2017: How Congress Went Overboard on Helping Businesses with Losses