WASHINGTON – Dozens of progressive organizations from across the United States descended on the nation’s capital on Wednesday to advocate for “tax justice” before Congress faces the daunting task of rewriting the tax code in 2025.
Led by a coalition called Fair Share America, state and national stakeholders urged lawmakers to raise the corporate tax rate and ensure that those earning over $400,000 annually “pay their fair share.”
Organizers from 20 states spread out across the Capitol, meeting individually and speaking publicly with lawmakers and testifying before senators.
Kristen Crowell, the coalition’s executive director, said advocates traveled to Washington to “make sure our representatives know that we know exactly how this tax fraud has impacted our communities at the local level.”
“We are organizing. We are building a multi-ethnic, multi-sector organization that has real people power on the ground so that they can’t make deals behind closed doors without us holding them accountable,” Crowell said at a vast news conference of lawmakers and stakeholders outside the U.S. House of Representatives that was eventually thinned out because of rain.
Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado told the crowd they were “the only antidote to the special interests that are coming into this Capitol.”
“This is the beginning of a long fight for tax fairness in this country and we are really glad you are here,” said Bennet, a Democratic member of the Senate Finance Committee.
Representative Lloyd Doggett of Texas, a senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, co-chaired the press conference and urged the crowd to prepare for the “Super Bowl of taxes.”
A group of 61 care advocacy groups among the visiting organizations called for tax revenues – raised by raising taxes on the wealthy – to be used to fund child care and care for the elderly and disabled.
One of their leaders, Ai-jen Poo, president of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, attested Wednesday afternoon before the Subcommittee on Economic Policy of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.
“By requiring the wealthiest individuals and wealthy corporations to pay their fair share, lawmakers can use the tax code to support sound public investments, such as guaranteed access to early childhood education (including child care and preschool), comprehensive paid family and medical leave, robust aging and disability care, and good jobs for all caregivers,” the Care Can’t Wait coalition wrote in a letter to Congressional leadership prior to the subcommittee hearing.
Harris and Trump: Tax promises
The advocates’ coordinated visit comes as Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are making sweeping tax promises ahead of the November presidential election.
Before his rally on Long Island, New York, Wednesday evening, Trump explained on his social media platform Truth Social that he would eliminate the $10,000 cap on the state and local tax deduction, also known as SALT. The deduction was part of Trump’s 2017 tax law, which expires in 2025.
“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU HAVE TO LOSE? VOTE FOR TRUMP! I will turn things around, bring back SALT, cut your taxes and so much more,” he posted on Tuesday.
A full SALT deduction is more valuable for higher-income taxpayers, and before the 2017 cap, 91% of taxpayers claiming it lived in California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Texas and Pennsylvania, according to a analysis from the Tax Foundation.
Pennsylvania is a crucial swing state in the presidential race, and several contested races for U.S. House seats in New York could aid decide which party gains control of the chamber.
Before this change in his program, Trump had advocated an extension of the 2017 tax reform beyond its expiration date in 2025, with the addition of a lasting reduction in the corporate tax rate to 15 percent.
Analyses out of several Economists It is estimated that a comprehensive extension would raise the federal deficit by about $2 trillion to $6 trillion over the next decade.
Trump has also promised to eliminate taxes on tips, benefits and overtime.
Asked about the impact of Trump’s tax proposals on the federal deficit, Republican Senator John Thune of South Dakota, who is eyeing the position of Senate majority leader if the Republicans take power, told reporters on Wednesday: “We are already beginning to have some of those conversations. What would be the impact of some of these changes? And what would be the trade-offs that would result from them?”
Harris’s “opportunity economy” program includes plans to make lasting a pandemic-era expansion of the child tax credit and provide an additional $6,000 tax credit for novel parents. Like President Joe Biden’s budget proposal, Harris also promises not to raise taxes on people earning less than $400,000 a year.
When Speaking of In an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists on Tuesday, Harris revived an earlier Biden administration promise to cap child care costs at 7% of household income.
“When you think about the benefits to the economy as a whole, it strengthens our economy when we address things like affordable child care, affordable home health care and expanding the child tax credit,” Harris told the association at a discussion in Philadelphia.
The National Women’s Law Center Action Fund, one of the advocacy groups on Capitol Hill, said Wednesday that Harris’ plan would be “transformative” for families.
Harris also promises to raise the corporate tax rate to 28% from the current 21%, tax long-term capital gains at 28%, give first-time home buyers a $25,000 tax credit and give novel compact businesses a $50,000 deduction for startup costs. She has also signed on to a pledge to eliminate the tax on tips.
Organizers on Capitol Hill on Wednesday represented groups from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
Jennifer Shutt contributed to this report.
