What the TRUMP Tax Plan means to All Americans, Especially Those with Medical Issues

ALL Americans need you to call your member of Congress. They need to hear loud and clear that this plan is bad news for retirees and anyone who isn’t a millionaire.

With the fact that 10,000 Americans turn 65 every day, 51 Republican Senators voted to cut retiree health benefits earned over a lifetime to provide an unneeded windfall to the top 1%. They seem determined to create a retirement crisis that will take decades to reverse.

We need to make sure everyone realizes how devastating this TAX plan is.

Besides the automatic cuts to Medicare, this bill:

•        Gives a massive tax cut to millionaires and corporations. Over 60% of the tax cuts go to the richest 1%.

•        Raises taxes on 67 million middle-class families making less than $100,000 a year.

•        Strips 13 million Americans of their health insurance and raises insurance premiums by $2,000 on average for millions of people on the individual market.

•        Adds $1 trillion to the national debt, which will result in cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and education.

•        Reduces the popular state and local tax deductions used by millions of middle-class families.

•        Hands a $500 billion tax break to multinational corporations that have stashed $2.6 trillion in untaxed profits offshore.

Fight back now by calling your member of Congress and telling them to vote against this Tax Scam.

# # #

How to Contact Your Elected Officials * https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials

# # #

The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) 

Dec 4th Press Release!

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is very close to reaching President Trump’s desk and becoming law. NOW is the time to call your Representative and tell them to OPPOSE this dangerous bill!

• Key Provisions for People with Disabilities in the House and Senate Tax Bills – Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities
• The Top 5 Reasons the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is Bad for People with Disabilities – Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities

The Senate tax bill is extremely dangerous to the well-being of people with disabilities.

• Tax cuts open the door for cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, Supplemental Security Income, and other services that benefit people with disabilities. While neither the House nor Senate tax bill includes direct cuts to these services, cuts are expected to follow to offset the $1.5 trillion added to the deficit due to providing large tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans. Medicaid and other disability services were the target of intense cuts over the summer through the various Affordable Care Act (ACA) repeal bills proposed in the House and Senate. There is no doubt that these same services remain on the chopping block to help pay for the proposed tax cuts.
• The Senate bill eliminates the Affordable Care Act (ACA) individual mandate. The individual mandate helps make health insurance affordable. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that 13 million people would lose access to affordable coverage by 2027 if the individual mandate were eliminated. Furthermore, insurance premiums would rise by 10%, which amounts to an increase of hundreds of dollars per year for nearly 7 million middle-income Americans and by over $1,000 per year for seniors, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).
• The Senate bill benefits the wealthiest Americans while the poorest would be worse off. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report which found that Americans earning less than $100,000 a year would, ultimately, not benefit from the proposed tax cuts. According to a Washington Post analysis of the CBO report, “By 2019, Americans earning less than $30,000 a year would be worse off under the Senate bill, CBO found. By 2021, Americans earning $40,000 or less would be net losers, and by 2027, most people earning less than $75,000 a year would be worse off. On the flip side, millionaires and those earning $100,000 to $500,000 would be big beneficiaries, according to the CBO’s calculations.”

 
The House bill is also damaging as it proposes to eliminate several tax deductions and credits that benefit people with disabilities. These include:

• The Medical Expense Deduction: This tax deduction allows people to deduct large, unreimbursed medical and dental expenses that exceed 10% of their income. Approximately 8.8 million people utilize this deduction, 70% of which have an income at $70,000 or lower. Most filings are around $10,000 by people with high healthcare costs, which largely includes people with disabilities, chronic health conditions, and other medical conditions. People are allowed to deduct expenses for a variety of expenses including treatments, surgeries, medications, and medical travel.
• The Disabled Access Credit and Barrier Removal Tax Deduction: Businesses that accommodate people with disabilities may qualify for tax credits and deductions including the Disabled Access Credit and the Barrier Removal Tax Deduction. This credit and deduction incentivizes small businesses to make their businesses accessible for disabled people. Small businesses can claim a 50% credit per year for expenditures between $250 and $10,250 that increase access and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
• The Work Opportunity Tax Credit: This federal tax credit is available to employers for hiring individuals from certain target groups (including disabled people who receive services from Vocational Rehabilitation, SSI recipients, returning citizens, veterans, and long-term unemployment compensation recipients) who have consistently faced significant barriers to employment. The current tax credit for hiring a person with a disability can be as high as $2,400 for a business.

 
The final version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act could contain any of these harmful provisions from the Senate and House bills.

While neither tax bill includes direct cuts to Medicaid or other disability services, these cuts are expected to follow to offset the roughly $1.5 trillion added to the deficit due to providing large tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans. Medicaid and other disability services were the target of intense cuts over the summer through the various Affordable Care Act (ACA) repeal bills proposed in the House and Senate. There is no doubt that these same services remain on the chopping block to help pay for the proposed tax cuts.

SOURCE: The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)