December 2017 U.S. Poverty Action
Write Letters to Congress to Stop Cuts to Anti-Poverty Programs to Pay for Tax Cuts
House and Senate leaders are moving quickly to pass massive tax legislation. The plan jeopardizes the future of essential basic health, nutrition, education and other programs for- low and moderate-income Americans by enacting huge tax cuts for the rich and running up the deficit. On top of that, the plan intentionally excludes 10 million low-income children in working families from new changes to the Child Tax Credit, and would cause 1.3 million low-income immigrant children to lose the CTC altogether.
One crucial detail has been missing from most of the coverage of the tax plan: who will end up paying for the massive tax cuts for corporations and the rich. It’s the lowest-income, most vulnerable Americans. Even before the ink is dry on their tax plan, lawmakers are already demanding cuts to federal programs that help millions of Americans put food on the table, get affordable health care, and make ends meet. How do we know? Because we’ve seen the same pattern all year, from the many harmful heath care bills to both the House and Senate budget resolutions. All have threatened critical anti-poverty programs — whether through direct funding cuts or devastating structural changes.
This is plain wrong – and it’s time to get that message in print. Now is the time to act, before the momentum to gut the safety net has started. Will you send a letter to the editor urging your members of Congress to reject any efforts to cut anti-poverty programs to pay for tax cuts for the rich? Use the template below to craft a letter of your own and send it today!
To the editor:
It’s clear who will benefit from the new tax plan in Washington: the rich. What we’re hearing less about is who will pay the consequences – and that’s hardworking, low-income Americans.
This year we’ve already seen attempts to gut essential programs like Medicaid and SNAP (formerly Food Stamps). So after giving away $1.4 trillion in tax breaks to millionaires, those same critical programs will wind up back on the chopping block. With one in eight Americans below the poverty line, this is both bad public policy and just plain wrong. I am counting on our congressional delegation to reject efforts to gut basic assistance to pay for tax breaks for the rich.
[Your name]
More Media Tools
- Never written a letter to the editor before? Here’s a step-by-step guide.
- Ready to take the next step with an op-ed? Here’s an editable template to get you started. Be sure to customize and make it your own!
- Interested in reaching out to your editorial board? Here’s a media memo on the tax plan.
- Check out your incredible work so far this year: almost 400 pieces of media in 48 states, calling on Congress to protect anti-poverty programs.
