Labor unions call for repeal of Trump tax cuts

America’s major labor unions say they are tired of President Trump’s tax cuts and want them repealed.

Unions including the United Auto Workers (UAW), AFL-CIO, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Screen Actors Guild of America (SAG-AFTRA), and the National Education Association joined dozens of progressive groups on Tuesday to They sent a letter to Congressional leaders calling President Trump’s cuts unfair and irresponsible fiscal policy.

The Trump tax law, known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), provides “large, permanent cuts in corporate taxes and temporary cuts in personal and estate taxes that primarily benefit the wealthy.” , eroding tax revenues,” they wrote to Congress. Leadership and Chief Tax Preparation Committee Head.

Individual provisions of the Trump tax cuts are set to expire next year, and the 2024 election will determine whether they are renewed, amended or repealed entirely. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that extending individual cuts would cost $3.3 trillion through 2035.

But unions say they want to follow the lead of other progressive groups and think beyond the question of whether to extend the extension, and instead overhaul the tax system.

“Tax reform should result in a more progressive tax code that requires high-income and wealthy households, corporations, and Wall Street to pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes than they would have had the TCJA not existed. ” they said. .

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) backed up the unions’ claims in 2019, finding that “individual income tax cuts were primarily targeted at higher-income earners.”

The TCJA’s reduction in the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% did not lead to an increase in real wages for workers, and real wage growth in 2018 was slower than overall labor compensation growth.

“This…indicates that there has been little wage growth for ordinary workers,” the CRS determined.

One provision set to expire next year is the inheritance and gift tax exemption, which was increased from $5.6 million to $11.8 million per person. In 2024, the tax exemption amount will be $13.61 million per person and $27.22 million per couple.

A return to previous levels would “significantly increase the number of estates subject to federal estate tax and increase the estate tax burden on estates already subject to estate tax,” according to an analysis by LPL Financial. .

Conservatives have also proposed several major and unconventional tax reforms in recent years, most notably a proposal to replace the tax code with a flat 23% sales tax on all consumption.

“This is an idea whose time has come,” the congressman said. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) told The Hill in an interview last week.

“Probably the most hated tax of all is the payroll tax,” he says. “We all recognize and recognize that we all have to pay taxes and we all have to support the government, but we want a sales tax that we can control.”

Tax cuts have been a centerpiece of Republican economic policy for decades, with significant tax cuts enacted during the Trump, Bush, and Reagan administrations.