The Senate has voted on its version of tax reform. It is now in committee to be frantically reconciled with the House version so the House and Senate can both vote on the final bill version. This urgency is so that the President can give us “a big Christmas present!” 

Many Republican, and most Democratic, lawmakers don’t see this as a gift to any except the donor class and corporations who are already flooded with cash and profits. Right minded Republican senators and representatives are calling for more time to craft a truly good and fair tax reform bill, one that won’t tremendously worsen our national debt.

How will the national debt be paid for? By the low and middle class. This is what the tax reform bill will do for those classes:

1. According to the budget, Americans will see drastic cuts in Medicare, as benefits are cut by $25 billion in 2018, as a start. We will also see cuts to Social Security, public education, SNAP, Pell Grants, the EPA and much more.

2. The child tax credit is phased out by 2027, (only nine years).  Then everyone except the wealthy will see large tax increases.  Meanwhile the cut in rates for the top 1 percent, the elimination of the Alternative Minimum tax, the cut in the inheritance tax, and the corporate tax cuts are permanent. Note: from the very beginning, the bottom 60 percent of Georgians — families with incomes of about $62,000 or less, could wind up with average tax hikes of more than $200 each. (I’ve heard no complaints from our Georgia Delegation.)

3. The bill slashes the deduction of medical expenses.

4. It considers graduate scholarships as income and taxes them.

5. The tax bill sabotages the Affordable Care Act causing 13 million Americans to no longer be able to afford health care.

6. This tax bill opens up the Arctic to drilling?

7.  The bill increases the deficit by $1.4 trillion.

There is much to do to make this bill an honest and beneficial tax reform bill for all. But it can be done even at this last minute rush.  Call Sens. Johnny Isakson and David Perdue and Rep. Doug Collins and tell them to write the bill fairly. Stop this huge scam on  American voters.

Wilma Turner

Forsyth County