October 23, 2018 Press Releases

FACT CHECK: ROSKAM’S TAX BILL WAS A MASSIVE GIVEAWAY TO BIG CORPORATIONS & THE WEALTHY AT THE EXPENSE OF THE MIDDLE CLASS

Now GOP leaders want to pay for Roskam’s tax scam by cutting Social Security & Medicare

(Downers Grove, IL)  October 22, 2018 – Peter Roskam just tried to misrepresent the impact of the Trump tax bill, which he and his Republican colleagues jammed through Congress without a single Democratic vote but here are the facts:

  1. Peter Roskam’s Trump tax law was a “significant tax break for the very wealthy” and “a massive tax cut for corporations.” [Washington Post, 12/15/17]

  2. 83% of the law’s benefits go to the wealthy at the expense of the middle class. [Tax Policy Center, 12/18/17]

  3. The law eliminated the SALT deduction, which nearly 50% of 6th District households depended on. 49.3% of Households in IL-06 used the SALT deduction in 2014, more than all but 11 Congressional Districts across the country. [Tax Policy Center, 6/13/17]

  4. Peter Roskam’s Trump tax law will raise taxes on 86 million middle class households. [NY Times, 11/30/17]

    • More than 1 in 5 people making $40,000 to $50,000 per year would see a tax hike by 2027 [NPR, 11/14/17]

  1. The tax scam added $1.9 trillion to the deficit that GOP leaders want to pay for with cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

    • “The US federal budget deficit jumped to $779 billion in fiscal year 2018, the highest level since 2012, according to the Treasury Department. As the GOP tax bill and massive spending agreement took hold, the deficit for fiscal year 2018, which ran from October 2017 through September 2018, was 17% wider than 2017’s and totaled 3.9% of GDP. According to the Treasury, revenue grew by just 0.4% as spending grew by 3.2%.” [Business Insider, 10/15/18]

  1. While Republicans promised every American would see a $4000 increase in their paychecks, wages for American workers in non-supervisory roles have decreased and corporations have used their profits for record-breaking stock buybacks and “eye-popping payouts.”

  2. Roskam’s tax scam was so damaging that the majority of the Illinois Congressional Delegation sent a letter to Governor Rauner urging him to “mitigate the disastrous impact the Republican tax bill will have on Illinoisans.”

  3. The Koch Brothers stand to benefit from $1.4 billion in tax breaks thanks to Peter Roskam. To pay Roskam back, the billionaire Koch Brothers are investing lots of money in Peter Roskam’s campaign. [Americans for Tax Fairness, 1/24/18, Chicago Tribune, 8/30/18]