December 10, 2017

The House and Senate each passed their own version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which means that now a conference committee must work out the differences between each bill to produce a final version. The private House and Senate Conferences will be meeting all week. A three hour meeting between the House and Senate Conferences is scheduled for December 13, 2017.

Senate Conferees:

• Republicans: Hatch (UT), Enzi (WY), Murkowski (AK), Cornyn (TX), Thune (SD), Portman (OH), Scott (SC), and Toomey (PA)
• Democrats: Wyden (OR), Sanders (VT), Murray (WA), Cantwell (WA), Stabenow (MI), Menendez (NJ), and Carper (DE)

House Conferees:

• Republicans: Brady (TX-8), Roskam (IL-6th), Nunes (CA-22nd), Black (TN-6th)), Noem (SD-at large), Bishop (UT-1st), Young (IA-3rd), Upton (MI-6th), and Shimkus (IL-15th)
• Democrats: Neal (MA-1st), Levin (MI-9th), Doggett (TX-35th), Grijalva (AZ-3rd), and Castor (FL-14th)

We’re hearing that a vote on the final tax bill is not going to happen this week. This delay provides us more time to protest this bill and shows that our efforts so far have been effective. Please join us for a national call-in day tomorrow (Monday, 12/11) to tell our Representatives to oppose the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act! We’re told that call volume on Capitol Hill has been high – keep it up!

National Call-In Day: No Tax on Disability!

December 11, 2017

Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 (voice) or 202-224-3091 (TTY)

Join people with disabilities, our families, and advocates around the country this Monday, December 11, for another national call-in day to oppose the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Note: We’re hearing that advocates calling Members of Congress that are not their own are being dismissed as outside agitators and are clogging up the phone lines – Please focus on calling your own Members of Congress and encourage your family, friends, and neighbors to do the same.

• Sample Script and Talking Points
• Email Guide
• Sample Tweets
• House Targets for the Tax Bill
• Facebook Event

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.

Additional Resources

• Action Alert! Last Chance to Stop the Dangerous Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – AAPD
• Tell your Representative and Senators to vote NO on the Tax Bill Conference Agreement – Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD)
• Tracking the Congressional Tax Debate – Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP)
• GOP Budgets, Statements Make Plans Clear: Costly Tax Cuts for Wealthy Now, Program Cuts Later – Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP)
• Vast Majority of Americans Would Likely Lose From GOP’s Tax Bills, If GOP Use Spending Cuts to Pay for Them – Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP)
• Q&A: Tax bill impacts ‘Obamacare’ and potentially Medicare – AP
• Repealing the Individual Health Insurance Mandate Restricts Freedom – The Commonwealth Fund
• The Tax Bill Conference Committee Can Make The Final Bill Responsible – Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB)
• Comparing the Two Versions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Headed to Conference – Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB)