Posted In: Kids Not Cuts, Moving in Congress, Uncategorized

Tags: Americans for Tax Fairness, taxes

As educators know, an economy that doesn’t work for students and working families is an economy that just doesn’t work. With Congress debating the Bush tax cuts set to expire at the end of 2012, now is the time to fight for your students’ futures.

Your calls to Congress helped secure a historic win in the Senate, which voted last week to end the Bush tax cuts for the richest 2 percent. Don’t stop now — a similar vote is set for the U.S. House of Representatives as early as this Wednesday. Americans for Tax Fairness has established a toll free number (888-744-9958) you can use to tell your Representative you oppose extending the Bush tax cuts for the richest 2 percent.

• Republicans will propose that everyone get a tax cut — including a $150,000 tax break, on average, for people who earn more than $1 million a year. Their bill also will raise taxes on 25 million mostly middle- to lower-income families.
• Democrats will propose that everyone get a tax cut — but that it end on income above $250,000 a year — the richest 2 percent.

Bringing fairness to our tax system is one step in solving the fiscal crisis that could trigger across-the-board cuts to the federal budget that would devastate public education. If Congress does not act, programs that serve 9.35 million students —Title I, IDEA, School Improvement Grants, Rural Education Grants, and much more — would drop to levels not seen in a decade, even though public schools serve 5.4 million more students than they did ten years ago. 

See how these and other programs would be diminished in your state if Congress doesn’t act.

The bottom line is that when the nation’s wealthiest get tax breaks they don’t need, someone else pays. We know it’s not fair to balance the federal budget on the backs of school children and working families — make sure your Representative knows where you stand!

• Call 888-744-9958 now to speak up for students and the middle class.
• Follow Americans for Tax Fairness on Twitter.