End the Bush Tax Cuts

A message from CREDO Action:  
It's outrageous. The average tax break from the Bush tax cuts enjoyed by the top 1 percent of wage earners is larger than the average income of the rest of the 99 percent of Americans.

And after a decade of giving money to those who literally didn't need it, the deficit caused in large part by the Bush tax cuts is being used as an excuse to take away the social safety net that protects the most vulnerable members of society.

Ending these cuts should be a no brainer. They had been set to expire at the end of 2010, but President Obama ended up cutting a deal with the Republican leadership to extend the cuts for another two years.

But we know that the cuts won't be allowed to expire without a big fight.

Republican intransigence on the Bush tax cuts was at the heart of the failure of the Super Committee.

Not only did the Republicans on the Super Committee want the Bush tax cuts to be made permanent, they took the morally bankrupt position that we should blow a bigger hole in the budget by giving even larger tax cuts to the rich.

Simply extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy would cost us more than $700 billion over the next decade.

There is very little that so clearly demonstrates the callous venality of some members of Congress than the simultaneous demand to give the Koch brothers a tax cut while pushing benefit cuts to programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Democrats caved in 2010, and Republicans expect them to cave again. Between now and the end of 2012, we can expect a relentless push to make the Bush tax cuts permanent.

But this is a fight we can win if we are relentless, too. In this case gridlock and inaction work to our benefit because we don't have to pass a bill — we just need to ensure that Congress doesn't pass a bill that extends the Bush tax cuts past 2012.

The first step is speaking out and laying down a marker so that your member of Congress and senators know their constituents want the Bush tax cuts to end.

Tell your member of Congress and your senators: End the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. Click here to automatically sign the petition.

Thank you for speaking out to end the Bush tax cuts.

Matt Lockshin, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets