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jan schakowsky
Sanders, Schakowsky Introduce Corporate Tax Dodging Prevention Act
"American workers should not be paying more in federal income taxes, in a given year, than profitable companies like Target, Amazon, and T-Mobile," said the senator.
Apr 10, 2024
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky on Wednesday introduced a bill that aims to close tax loopholes for corporations, end tax breaks for businesses that move jobs abroad, and stop companies from hiding profits in tax havens.
"At a time of massive wealth and income inequality and soaring corporate profits, it is an outrage that many large, profitable corporations continue to pay little to nothing in federal income taxes," Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement. "As working people struggle to pay rent and put food on the table, we have a corrupt and rigged tax code that is designed to benefit the wealthy and the powerful at the expense of working families."
"Meanwhile, Republicans would make a bad situation even worse by providing even more tax breaks to their corporate campaign contributors and the billionaire class while proposing massive cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid," he noted, nodding to GOP budget plans for fiscal year 2025, which begins in October.
"That is unacceptable. We need to create an economy and a government that works for all of us, not just the top 1%," Sanders asserted. "And, one of the ways we can begin to do that is by making sure that large corporations pay their fair share of taxes. American workers should not be paying more in federal income taxes, in a given year, than profitable companies like Target, Amazon, and T-Mobile."
"We need to create an economy and a government that works for all of us, not just the top 1%."
The Corporate Tax Dodging Prevention Act, unveiled as Americans prepare for the federal income tax deadline on Monday, could raise over $1 trillion in revenue over a decade with the tax haven provision alone, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.
"Thanks to President Joe Biden, we are growing the economy from the bottom up and the middle out, but we must go even further by passing the Corporate Tax Dodging Prevention Act to help put the interests of everyday Americans ahead of billionaires and transnational corporations," said Schakowsky. "I thank Sen. Sanders for devoting his career to tackling income inequality and am proud to partner with him on this important measure."
Biden's budget blueprint for the next fiscal year, released last month, includes proposals to hike taxes for corporations and ultrarich individuals—whose wealth is soaring to record heights. Such policies are not expected to pass the divided Congress, but they serve as a clear statement of the Democratic president's position just months away from the November election.
When then-President Donald Trump—now the presumptive Republican nominee to face Biden—signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in December 2017, he infamously declared that "corporations are literally going wild over this, I think even beyond my expectations."
Many of that law's cuts are set to expire at the end of next year. During an exclusive Florida fundraiser at the home of a billionaire investor over the weekend, the former president urged his supporters to help him "turn our country around" by taking steps including "extending the Trump tax cuts."
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Sanders Report Warns Nearly Half of Older Americans 'Have No Retirement Savings'
"In the richest country in the history of the world, a secure and dignified retirement should be available to every American, not just the extremely wealthy."
Feb 28, 2024
A report published Wednesday by the U.S. Senate committee chaired by Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders exposed "the depth of the retirement crisis in America" while exploring "solutions that will allow all of our people to retire with dignity and security—not just the very wealthy."
The report—entitled A Secure Retirement for All—was released ahead of a Wednesday morning Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) hearing on the retirement crisis. The publication revealed that nearly half of Americans age 55 and older have no retirement savings. It also found that half of Americans age 65 and older are living on less than $30,000 per year, while 1 in people are fighting to survive on less than $15,000 annually.
Other key findings include:
- Nearly 5.3 million Americans age 65 and older live in poverty, and roughly 1 in 10 seniors;
- Nearly half of all Americans are at risk of a financially insecure retirement, up from 1 in 3 workers in 1983;
- The average monthly Social Security benefit in 2023 was only about $1,782, or $21,384 annually; and
- The top 20% of earners receive 63% of the $202 billion in annual income tax breaks for retirement accounts, while the bottom 60% receive just 13.4% of these breaks.
"Given the enormous growth of the economy over the past several decades, one might expect that the outlook for retirees is improving," the report states. "Yet, today nearly half of all Americans are at risk of a financially insecure retirement."
"For many, retiring on Social Security alone means that some months you can afford to either keep the lights on or get your prescription refilled," the publication adds. "The cost of healthcare in retirement is an enormous cost driver, for which many find themselves unprepared."
The report offers two main solutions to the retirement crisis: expanding and strengthening Social Security—"the most successful government program in our nation's history"—and enacting "Retirement Security for All" legislation that ensures every worker can save for retirement via their paychecks and guarantees lifetime monthly payments.
Last year, Sanders—along with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Val Hoyle (D-Ore.)—introduced the Social Security Expansion Act, which would increase monthly benefits by at least $200 and extend the program's solvency for decades by lifting the cap on the maximum amount of income subject to the Social Security payroll tax.
The Social Security Administration's chief actuary said that had the bill been signed into law last year, the program would be able to pay full benefits to every eligible American for 75 years, without any tax increase for 93% of U.S. workers earning less than $250,000 per year.
"In the richest country in the history of the world, a secure and dignified retirement should be available to every American, not just the extremely wealthy," Sanders said on Wednesday. "Right now, more than half of older Americans have no retirement savings. More than 50% of our nation’s seniors are trying to survive on an income of less than $30,000 a year. That is absurd. Congress must address the retirement crisis facing working-class Americans across our country."
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Protect Social Security by Dumping GOP 'Death Panel,' Say 116 House Dems
"We cannot allow House Republicans to ram through their closed-door commission that is designed to fast-track cuts to the benefits hardworking Americans rely on," asserted Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr.
Jan 12, 2024
Decrying Republican plans for "ripping away Social Security from seniors behind closed doors" via a so-called fiscal commission, more than half of U.S. House Democrats on Thursday urged congressional leaders to scrap plans to fast-track the controversial panel.
Fiscal commission legislation being considered by the House Budget Committee "would create a process in which legislating would be done by a small group of individuals behind closed doors" to pass a law "that cuts benefits and calls for an up-or-down vote without hearings, and that is unamendable," 116 House Democrats led by Reps. John Larson (D-Conn.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) wrote in a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
The lawmakers continued:
There is no shortage of legislation that will improve the fiscal standing of the United States while directly benefiting the public. Democratic proposals include legislation that would extend Social Security's solvency for another generation while expanding benefits the American people rely on—benefits that haven't been expanded in more than 50 years. It is Congress' responsibility to conduct the oversight and recommend enhancements to solvency or cuts, and it should be done in the open and not behind closed doors.
In a statement, Larson said that "we cannot allow House Republicans to ram through their closed-door commission that is designed to fast-track cuts to the benefits hardworking Americans rely on, like Social Security."
"If they want to have debates about policy that directly impacts the lives and livelihoods of Americans families, we should have these discussions out in the open for our constituents to see and be a part of," he added.
While House Republicans claim the purpose of the proposed fiscal commission is to control the $34 trillion national debt, Democrats have expressed skepticism regarding their true intentions, noting that GOP lawmakers have dramatically increased the debt via tax cuts for corporations and rich Americans in recent years.
In November, House Republicans proposed cuts to Internal Revenue Service funding that would slash federal revenue by $27 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. A 2023 analysis by the Center for American Progress found that tax cuts approved during the George W. Bush and Trump administration have added $10 trillion to the national debt this century.
Social Security, meanwhile, does not add to the long-term federal deficit because the program is required by law to pay benefits from an internal trust fund and is prohibited from borrowing.
"Republicans are not serious about the deficit. They are not even serious about governing. They are serious about only one thing, and that is ripping away Social Security from seniors behind closed doors," said Schakowsky. "A so-called fiscal commission would fast-track cuts to vital benefits Americans rely on."
"Social Security benefits are already modest—only about $21,384 a year, yet Republicans want to put these hard-earned benefits at risk," she added. "We must expand Social Security benefits, not cut them."
"Republicans are not serious about the deficit. They are not even serious about governing. They are serious about only one thing, and that is ripping away Social Security from seniors behind closed doors."
Republican presidential candidates have openly expressed willingness to slash Social Security, a stance still viewed as the deadly "third rail" of U.S. politics. While GOP front-runner and former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have attacked rival Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, for openly advocating slashing the program and raising the retirement age, Trump told the World Economic Forum in 2020 that he would consider cutting benefits "at some point," while DeSantis said he would "revamp" Social Security.
Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-N.J.), who signed the letter, called Social Security "one of America's great success stories."
"It stands as a monument to decency and dignity, and is a birthright of hardworking Americans, yet it has been under attack," Pascrell said on the House floor Wednesday night. "The Republican Study Committee proposed slashing Social Security benefits by $718 billion and the GOP leadership wants to create a so-called 'fiscal commission'—a wolf in sheep's clothing."
Other critics have likened Republicans' proposed fiscal commission to a "death panel." The proposal is deeply unpopular, with more than 80% of U.S. voters opposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare. Advocates applauded House Democrats for standing against the proposal.
"They recognize it for what it is—a scheme to slash Social Security behind closed doors," Nancy Altman, president of the advocacy group Social Security Works, told Common Dreams.
"Democratic leaders in both the House and Senate should make it clear that a commission is a poison pill, something they will never accept under any circumstances," Altman continued. "Social Security and Medicare are earned benefits. They should never be negotiating chips."
"Instead of a closed door commission, the House should hold an up or down vote on the Social Security 2100 Act," she added. "This legislation increases Social Security's modest benefits and ensures the expanded benefits can be paid in full and on time for decades to come."
Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)—the nation's largest federal workers' union—said in a statement that "a fiscal commission would give a small group of lawmakers and nonelected individuals enormous power to recommend cuts to Social Security and other popular programs without any ability for the public to weigh in."
"If Congress is serious about preserving Social Security, Medicare, and similar programs for future generations, then it needs to have an honest discussion about how to do that—not pawn off these decisions to a secret group behind closed doors," Kelley continued.
"With just a week before government funding runs out for various departments including Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, [Housing and Urban Development], and Transportation, Congress should focus on passing full-year funding for these and other government programs instead of trying to pawn off its tough decisions to an exclusive commission," he added.
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