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Testimony of Seth Hanlon Before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Energy Subcommittee, on the Benefits of Tax Reform on the Energy Sector and Consumers
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Testimony of Seth Hanlon Before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Energy Subcommittee, on the Benefits of Tax Reform on the Energy Sector and Consumers

American Progress Senior Fellow Seth Hanlon testifies to Congress about the ways in which the 2017 tax law is failing to fulfill its promise to benefit middle- and working-class families.

Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Rush, Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss the effects of the 2017 tax law, informally known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). My testimony will focus on the law as a whole, and the ways in which it is failing to fulfill the promises that were made about it.

Rather than prioritize the working families who have struggled economically in recent decades, TCJA provided massive tax cuts for corporations and high-income Americans who were already receiving an outsized share of the economy’s gains. The top 1 percent of Americans are getting a tax cut more than 50 times bigger than middle-income families – and in fact 8.5 million families will see their taxes go up this year. By draining revenue, TCJA will increase budget deficits by $1.9 trillion over the next decade, increasing the pressure on middle-class priorities like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. By repealing part of the Affordable Care Act, the law is already increasing health care premiums for next year and directly harming Medicare’s finances.

The above excerpt was originally published in House Energy and Commerce Committee, Energy Subcommittee. Click here to view the full article.

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Authors

Seth Hanlon

Former Acting Vice President, Economy

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