New Analysis: GOP Tax Hike Plan Would Cost Working Families Thousands

February 28, 2022
Blog Post

From the Speaker's Press Office:

Meatpacking workers. Grocery store cashiers. Home health aides.

How does the GOP's new agenda thank the essential workers that our economy could not function without? With thousands of dollars in tax hikes.

As wealthy corporations hike prices on the backs of working families, Republicans are fighting tooth and claw to prevent those corporate giants from paying their fair share. Instead, the GOP has decided that working parents and seniors should be the ones to cough up more in taxes. So as working families file their tax returns, the Ways and Means Committee drilled deeper to see just how badly the Republican tax hike agenda would hurt hypothetical Americans if it was in effect in 2021 – ripping away tax refunds from some of the hardest working Americans who Republicans don't think have enough "skin in the game":

  • Consider Linda, a single mother working part-time at a meatpacking plant to support her two young children. Linda makes $19,520 and qualifies for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC). Minimum tax hike under the GOP plan: $13,109
  • Bill is a senior who supplements his $19,896 Social Security benefit with $10,000 he makes by working part-time as a grocery store cashier. Bill qualifies for the EITC. Minimum tax hike under the GOP plan: $1,503
  • Carlos is a cook at a small restaurant, and Jane works part-time as a home health aide while caring for their four-year-old daughter. Their household income is $40,000 and they receive the EITC and CTC . They purchase their health coverage on their state exchange, and the Premium Tax Credit covers a portion of that cost. Minimum tax hike under the GOP plan: $11,287

In fact, a new Tax Policy Center analysis found that under a plan like Senator Rick Scott's, "[m]ore than 80 percent of the tax increase would be paid by households making about $54,000 or less, and 97 percent would be paid by those making less than about $100,000."

While Republicans plan to squeeze hard working Americans with higher taxes, Democrats are moving legislation to lower everyday prices and cut taxes for middle class families — paid for by making big corporations and the wealthiest pay their fair share.