Informational Rally Held To Encourage ‘No’ Vote on GOP’s Tax Plan

by Steve Yablonski | November 14, 2017 11:50 pm

OSWEGO – A group of concerned citizens spent their lunch hour Tuesday holding an informational picket outside Oswego City Hall.

The nearly three dozen men and women sought to share the cons of the proposed GOP tax plan.

The group, some armed with signs, patrolled the west side of West First Street.

“I wear a couple different hats. I serve on the Oswego County Legislature but I’m also the grassroots organizer for this congressional district,” Tom Drumm explained. “I serve my local constituents. But I’m involved in this national fight.”

Speaking as a county legislature, Drumm said, “This tax plan absolutely kills the middle class in Central New York. It wipes out just about every meaningful deductible that common New Yorkers use every tax season.”

It’s important that Congress knows this and votes against the plan, he added.

That was the main reason the rally was conducted outside City Hall, the site of Congressman John Katko’s regional office.

Current GOP television ads claim the middle class will benefit from the plan.

“If you look at where we’re going to pay for this on the back end, we’re going to see the deficit balloon,” Drumm said. “What you’ll see nationally is massive cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. This hurts New York, in my opinion. (The plan) seems to go after the poor and the elderly; which is the playbook we typically see. It hurts our most vulnerable populations.”

Fred Ringwald, of We The People of Oswego, Indivisible, said he and members of his group were taking part “because we are interested in what’s important to the people of this county. This plan would hurt our pocketbooks, hurt our friends’ pocketbooks. It’s a give-away to the corporations.”

Dana Balter, a declared candidate for Congress, shared her thoughts on the tax plan, also.

The plan is nothing more than a give-away to the giant corporations, she agreed.

“They are not looking out for working families and everyday Americans. This tax plan cuts corporate tax rates, it eliminates the estate tax and it repeals the alternative minimum tax, which gives people like Donald Trump millions of extra dollars every year,” she said. “But, it does nothing for us.”

She pointed out several faults with the plan, including: college students won’t be able to deduct their student loan interest anymore; tuition scholarships will become taxable income; you’ll be taxed on the money you spend on your medical expenses; this bill will also give permanent tax reductions to corporations for maintaining operations overseas; currently, teachers can deduct the money they spend to by supplies for their classrooms, under the proposed tax plan they won’t be able to.

And, CEOs of many of the major companies in this country have gone on record saying that the savings that they will see from this tax plan are going to go to their shareholders – not to their employees, she added.

If the plan is passed, “New Yorkers will no longer be able to deduct our state income tax or our sales tax (SALT). That means we are paying taxes on our taxes!” she said. “So, we need John Katko to vote against this bill. We need him to commit to voting against any bill that includes any kind of SALT deduction. We cannot double-tax our citizens. It’s not enough for (Katko) to say no. He has to get other people to say no. And he has to stand up and actually fight for the things we need. We need a tax plan that puts working families and ordinary Americans at the center.”

Source URL: https://oswegocountytoday.com/news/oswego/informational-rally-held-to-encourage-no-vote-on-gops-tax-plan/

---