Public Citizen Endorses the People’s Budget, Urges Passage
March 19, 2015
Public Citizen Endorses the People’s Budget, Urges Passage
Statement of Susan Harley, Deputy Director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch Division
Note: On Wednesday, the Congressional Progressive Caucus unveiled an alternative to the U.S. House of Representatives’ budget resolution put forward by U.S. Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) and approved today by the GOP-controlled House Budget Committee.
The People’s Budget proposed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus is a better alternative to the budget resolution adopted today by the U.S. House Budget Committee. By focusing on sound solutions like fairer corporate taxation as a way to pay for spending on essential government services such as improved health care and public financing of elections, the People’s Budget would put America on a clearer path to a more just and democratic society.
Whereas it’s not likely to garner majority support in the McConnell-Boehner, corporate-controlled 114th Congress, it surely would win majority support from the American people.
The People’s Budget would institute a tax on Wall Street trades, known as a financial transaction tax, which is a commonsense way to both grow substantial revenue and calm markets now plagued with volatile high-frequency trading.
The People’s Budget also calls for important changes to our tax code such as ending deferral on foreign-made profits of U.S. companies and limiting the ability of companies to invert and reincorporate in a foreign jurisdiction as a way to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.
Public Citizen applauds the Congressional Progressive Caucus for identifying new ways to bolster government programs and urges all members of the House to vote in favor of this alternative budget proposal.
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