Local Residents Deliver $160,000 Check from Ann Marie Buerkle to Millionaires, Protest Budget Votes
Buerkle Has Consistently Voted for Tax Cuts for Millionaires and Billionaires, Tax Increases and Budget Cuts for Working Families
Local Event Part of Nationwide Day of Action Demanding Elected Officials End the Bush-era Tax Cuts for Richest 2%
Syracuse, NY – Citizen Action of New York, community and labor groups, and constituents of Congresswoman Ann Marie Buerkle protested outside the Syracuse Federal Building on Wednesday, September 12, to a deliver a $160,000 check from Congresswoman Buerkle made payable to “Millionaires” to bring attention to her consistent record of support for tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires and her opposition to ending the Bush-era Tax Cuts for the richest 2%.
The $160,000 check given to a number of Members of Congress across the country today represents the average tax break individuals making over $1 million dollars annually would receive under the Romney/Ryan Plan – a plan that Congresswoman Buerkle has endorsed and voted for during her tenure in the House.
“Under the Romney-Ryan-Buerkle vision, they would provide massive tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires and shield them from paying their fair share by totally gutting crucial programs like Medicare, which millions of senior citizens across the country rely on,” said Virginia Dolin, a member of the Ida Benderson Senior Action Group and a constituent of Congresswoman Buerkle. “That vision would destroy the progress we’ve made in the past four years and it would do it all for the benefit for the smallest sliver of Americans who are already the most well off.”
Citizen Action of New York also released an online ad criticizing Congresswoman Buerkle for voting to dole out special tax breaks for their wealthiest supporters instead of protecting Medicare and education for working families. The ad script is below:
“Did you know that Congresswoman Ann Marie Buerkle recently voted to give millionaires an average tax break of $160,000 a year? Buerkle also voted to raise taxes on 25 million working families! Tell Buerkle to stop giving tax breaks to their millionaire donors, paid for by slashing priorities like Medicare and education. It’s time for the richest 2 percent to pay their fair share. Find out more at www.ChecksforMillionaires.com/
The GOP bill to extend the Bush tax cuts for one year, including those that only would go to the richest 2 percent, would give people who make over $1 million a year an average tax cut of $160,000, while raising taxes on 25 million working Americans, according to The National Economic Council. The Romney-Ryan tax plan, which would make the Bush-era tax cuts permanent, including those that only go to the richest 2 percent, and cut their income tax rates by another 20 percent, would give people who make over $1 million an average tax cut of $250,000, according to Citizens for Tax Justice, while increasing taxes on families making less than $200,000 a year by an average of $2,000 a year, according to the Tax Policy Center.
For weeks, community and labor groups along with local residents have kept the pressure on, hosting several events and attending various Buerkle town halls and Mobile Office Hours, urging her to abandon her support for Bush-era Tax Cuts. Ending these tax cuts would generate $1 trillion in revenue over the next decade, which could be used to fund both Social Security and Medicare – targets of the Romney-Ryan-Buerkle sponsored cuts.
“Yet again, we hear the beating of the drum by the working families that make up the backbone of Central New York, calling on Congresswoman Buerkle to abandon her support for yet another extension to the Bush-era Tax Cuts,” said Phyllis Lee-Williams, Chair of Citizen Action of Syracuse. “This $160,000 check to the wealthiest of us is paid for on the backs of those same working families and unless Congresswoman Buerkle wants to be complicit to their struggle to make ends meet, she must listen to the voices of her constituents and vote to end these tax cuts.”
“What Buerkle’s constituents have said they want time and time again is more jobs for their communities and more funding for vital programs that they rely on,” said Richard Zaleweski, a constituent of Congresswoman Buerkle. “What they don’t want are any further gimmicks dressed up as job creation but really just amount to further handouts to the super rich. It’s time to end these Bush-era Tax Cuts once and for all and implement fair share tax reform on the basis of actual shared sacrifice, not just sacrifice on the part of hard-working families.”
To view a PDF of the check made payable to “Millionaires,” go here.
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