[STATEMENT] On behalf of our 38 million members and all Americans age 50 and older, AARP CANNOT support the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
Our full letter to Congress: bit.ly/2oOmZ6X
As written, the tax bill would:
—Explode the deficit by $1.5 trillion
—Put critical programs like Medicare and Medicaid at risk
—Likely increase taxes on many older Americans
—Increase health care costs & lower coverage.
Exploding the deficit would jeopardize the nation's ability to fund critical programs serving older Americans – and not just "down the road."
The nonpartisan CBO says Medicare would be cut by $25 billion NEXT YEAR alone. Unacceptable.
As years go by, cuts could get worse. The worrying potential outcome:
1⃣ Tax bill explodes the deficit.
2⃣ Calls for greater spending cuts begin.
3⃣ Critical programs like Medicare and Medicaid end up being slashed, hurting already vulnerable populations.
This tax bill is also a health care bill – and not a good one. The repeal of the individual mandate will:
—Increase premium costs by 10%
—Result in 13 million fewer Americans having health insurance.
An AARP analysis found people age 50-64 could face average premium hikes of up to $1,500 a year due to individual mandate repeal. Read it here: bit.ly/2oLZLhL
We appreciate that the bill retains the medical expense deduction which is critical to Americans with high health costs, many of whom are seniors.
AARP activists & volunteers worked hard to protect the 8.8MM Americans who count on this deduction.
We are also pleased the bill retains the additional standard deduction for those age 65+ and rejects proposals to make significant changes to the tax treatment of retirement contributions.
Despite these provisions, AARP cannot support the tax bill due to the negative impact it would have on older adults.
We're all for making the tax code fairer. But exploding the deficit, forcing Medicare cuts, and hiking taxes on millions of seniors is not the way to do it.
AARP will continue to fight to make sure the $25 BILLION in Medicare cuts does not take effect.
Our members have already taken more than 50,000 actions urging legislators to #ProtectMedicare – and we’re just getting started.
Join us ➡️ bit.ly/2j4OYxa
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