| Republicans in Congress are at it again. For the fifth time in two months Congressional Republicans blocked Democratic efforts to extend the payroll tax cut for 160 million working Americans and small business owners. Why? Because it asks the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share by including a tiny surtax on income - excluding small-businesses and job creation - above $1 million.
Republicans are using your money as leverage to protect the millionaires and billionaires that bankroll their campaigns.
That’s not right.
In Michigan, the tax cut would mean an average of $1,430 in lower taxes for a typical working family - money that families need to pay for costs like health care, education and mortgages. As wages struggle to keep up with the cost of living, working Michiganders can hardly afford a $1,000 tax increase, but Rep. Dan Benishek isn’t listening: "The temporary tax breaks for the payroll tax ... I'm not in favor of that."
Rep. Benishek’s Congressional District was hit hard by the recession: 15 percent of his constituents and 21 percent of the children living in his district live in poverty. But if Congress doesn’t act, 5.2 million Michiganders will see their taxes increase by an average of more than $1,000 next year.
But Northern Michigan’s Dan Benishek isn’t the only Michigan Republican letting politics get in the way of helping the middle-class. In fact, nearly every Congressional Republican from Michigan is on record as opposing the payroll tax cut - or won’t say whether they support it. The list reads like a Who’s Who of paid-for far-right ideologues beholden to the deep-pocketed corporations that have bankrolled their campaigns:
Michigan’s Congressional Republicans need to get it through their heads: We need an economy that works for everyone, not just CEOs and Wall Street companies. Sign our petition calling on Rep. Dan Benishek and other Congressional Republicans to put working Michiganders ahead of millionaire tax giveaways by extending the payroll tax cut.
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