Anna Eshoo: “The tax bill being considered, H.R. 1, is a frontal assault on the middle class and it will do lasting damage to our…”

“The tax bill being considered, H.R. 1, is a frontal assault on the middle class and it will do lasting damage to our country. The bill is a dishonest bait-and-switch for the 36 million middle and lower class families who will see their taxes increase under this plan to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans and large multinational corporations. It is paid for by eliminating the few remaining benefits in our Tax Code for the middle class and charging $1.7 trillion to the national credit card, leaving our children and our grandchildren to pay for it. This bill lets the middle class down at every turn, and it should be defeated. It eliminates the deduction for medical expenses, which over 9 million middle class Americans claimed in 2015, including over 1 million taxpayers in my home State of California. This is especially harmful to older Americans struggling with high medical costs and serious illnesses, like cancer and Alzheimer's, and Americans with disabilities. It takes direct aim at college students across the country, raising the future costs of higher education by $65 billion over 10 years by eliminating the deductibility of interest on student loans. It taxes employer tuition assistance benefits for students and tuition waivers for graduate students by treating this as income, making it more expensive for future scientists, medical professionals, educators, and other leaders to get an education.…”