Your Taxes Are Due Before Midnight-- So... A Good Day For Democratic Candidates To Send Out Contribution E-Mails

Some people do it right-- and some don't. Three that came in early that demonstrate how to do it are by a progressive candidate in Georgia, Marqus Cole, a progressive Northern California candidate, Audrey Denney, and a new progressive action committee run by Randy Bryce. Let's start with Cole, who's running to flip a Republican seat in the suburbs northwest of Atlanta. (Note: Marqus told me he writes his e-mails himself, the way Alan Grayson always did and few other candidates even try to do. Most hire consultants to handle that chore, which explains why they come across as so woefully inauthentic.)

This tax season, middle-class Americans are finding that their tax refunds have shrunk -- while millionaires and corporations are still rejoicing over their enormous tax cuts. Thanks to President Trump and Mitch McConnell’s tax plan, 60 companies-- including Amazon, Netflix, and Chevron-- will pay $0 on their BILLIONS in profits this year.

Placing the full burden of taxes on everyday Americans while the rich get richer is NOT just-- it’s morally and ethically wrong.

I’ve spent my career fighting for folks to get a fair shake. In Congress, I’ll make sure that we all have to pay our fair share of taxes-- starting at the top. Pitch in now to join me in the fight for the middle class.

Make no mistake: the GOP tax plan was paid for by billionaires and corporate executives. According to the Center for Public Integrity, wealthy donors donated over $30 MILLION to Republicans in just TWO MONTHS to get their 2018 tax plan passed.

It’s not easy to call out big donors and powerful companies, but I’m choosing to tell the truth because I don’t need their support-- I know that our campaign is fueled by grassroots donors who share a vision for an America that works for ALL its people.

It’s time to simplify the tax code and close loopholes that allow the rich to avoid paying their fair share. Will you join my campaign as we fight for middle-class American families like yours?

My family isn’t part of the 1%. I’m pretty sure yours isn’t either, Howard. We work hard to make ends meet and do our best to save for our childrens’ future. We’re right here in this fight with you.

  In solidarity,

Marqus

Like that approach? There's more to think about than just "give me some money because Trump is horrible." If you like it and want to help elect a progressive Democrat to replace a Republican in Georgia-- in a district Stacey Abrams won-- please click on the Blue America thermometer above and contribute what you can to Marqus' campaign. And here's another good approach, this one from Audrey Denney:

Audrey started with a simple, "Friend, it's Tax Day!" And then lit into her district's very conservative Republican congressman and Trump apologist and enabler.

That reminds me of something. My opponent, Rep. Doug LaMalfa, spent much of the last election touting and defending the Trump “tax cuts.” He said the average family in our district would see an extra $4,000 in their pockets this year.

I am hearing regularly from people all over our district who have not experienced this promised reduction. So I have one simple question: Did you experience an extra $4,000 this tax season, or did our Congressman break his promise? We need a representative who can deliver real results and accurate information to the people of Northern California, not the same politicians who mislead their constituents in the name of political gain. It’s time for fresh leadership.

Hold Rep. Doug LaMalfa accountable to his word: let us know whether or not you experienced having another $4,000 in your pocket this past year.

Now, the Iron PAC, is Randy Bryce's new outfit, meant to helping working class candidates get elected to Congress. Randy decided to use Tax Day to hone in on one bad Republican incumbent he's hoping to see defeated in 2020, Florida's Vern Buchanan. Here's the e-mail he sent out yesterday-- short, sweet and right to the point:

With tomorrow’s tax deadline coming up, we can’t stop thinking about Rep. Vern Buchanan, who bought himself a new yacht the same day he voted to give himself a $2.1+ million tax cut.

More than half of members of Congress are millionaires--they can’t relate to the issues people struggling to make car payments are dealing with.

Here’s my promise to you: with your support, Iron PAC will seek out and support working people who do more than acknowledge that the middle class is struggling. Iron PAC will work with men and women who are struggling and give them the tools to fix our country.

Can you chip in $5 to help Vern and his plutocrat buddies spend a little more time on their yachts, and give our country back to the people who built it?

Was Ro Khanna The Only Member Of Congress To Vote No On This Travesty? We'll Never Know

Ro Khanna voted NO but the bill passed Monday by voice vote (so unrecorded and unaccountable, using a fast-track procedure for "non-controversial" bills). The Senate will move as fast as they can-- even without committee hearings-- to pass it there as well. I kind of thought we just elected a Democratic House so that stuff like a ban on free electronic tax filings wouldn't be able to pass Congress. No? I had hoped that Justin Elliott's ProPublica piece, Congress Is About to Ban the Government From Offering Free Online Tax Filing. Thank TurboTax, would shame some corrupt Democrats into withdrawing their support for the misleadingly named Taxpayer First Act (H.R.1957), a bonanza for the for-profit tax preparation industry. In the name of cyber-security, the bill-- whose legitimate purpose is to prevent the use of predatory private debt collectors for late taxes-- permanently bars the IRS from creating a free electronic tax filing system.

"Companies like Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, and H&R Block have lobbied for years to block the IRS from creating such a system," explained Elliott. "If the tax agency created its own program, which would be similar to programs other developed countries have, it would threaten the industry’s profits." Consumer rights advocates were up in arms-- but... it didn't work. It passed the House Ways and Means Committee and quickly got to the floor and passed.

“This could be a disaster. It could be the final nail in the coffin of the idea of the IRS ever being able to create its own program,” said Mandi Matlock, a tax attorney who does work for the National Consumer Law Center.

Experts have long argued that the IRS has failed to make filing taxes as easy and cheap as it could be. In addition to a free system of online tax preparation and filing, the agency could provide people with pre-filled tax forms containing the salary data the agency already has, as ProPublica first reported on in 2013.

The Free File Alliance, a private industry group, says 70% of American taxpayers are eligible to file for free. Those taxpayers, who must make less than $66,000, have access to free tax software provided by the companies. But just 3% of eligible U.S. taxpayers actually use the free program each year. Critics of the program say that companies use it as a cross-marketing tool to upsell paid products, that they have deliberately underpromoted the free option and that it leaves consumer data open to privacy breaches.

The congressional move would codify the status quo. Under an existing memorandum of understanding with the industry group, the IRS pledges not to create its own online filing system and, in exchange, the companies offer their free filing services to those below the income threshold.

One member of the Free File Alliance explicitly told shareholders that the IRS “developing software or other systems to facilitate tax return preparation … may present a continued competitive threat to our business for the foreseeable future.”

The IRS’ deal with the Free File Alliance is regularly renegotiated and there have been repeated, bipartisan efforts in Congress to put the deal into law.

Those efforts have been fueled by hefty lobbying spending and campaign contributions by the industry. Intuit and H&R Block last year poured a combined $6.6 million into lobbying related to the IRS filing deal and other issues. Neal, who became Ways and Means chair this year after Democrats took control of the House, received $16,000 in contributions from Intuit and H&R Block in the last two election cycles.

Last year Intuit hired 53 lobbyists (including the notoriously sleazy Greenberg Traurig LLP) and spent $2,600,000 on lobbying. They also spent just over a quarter million dollars on legalistic bribes (campaign contributions), the biggest iff them going to half a dozen conservative-leaning Democrats, Zoe Lofgren, Bob Casey, Heidi Heitkamp, Joe Manchin, Beto O'Rourke and Jacky Rosen. The three biggest non-incumbents they backed were also conservative-Dems-- Doug Jones, Susie Lee and Ben McAdams.

H&R Block was another big spender. Last year their PAC raised $371,260 and spent $318,950, top recipients all being members known for selling their votes, Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Kevin Yoder (R-KS), Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO), Jason Smith (R-MO), Mike Bishop (R-MI) and Lacy Clay (D-MO)-- as well as $4,500 to Ways and Means chairman Richard Neal, a co-sponsor of the bill. Their biggest single contribution was a $12,500 check to the New Dems PAC and their second biggest contribution was to Linda Sanchez's PAC. Sanchez was an original co-sponsor of the bill. They also spent $4,040,000 on lobbying last year.