Opinion: Congress wants you to pay for tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy

No matter who we are or where we live, North Carolinians want an economy that works for us all. However, the prices of groceries, housing, and other necessities are rising faster than wages, and the high cost of living is hurting everyone.  

Elected leaders, through their policy choices, have the power to ensure people with modest and middle incomes across our state can afford essentials like food and health care. At the same time, they can fix the loopholes that give tax breaks to the wealthy few and corporations that get rich off our labor.

But right now, Republicans in Congress are headed in the opposite direction, speeding forward with a budget plan that would cut billions of dollars from basic needs programs to help pay for trillions in tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. 

Just last month, the US House approved plans that would give $70,000 in tax cuts to the richest North Carolinians while raising health care premiums, reducing the value of food assistance, and increasing the cost of higher education.

As a senior legislator, our Sen. Thom Tillis has both the power to push for a better path and a track record that suggests he won’t use that power unless we come together to demand he puts North Carolinians above special interests.

More than a decade ago, while serving as Speaker of the state House, he chose to cut taxes for the wealthy and profitable corporations—tax cuts that have consistently left our state struggling to meet needs people prioritize like child care and housing. These tax breaks have failed to deliver the promised economic boost, and now, they’re jeopardizing our state’s future financial health. 

People fuel the prosperity of our state. When people are healthy and can afford the basics, they can go to work, care for their children, contribute innovations to the marketplace, and help strengthen their communities. 

But instead of investing in working families, Republicans in Congress are proposing a federal budget plan that would take away health insurance from North Carolinians and gut the country’s anti-hunger program, which helps 1 million low-income households afford groceries statewide. 

The impacts won’t stop there; these federal programs ensure health care providers and hospitals are paid, and retailers can keep their shops open, including playing a critical role in neighborhoods where food options are limited. 

We all want to be able to rely on Medicaid, SNAP, and other public services in times of crisis, which is why taking away basic needs programs is unpopular with voters. This practice is so unpopular that Senator Tillis and his friends in D.C. hope you won’t connect the dots back to them and their plan to rig the rules for the wealthy and grow inequality.

Instead, they want to leave the final decisions about what services will get cut, what fees need to be raised, and who will be hardest hit to state budget writers. 

Because of North Carolina’s own tax cuts for the wealthy, we are already facing revenue declines that threaten funding for public education, efforts to rebuild after Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Matthew, and money for child care and housing. 

Our state doesn’t have billions of dollars to cover up Congress’s mistakes, which means that state budget writers will be forced to make cuts to services and programs. Ultimately, they’re the ones who will be held responsible, too.  

Senator Tillis and his allies in the Senate and House hope to lay the blame elsewhere. 

But we know that Senator Tillis has the power to stop these cuts before they ripple through our state and our daily lives—affecting whether North Carolinians can access medical care,  the nearest hospital can serve our families, our neighbors can afford healthy meals, and we can keep our jobs.

We can come together today to demand that Sen. Tillis use his power to make North Carolinians’ lives better, not worse.  He must state clearly and unequivocally that he rejects the plan to take away health care and food assistance from North Carolinians in any final budget plan.