The American People Still Overwhelmingly Oppose the #GOPTaxScam – Here’s Why.

THE AMERICAN PEOPLE STILL OVERWHELMINGLY OPPOSE THE GOP TAX SCAM

Gallup:   Americans Remain Negative on Tax Bill After Its Passage. “A majority of Americans continue to disapprove of the nation's new tax reform law after its late December passage, just as they did a month ago when it was still being debated. Gallup assessed attitudes toward the tax bill in early December and found disapproval outweighing approval by almost 2 to 1: 56% vs. 29%. A month later, after Congress passed the bill and President Donald Trump signed it into law on Dec. 22, a new Gallup survey finds little substantive change. Approval has edged up four percentage points to 33% as the percentage with no opinion dropped by a similar amount, but these changes are not statistically significant.” [Gallup, 1/10/18]

Quinnipiac Poll: “The Wealthy Will Benefit Most From This Plan, 66 Percent Of American Voters Say.” “Voters disapprove 52 - 32 percent of the recently enacted Republican tax plan. … The wealthy will benefit most from this plan, 66 percent of American voters say, while 22 percent say the middle class will benefit most and 4 percent say low income people will benefit most.” [Quinnipiac, 1/11/18]

WHY? BECAUSE MAJOR COMPANIES ARE PRAISING THE TAX PLAN, POCKETING THEIR WINDFALL, AND LAYING OFF THOUSANDS OF AMERICAN WORKERS

Business Insider: Walmart Is Abruptly Closing 63 Sam's Club Stores And Laying Off Thousands Of Workers. “Walmart is closing 63 Sam's Club stores across the US, the company told Business Insider. Several stores were abruptly closed Thursday. In some cases, employees were not informed of the closures prior to showing up to work on Thursday. Instead, they learned that their store would be closing when they found the store's doors locked and a notice announcing the closure, according to reports.” [Business Insider, 1/11/18]

Indianapolis Star: AT&T, Touting Bonuses And Investment Fueled By Tax Reform, Quietly Lays Off Thousands. “When AT&T Inc. announced it would hand out holiday bonuses to 200,000 workers thanks to Congress' recent tax overhaul, the company's statement failed to mention a separate, yet notable, personnel matter: Many employees will be getting laid off in the coming weeks. AT&T is eliminating thousands of jobs across the U.S., including 30 in Central Indiana, according to Communications Workers of America, the union that represents AT&T employees. The company is cutting nearly 12 percent of its technicians who install U-verse and DirectTV in the Indianapolis area, according to union figures.” [Indianapolis Star, 1/2/18]

Arstechnica: Comcast Fired 500 Despite Claiming Tax Cut Would Create Thousands Of Jobs. “Comcast reportedly fired about 500 salespeople shortly before Christmas, despite claiming that the company would create thousands of new jobs in exchange for a big tax cut. Comcast apparently tried to keep the firings secret while it lobbied for the tax cut that was eventually passed into law by the Republican-controlled Congress and signed by President Trump in late December. The Philadelphia Inquirer revealed the Comcast firings this week in an article based on information from an anonymous former employee, Comcast documents, and other sources in the company.” [ArsTechnica, 1/4/18]

LA Times (Hiltzik): Pfizer, Pocketing A Big Tax Cut From Trump, Will End Investment In Alzheimer's And Parkinson's Research. “With every passing day, it becomes clearer who’s reaping the benefit of the huge tax cut handed over to American corporations by the Republican-dominated Congress in December. Spoiler alert: Not workers or customers, but shareholders, especially the rich ones. (Don’t be fooled by those $1,000 bonuses handed out by a few big companies anxious to curry favor with the Trump White House — if they were serious about improving their employees’ lot they’d distribute the money in the form of permanent raises, not a bonus that you can safely bet will be a distant memory by this time next year.) The big drug company Pfizer seems intent on being a pace-setter in cranking out the benefits of the tax cut to stakeholders who need them the least. In an announcement over the weekend, Pfizer said it was shutting down its research efforts on treatments for Alzheimer’s and Parkinsonism. The company didn’t say how much it was spending on the two conditions, but said about 300 researchers will lose their jobs as it redirects its research and development budget elsewhere.” [LA Times, 1/8/18]