Some of the quote “biggest losers” in the proposed GOP tax plan gathered in Salt Lake City to rally against the bill. Large families, college students and disabled vets say they’ll bear the brunt of the cuts.
Representatives from those groups spoke yesterday about how the GOP tax plan will affect their wallets. Several grass roots organizations organized the rally, including Utah Indivisible and Alliance for a Better Utah. They say large families, for instance will lose out more from the elimination of personal exemptions than they will gain from the increase in the standard deduction and child tax credit proposed in both the House and Senate Bills.
Lindy Cieslewicz is a stay-at-home mom with six kids from preschool age to college. Her husband is a CPA and an accounting professor at a public university.
“For many Utah families, mortgage interest and charitable deductions will no longer have much of an effect on our taxes,” Cieslewicz says. “This provides a disincentive for people to make contributions to charities and churches that provide additional support for families.”
College students stand to lose the ability to deduct student loan interest from their tax bill.
Pedro Rico is a first-generation American and college student.
“This might seem like a small amount to you Senator Hatch, but this means the world to us low-income working class individuals,” Rico says. “The student loan interest deduction gives us a little bit more money to pay for rent. To put towards our books, food, transportation and so on.”
Others worry the plan will eliminate the medical expense deduction.
The House passed its version of the bill last week along party lines. All four of Utah’s representatives voted for it. Now the Senate is working on its own bill. Republicans hope to pass a tax overhaul by the end of the year.
