Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Means Trouble for Florida’s Families
ORLANDO, FLA.—Today, UnidosUS (formerly NCLR) hosted a forum on how Central Florida’s Latino families will feel the effects of the new federal tax law and budget cuts. The roundtable took place at Acacia Network, a community-based organization and UnidosUS Affiliate in Orlando.
The much-criticized tax law passed last December and provides massive tax cuts for the richest Americans and largest corporations at the expense of working families. UnidosUS released a fact sheet outlining how the tax bill will undermine the progress Florida’s Latinos have made in recent years.
During the roundtable, experts and community members explored how key provisions of the bill—coupled with potential steep cuts to critical programs such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—will ultimately ruin investments in working families in Florida, with many Latinos and displaced Puerto Ricans being hit hardest.
According to the report’s findings, more than 120,000 low-income Latinos will lose out on much-needed gains from the non-refundable expanded Child Tax Credit. Even more alarming, based on current projections for 2019, as much as 84 percent of Latino taxpayers in Florida will receive an average tax cut of $259.77, compared to the significant tax cut of more than $98,000 that will go to Florida’s richest 1 percent.
By 2027, half of America’s Latinos will see their taxes go up by an average of $250 per year, a clear indication that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is in no way in the best interests of the American people.
“The purpose of this bill is clearly not to help America’s working class, but to further line the pockets of the nation’s wealthiest. Trying to sell this overhaul as anything other than that is deceitful. We need to find solutions to help those families working hard to get ahead, and this bill does nothing to address the real economic struggles many are still experiencing,” said Rafael Collazo, Director of Political Campaigns at UnidosUS.