CHICAGO—U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today pressed the Republican members of the Illinois congressional delegation to reconsider their support for the House Republican tax plan and the harmful policies within the bill should the House of Representatives be given an opportunity to weigh-in on tax legislation in the future. 
The House Republican tax plan funds massive tax cuts for the largest corporations and wealthiest Americans by raising taxes on millions of middle-income families, ballooning the deficit, and eliminating some of the most vital tax breaks for people in Illinois.
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“In light of the many harms posed to your constituents and our state’s economy by the House bill you voted in favor of, we urge you to reconsider your support for these harmful policies should the House be given an opportunity to weigh-in on tax legislation in the future,” wrote the Senators.
One of the central and most damaging provisions in the House bill is its proposal to gut the state and local tax (SALT) deduction—eliminating it completely for income and sales taxes and capping the deduction at $10,000 for property taxes. As the state with the fifth highest number of taxpayers who claim this deduction, Republican efforts to eliminate or gut SALT would hit Illinois especially hard. The roughly one-third of all taxpayers in Illinois who benefit from SALT would be subjected to double-taxation under the House bill—once at the state and local level and again at the federal level—and state and local governments would find it more difficult to fund essential local education programs, infrastructure projects, and social services.
Further, in order to fund tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest one percent, the House bill would eliminate the medical expense deduction, making it so that the more than 370,000 Illinois who depend on this deduction would no longer be able to claim an average $10,000 deduction to help offset costly out-of-pocket medical expenses.
The House bill also takes aim at students in our state by eliminating the student loan interest deduction, preventing the more than 1.5 million Illinoisans who collectively hold $51 billion in federal student loan debt from deducting the interest gain on their loans.
Lastly, the House bill would add up to $1.5 trillion to our nation’s deficit, which will undoubtedly be used in the future by Republican leaders to justify drastic cuts to federal spending on public assistance programs.
Full text of the letter to Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL-06) is available here.
Full text of the letter to Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL-12) is available here.
Full text of the letter to Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL-13) is available here.
Full text of the letter to Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-IL-14) is available here.
Full text of the letter to Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL-15) is available here.
Full text of the letter to Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL-16) is available here.
Full text of the letter to Rep. Darin LaHood (R-IL-18) is available here.
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