CWA: Tax Changes a Big Priority In Post-Election Session

CWA and allies are fighting for some specific tax fixes that will help working and middle class families, and small business, as the 111th Congress finishes work for the year.

As the CWA News went to press, CWAers were pressing the U.S. Senate to close the corporate tax loophole known as the Reverse Morris Trust and to keep the tax cut for middle class and working families.

The Reverse Morris Trust loophole allows companies to structure the sale of assets to smaller companies to avoid paying taxes on the sale. Verizon took advantage of the tax loophole to sell landlines in New England to FairPoint Communications, to sell lines to Hawaiian Telecom and to spin off its Yellow Pages operations. All those buyers have since filed for bankruptcy. Verizon used the loophole again to sell landlines in 14 states to Frontier Communications.

The House of Representatives voted to close the loophole earlier this year, but the Senate has yet to act.

CWA also is fighting for an extension of unemployment benefits for workers who have been jobless for more than six months. Some members of Congress are playing hardball with the emergency unemployment benefits of 5 million jobless Americans, looking to force through a tax cut for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans in exchange for not letting the benefits run out. 

The benefits average just $290 a week. But the tax cut for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans will cost taxpayers $700 billion.

CWA leaders also are pressing for quick actions on a package of tax cut extenders that has bipartisan support. These tax changes include aid for college and career training, small business job creation, continued access to Medicare and more.