Protesters rally against tax bill
PENN TWP — A group of about 15 people held up signs in front of Congressman Mike Kelly’s business Thursday afternoon protesting a tax-cut bill that was passed by the House of Representatives just hours earlier.
The demonstration, held in front of Mike Kelly Chevrolet Cadillac, was planned before the bill came to a vote, said Maureen Byko, one of the organizers.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, passed by a 227-205 vote in the House, would reduce the seven federal income tax brackets to three: 12, 25 and 35 percent, according to a news release from Rep. Kelly, R-3rd, who voted in favor of the bill.
“This historic legislation means more take-home pay for every single hardworking American so that he and she can keep more of their hard-earned money to spend as they choose instead of shipping it off to the federal government,” Kelly said in the news release earlier this month. “It also means that American companies will no longer have to pay the highest taxes in the industrialized world.”
Byko said that the legislators were bringing the bill to a vote too quickly and despite it being touted as beneficial to middle-class people, it would take away important deductions such as student loan interest and nursing home costs.
“It’s just tax cuts for the rich. Everyday Americans like us in Butler County will have to pay more,” she said.
A full report appears in Friday's Butler Eagle.
