Choose your side: Moms vs. Millionaires

Who will Congress pick to have a better 2013?

When the 2012 campaign is over, that's when the really hard decisions will be made. Before the end of 2012, Congress must decide what to do about expiring tax cuts passed by Presidents Bush and Obama totally $5 trillion.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) published a report earlier this month outlining who the big winners and losers would be depending on how federal lawmakers decide which tax cuts stay and which are allowed to expire on schedule. Two tax expenditures in particular - the estate tax cut and both the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit - benefit a disproportionate number of North Carolinians.

According to the CBPP analysis, if Congress sides with millionaires, "extending the current estate tax rules would benefit the wealthiest 140 estates in North Carolina (roughly 0.20% of estates), compared to reverting to the 2009 estate tax parameters."

What happens if Congress decides to pay for an estate tax giveaway by letting the EITC and CTC expire?

"Letting the improvements in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) expire at the end of 2012 would affect 522,645 working North Carolina families in 2013 and the 1,114,261 children in those families."

What's it gonna be, Congress?

"North Carolina’s Senators and Representatives should reject proposals that would push thousands of working families and their children into poverty, while delivering a significant tax break to just .2 percent of North Carolina’s wealthiest estates," said Alexandra Forter Sirota from the Budget & Tax Center, a project of the North Carolina Justice Center, on the CBPP findings.

"Low- and middle-income families depend on refundable tax credits to stay afloat and provide their children with a brighter future. These families should not have to sacrifice even more than they already have to provide yet another tax break to the wealthiest Americans." -- Alexandra Sirota

Beth Messersmith, spokesperson for the grassroots group, MomsRising, told Public News Service NC called the possibility that Congress might choose the wrong side "heartless."

"It's an easy decision. We have to invest in our kids. Especially at a time when we're seeing so many of the services families really depend on, all sorts of other supports, being cut." -- Beth Messersmith

When it comes to letting 140 millionaires have a tax-free inheritance versus protecting tax credits that benefit 522,645 working families and their 1.1 million children, we think that is an easy call. If you agree with us, click here to read and sign our letter to Congress.