This morning I wrote a blog post featuring a Facebook post from a friend, and an everyday American who explained why he is completely against the Republican tax cut scam. I asked readers to submit their real-life stories about why the bill must not pass at how it will affect them. The following response is touching and merits immediate publication. This is the real American story for too many.
Lia’s Republican Tax Cut Scam Project story
Won’t affect me much–I’m a real-low-income senior. I’m 70 & get a whopping $317/month from Social Security.
However, my son is 34, & I hate to see him (& his girlfriend, 30) get hit by more of this “series of unfortunate circumstances” for Millennials. I lost my IRA & everything else during the recession. I wasn’t able to help him go to college. He took some courses at the local community college, as well as online while having to work 40-50 hours/week.
He taught himself every computer program, HTML, Java, etc, & started making websites for businesses, while working graveyard shift at a hotel. He didn’t know if he was coming or going. Sometimes, when he worked other hours as well, I would pick him up after class (11:15 am) Because he only had 30 minutes to get to work. (This is a kid with a congenital heart deformity who had two operations by age 23!)
I came prepared with a sandwich for him to eat in the car, drove him to his flat so he could shower & change into his suit, & then drove him to the hotel to stand for 8 hours behind the front desk, for $11/hr. When he worked the 2-11 shift, I would stay up till 11pm to drive him home, as he couldn’t afford a car and there were no busses running at night. (I drive a ’94 Toyota Corolla for the last 15 years.)
Then he learned all about IT & video-conferencing, as well as coding. Finally, 11 years later, he is living in the Bay Area & is IT manager for a boutique hotel in San Francisco, pulling down about $70,000/year. He has a 401(k) for the first time in his life. (I never had one.) He’ll get no tax break as he’s making under $75,000. (If he had $60,000 to get a Computer Science degree, at nearby Berkeley, he could almost double his salary!)
He pays $1300 for a ROOM in a shared household. Even if he could manage to save enough for a down-payment for a home in the Bay area (over $$700,000) and the average home price in CA is $550,000, it’s still over the $500,000 limit they’re proposing for the mortgage-interest-deduction.
His girlfriend took care of severely disabled people in their homes for over 10 years, and now she’s been promoted to Supervisor of Customer Care, a big promotion & larger salary (NOT $75,000) + 401(k) as well. But together, they still can’t buy a home anywhere near work. They have no children so don’t get any other deductions. They make do with one car, & will probably pay rent for the rest of their lives, as I did.
Don’t you think these 2 kids deserve a break????!!!!!
I am putting together a sub-site with real letters from everyday Americans, you, detailing how the Republican tax cut scam will affect you, your family, or your friends. Include your first name, your city, and your state. Please send to [email protected]. We will post and share creating an ever-growing people involvement project. Please remember to share so we can spread widely.
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