10 Things You Need to Know about Paul Ryan’s 2015 Budget
April 03, 2014
Categories:
Budget
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan this week released his 2015 budget proposal that targets most cuts at working families and federal employees. Here are 10 things you need to know about his path to poverty proposal:
- You would be forced to do the work of three employees as only one of every three who retire will ever be replaced.
- You would face a pay cut of 5.5% as you would be required to pay more toward your own retirement with no increase in benefits.
- If you receive student-loan reimbursements, that too would be taken away. This would have a direct impact on the mission of the government as federal agencies lure the best and the brightest into government by offering student-loan repayments.
- There would be a cut in benefits for those who retire early and those hurt on the job.
- Most federal agencies would continue to be underfunded and understaffed as the budget proposal slashes non-defense spending by $791 billion below the sequestration level while adding $483 billion to the Pentagon budget over 10 years. Funding for important public services such as education, research, border security, food and drug safety, law enforcement, and environmental protection would face severe cuts.
- More airport screening jobs would be privatized. The proposal cuts funding for the Transportation Security Administration and presses the agency to privatize more screening functions, returning airport security to where we were when private screeners failed to stop 9/11 terrorists from boarding the planes.
- Because of its draconian cuts, the budget would wreck the economy and kill more than 1 million jobs in 2015 and 3 million jobs in 2016, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute.
- If you have a child in college, you’re out of luck. The budget slashes more than $125 billion from the Pell Grant program that helps low- and moderate-income students to afford college. It also cuts funding for job training programs.
- But if you’re a big corporation making billions a year, you will be even richer. The budget cuts the top corporate income tax rate from 39% to 25%. Even with the current top rate of 39%, most companies on average pay only about 19% because of the many tax loopholes their lobbyists have won over the years. In fact, many big companies either pay zero income tax or get money back from the Treasury because of many deductions. The proposal to cap the top corporate and individual income tax rates at 25%, eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax, and repeal Obamacare’s revenue raising provisions would cost the country $5 trillion over 10 years based on Tax Policy Center analysis. But the budget doesn’t identify any tax loophole to close in order to make up for lost revenue.
- The budget is dishonest and misleading. For example, it repeals Obamacare but counts savings projected to come from the program. It offers no meaningful alternative to the uninsured. It claims to help families and boost opportunity while doing the reverse.
