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Local activists, elected officials protest Rep. John Katko’s support of tax bill

Kai Nguyen | Photo Editor

Rep. John Katko (R-Camillus) voted to pass the controversial Tax Cuts and Jobs Act late last year.

A group of about 30 local elected officials, activists and concerned residents gathered Tuesday afternoon outside Rep. John Katko’s (R-Camillus) office in downtown Syracuse to protest his support for the controversial Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

The rally took place on Tax Day, the deadline for residents in the United States to file their taxes.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reduces the corporate tax rate by 14 percent and decreases the estate tax. Working-class families will pay less in taxes through additional deductions, including a bigger child tax credit. But those deductions will be phased out in 2026. Democrats and some policy experts say the legislation disproportionately benefits “1 percenters” and corporations.

“What we were promised were lower taxes, higher wages and job creation,” said Jessica Bumpus, a member of Indivisible Syracuse, a grassroots political organization that aims to inform local residents about their representatives’ positions on political issues. “What we got is higher taxes and threats to our critical public programs.”

Helen Hudson, president of Syracuse’s Common Council, attended the protest. Hudson said she will only receive a $512 tax decrease under the new law, which Congress narrowly passed late last year.



“For me, it’s about standing up,” she said. “It’s about telling the big conglomerates and our Congress folks this is not working.”

Individuals who earn more than $1 million a year will receive the largest tax benefit from the bill, saving an average of $69,660, according an NPR analysis.

Katko was not in attendance, but organizers of the rally brought a cardboard cutout of the congressman to the protest. The cutout was covered in stickers representing corporations that have donated to his reelection campaign. One of those companies, the Blackstone Group, has given $16,200 to Katko’s 2018 campaign. Blackstone is a multinational private equity and asset management firm.

After the tax bill passed in January, Katko released a statement expressing support for the legislation. The tax rate for utility companies has decreased, and companies are passing those benefits on to taxpayers, he said.     

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Kai Nguyen | Photo Editor

Protesters stood outside of Katko’s office on Tuesday afternoon.

 Union leader Ann Marie Taliercio said that while companies such as National Grid see large benefits from the bill, people like her “see it in pennies.” Taliercio is president of the Central Labor New York Area Labor Federation, which represents all AFL-CIO union members in the area.

After the rally, Taliercio said the only reason workers in central New York are seeing pay increases is because of minimum wage increases in New York state. She added that the only time Katko has agreed to meet with her is during the election cycle, when he asks for her endorsement. The congressman is up for reelection this year.  

“I want someone who represents the people they were elected to represent,” Taliercio said. “That’s all I want. I want him to start representing us, meeting with the constituents.”

Common Councilor Joe Driscoll, of the 5th district, also attended the rally. He took issue with the large number of political contributions to Katko’s campaign from corporations.

“You can either have the big-money, corporate donors, or you can get people power,” Driscoll said.

A similar rally was held in mid-March, when Sen. Chuck Schumer visited Syracuse’s City Hall for an anti-tax legislation rally. Schumer denounced the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, saying the bill has primarily benefited CEOs who employ “buybacks” as a means of repurchasing their own company’s stock to increase its value. Driscoll also attended that event.

Driscoll on Tuesday raised concerns about possible increases in health care costs following the bill’s passage. The tax legislation removes the individual mandate, a part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that required most Americans to have health insurance. The intention of the provision was to increase the incentive for healthy people, who are less expensive to insure, to buy health insurance. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that repealing the mandate would result in a 10 percent increase in premiums.  

Elaine Denton, a mother of three children who lives in the suburban town of Manlius, volunteers for the CNY Solidarity Coalition. It’s a collection of grassroots organizations in central New York that aims to protect residents from what it sees as President Donald Trump’s “destructive policies.” After the rally, Denton said health care is “very expensive,” and the tax bill does nothing to address that.

“It’s a scam,” she said. “All the rich and businesses are just taking their money and keeping it.”





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