ihe COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA Orrice or tHe Govennon Hansisauna December 19, 2017 ‘The Honorable Robert Brady United States House of Representatives 2004 Rayburn House Office Building ‘Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Congressman Brady: Several members of Pennsylvania's Congressional delegation were in attendance in October when President Trump visited Harisburg to talk about tax reform. In his speech, the President said that tax reform would be a “middle-class bill” and tha the benefits would go to “the ‘middle-class and not the highest earners." The bill you will be voting on does not do that ‘There are clear winners and losers under this bil large corporation wil see a permanent 14 percent tox eut while an individual making $40,000 wil se ther modest ax et disappear by 2003, More than hal ofthe tax cuts in this bil goo the tp 1% while Pennsylvanians earning les {han $75,000 wil pay more in taxes by 202. In total, 713,000 of our constituents will ee a tx hike by 2027 This “middle-class” bil wll raise the threshold to qualify for the estate tax, which benefits ‘only the wealthiest 140 estates in the commonwealth. These 140 estates, all worth over $22 million ‘will see a tax cut of $44 million, That $4.4 million could be used to provide 1100 Pennsylvania students a Pell Grant to make college more affordable, Homeowners who utilize the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction will see their deduction capped under this bill, SALT ensures that Pennsylvania families won't be taxed twice by the federal goverament on what they've already paid in state and local taxes. The majority of Pennsylvanians who use the deduction have an income under $100,000. These changes to the eduction will increase the tax burden on homeowmers by as much as $1600 per year. The increased tax burden on homeowners may force our communities to make culs to emergency services, infrastructure projects, and education Pennsylvanians* concerns with this bill are not limited to the changes to tax policy. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that repealing the Affordable Care Acts individual ‘mandate would inerease premiums an additional 10 percent each year, Pennsylvania would see an ‘additional 500,000 uninsured individuals, My administration has worked to bring the ‘commonvvealth's uninsured rate tothe lowest on record, Eliminating the individual mandate is © step backwards.‘The Honorable Robert Brady December 19, 2017 Page Two According tothe Joint Committee on Taxation’s sore the GOP tax plan will increase the deficit by $1.45 trillion over the next ten years. Without additional Congressional action, this bill vill tigger an automatic $25 billion cut fo Medicare next year, along with $125 billion in cuts to other programs such as farm subsidies, health prevention funds, and student loans. Earlier this ‘month, Speaker Ryan announced that in 2018 the House of Representatives would work to cut Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other entitlement programs that Pennsylvania families rely on, Its ieresponsible to support a bill that adds over a tillion dollars to the deficit and then use concer over the deficit to make cut to vital programs that will hurt your most vulnerable ‘constituents, ‘This bill is bad policy, It isa giveaway tothe uber-wealthy and corporations. I urge you to vote no and work on real tax reform that will benefit the middle-class, Sincerely, Aon fo ‘TOM WOLF, Governor