Statement from Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center Director Sharon Ward on Tax Day

HARRISBURG, PA (April 15, 2010) - As Tea Party protesters stage "Tax Day" protests in communities across Pennsylvania today, Sharon Ward, Director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, issued the following statement:
 
"The public expects government to be efficient and accountable, but Tea Party protesters want to go much further, dismantling public services like Social Security, education and health care.
 
"Tea Party protesters also complain about high taxes but ignore the fact that federal tax rates are lower now than they were when Ronald Reagan was President. The economic recovery plan, which they also denounce, cut taxes for nearly all working Americans.
 
"According to a new analysis by Citizens for Tax Justice, 99% of working Pennsylvanians and 98% of working Americans received tax cuts in 2009 through the recovery act. Working people in Pennsylvania received $1,220, on average, from these tax breaks.
 
"Behind the signs and protests is a more troubling motivation. Tea Party activists have indicated they favor abolishing Social Security. Most Pennsylvanians would reject that view as extreme.
 
"The fact is that tax rates for the wealthy, especially the very wealthy, have fallen faster over the last 30 years than for any other group, while their incomes have soared. Far from speaking for the middle class, Tea Party protesters seem to favor tax breaks for bankers and Wall Street traders.
 
"Our federal tax dollars keep our families - our grandparents and our children - safe and healthy. In 2010, 21 cents of each federal tax dollar is spent on health care, 20 cents on Social Security, 20 cents on defense and 14 cents on all of the nation's safety net programs. Six cents covers interest on debt and the remaining 19 cents goes toward everything else, including veterans' benefits, transportation, medical research, national parks and education.
 
"We learned during last year's state budget crisis that there are real consequences for families and communities when you cut public services. Tea Party protesters want to do away with critical public services like Social Security and health care, without laying out the real consequences of doing so."
 
View more information on the distribution of federal tax dollars.