Frank Guinta: Turning His Back on the 99%

Earlier this month, Congressman Frank Guinta took to the editorial pages to lambaste President Obama’s jobs bill as an attack on the work of charitable organizations.

You may be surprised to learn just how big [nonprofit organizations] role is, and even more surprised to hear what some people in Washington are trying to do that would hinder their efforts to provide much-needed services. …

[T]he jobs bill that President Obama submitted to Congress last month contained harmful consequences to nonprofit groups.

I agree our tax code needs substantial, powerful reforms. But we must ensure we don’t penalize the very groups that are doing so much to help our communities.

In a letter to the editor, Joan Jacobs sets the record straight on the jobs bill provisions — and takes Guinta to task for choosing to protect the tax privileges of the top 1% over putting people back to work.

Mr. Guinta should know better. President Obama’s proposed limitations would apply only to families with taxable incomes over $250,000. And for that top 1 percent, the change would be modest. Their tax deductions for charitable giving would be reduced from the high 35 percent they get now to the 28 percent most of the rest of us get.

Among the many good things that would result from the Jobs Act: preventing layoffs of teachers, police and firefighters; modernizing more than 35,000 schools; expanding access to high-speed wireless Internet service; and helping veterans get hired. An estimated 18,000 long-term unemployed in New Hampshire could benefits from this legislation.

Frank Guinta and his tea party Republican allies in Congress are doing everything they can to kill the American Jobs Act. Their overriding goal is to protect the tax privileges given to the top 1 percent, even if it means turning their backs on the rest of us.