Middle-class Americans deserve a tax cut. Will Republicans in Congress deliver?

U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder met with Ivanka Trump this week, hopeful that her leverage with the president could lead to relief for parents struggling with the high cost of child care.

That’s a step in the right direction in the tax reform debate.

American families should not be forced to wonder how they’ll afford care for their kids. Yoder’s plan to raise a federal child care tax credit by $2,500 enjoys bipartisan support because it is a sensible way to relieve some of that burden.

But on Thursday, Yoder voted for a budget blueprint that Democrats argue would harm some of the same Americans he’s pledged to help.

According to an analysis by Democrat staff on the Senate Budget Committee, the Republican budget measure could result in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, along with Head Start and Pell grants — all programs that wage-earners depend upon.

The budget vote clears the way for Congress to begin working in earnest on tax reform. The long-awaited GOP bill, which could cut taxes by up to $1.5 trillion over a decade, is expected to be revealed next week.

Approval of the budget legislation now will allow congressional Republicans to pass a tax bill without any Democratic support. So, members of the GOP have a green light to do as they will.

All we ask is that lawmakers remember the people who need tax relief the most. Stay focused on the middle class. Resist pressure to provide a windfall for wealthy Americans.

Protecting 401(k) retirement savings plans will be crucial. The accounts are essential for average workers, many of whom have never had the option of a pension plan.

Republicans already have floated a proposal to decrease the amount that workers can contribute annually to their 401(k) accounts pre-tax. Currently, the limit is $18,000 for workers under 50.

Yet 60 percent of workers earning between $50,000 and just shy of $75,000 contribute more than the $2,400 annual limit that has been proposed, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

The proposed change would take away much of the existing tax incentive to save more for retirement, and the middle class would bear the brunt of the consequences.

These are America’s working class, not people who live off dividends from their investments. Yet some members of the GOP want to appease the wealthiest Americans by doling out other tax breaks, clinging to the fantasy that cutting taxes for the top earners will eventually trickle down to the rest of the country.

If Congress is serious about helping American workers, lawmakers would be wise to shift gears and reduce the payroll tax. Middle-class families pay more in payroll taxes than they do in income taxes. Lowering that tax would provide a much-needed boost for those Americans.

Gary Cohn, the president’s chief economic adviser has said he can’t guarantee that middle-class families won’t wind up paying more taxes under proposals that the White House will support.

That’s a fair warning. It’s up to Congress to deliver a plan that actually benefits the middle class.

This story was originally published October 26, 2017 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Middle-class Americans deserve a tax cut. Will Republicans in Congress deliver?."