*Note: This is a reader-submitted opinion piece. Opinions and letters to the editor can be sent to news@clarksvillenow.com

The proposed tax bill, H.R. 1, is BAD. One would be inclined to assume that the name, “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act”, would cut taxes for the common working American; school teachers, fireman, factory workers – the middle class. One would assume, and be wrong! Let’s take a look at what H.R. 1 actually does.

H.R. 1 would increase taxes on households that earn under $150,000 a year. The bill would eliminate a provision that allows individuals to deduct medical expenses in excess of 10 percent of their total income. The majority of taxpayers who claim the deduction either have incomes below $100,000, with around 40 percent being below $75,000.

What’s more, over half of those who claim the deduction are over the age of 65. If we were to stop here with the problems related to the bill, we could call it the “Diseased Middle Class and Elderly Elimination Act”; due to the fact that those individuals would be hesitant to seek care, or simply wouldn’t be able to afford care without the deduction. But, regretfully, there’s more.

Clarksville/Montgomery County boasts some of the best schools in the nation, one reason for the success is great teachers who, at times, reach into their own pockets to provide necessary materials needed for our children to advance. And what makes this affordable for our educators, and what makes it possible for the trend to continue is the fact that those educators can deduct those expenses. But no worries, they’re protected right? Wrong. Those deductions would be taken away if H.R. 1 were passed. But guess who would be able to claim deductions on pens, pencils, paper, etc…the basic necessities; corporations, of course. So, now we have the “Diseased Middle Class, Elderly Elimination and Under Achieving Student Act”.

Not enough to convince you that this bill is bad for the nation as well as Tennessee? Ok, if H.R. 1 were passed, the Child Tax Credit would not apply to 10 million children whose parents work for low pay; which comes to about 1 in 7 of our children. In all, 23.7 million children in working families would either be excluded entirely, or would only receive partial benefit from the Child Tax Credit. Essentially, those who need it most. That leaves us with the “Diseased Middle Class, Elderly Elimination, Under Achieving and Hopelessly Indigent Child Act”.

This bill is not only harmful to the afore-mentioned groups of citizens, but it also has a tremendous negative impact on immigrants and their children by having provisions that make it hard, and at times, impossible to attain higher education, through certain social security number restrictions.

Clarksville/Montgomery County is a city like no other. We come from all corners of the earth, we are a community that supports, and is supported by our proud men and women in uniform. We love them, and they love us. We are a proud community of middle class citizens. We are polite to our neighbors. When traffic is a mess, what do we do? We make every intersection a four way stop, so no one has to wait too long. When someone is hungry, we “dollar-up” and feed them. When our children perform, we show up and support them. We smile, we speak, we say excuse me and thank you. But now, it is time to fight back…

The Clarksville-Montgomery County Branch NAACP, in line with our national office, is calling on all concerned citizens to call and write to our senators (as our Congressional Representative, Marsha Blackburn, has already voted against us) and plead for them to vote NO. We want our low-income earning families to have some relief at tax time. We want our teachers to be able to continue to deduct their expenses; expenses acquired through love and dedication to our children and community. We want our immigrants and their children who contribute to our community to have access to advanced education. We want our grandparents to be able to have peace in seeing a doctor, knowing that if their bill gets too high, they have that deduction to fall back on. We want our neighbors to prosper, as we prosper. Because that’s just who we are.