“What Americans want and will continue to demand is, of course, the exact opposite of what Trump’s tax plan represents. They want to see the loopholes closed and Wall Street paying more, not less. Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Keith Ellison have proposed a sales tax on Wall Street transactions; that would be a good start. Working families pay taxes when they buy a car or a pair of shoes.”
“‘The level of venom directed at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency that is successfully carrying out its mission of preventing tricks and traps that harm American families, is astounding,’ said Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform, a nonpartisan and nonprofit coalition of consumer and other citizen groups. ‘The changes proposed by the legislation only make sense if you want to weaken consumer protections and make it easier for Wall Street, and predatory lenders, to profit by cheating people.’”
AFR’s Senior Policy Analyst Alexis Goldstein appeared on CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin on Wednesday, April 26th to discuss how the Trump Administration’s tax plan would benefit Wall Street and leave ordinary American workers behind. “We have two former bankers from Goldman Sachs announcing a tax plan that–from the details that we do know–will dramatically cut taxes for big banks like Goldman Sachs,” Goldstein said.
“…This legislation would be better dubbed ‘Wall Street’s CHOICE Act’, as it would have a devastating effect on the capacity of regulators to protect the public interest and defend consumers and investors from Wall Street wrongdoing… This nearly 600-page bill is a radical piece of legislation…”
“…We are writing to express our opposition to the “Financial CHOICE Act” and to urge you to oppose this measure. This legislation would be better dubbed “Wall Street’s CHOICE Act,” as it would have a devastating effect on the ability of regulators to protect consumers and investors from Wall Street exploitation and the economy from financial risks created by too-big-to-fail megabanks. It would expose consumers, investors, and the public to greatly heightened risk of abuse in their regular dealings with the financial system, and our economy as a whole to a far greater risk of instability and crisis. “
“’If the government doesn’t have the powers it needs to liquidate and wind down a failing mega-bank, we will just see banks holding up the taxpayer again during the next crisis,’ Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform, said in a statement Friday.”
AFR and 30 other organizations sent a sign-on letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in support of their proposed student loan servicing data collection initiative. Compiling such metrics and borrower outcomes would benefit market participants, federal and state agencies, policymakers, and borrowers. Obtaining a clearer view of the student loan market overall will help inform all market participants on how best to serve student loan borrowers.
“As business groups cheered [deregulation] moves, some skeptics were left questioning whether Mr. Trump was keeping his campaign promises to give working-class Americans a higher priority than Wall Street bankers. ‘From our perspective, it is a direction that is dramatically backwards on financial stability,’ said Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform.’”
“Democrats have already promised to fight attempts to weaken the [CFPB’s] powers. ‘We would have a muzzled watchdog at best,’ said Brian Simmonds Marshall, policy counsel for Americans for Financial Reform, a coalition of more than 200 civil rights, consumer- and labor-oriented community groups. ‘You would have an agency that did not have the authorities it needs to protect consumers.’”
“Amanda Jackson, who takes on powerful financial industry forces every day as the Organizing Manager for Americans for Financial Reform, says she’s drawing strength and inspiration from a surge of activism. ‘Trump is forcing people to be more conscious of problems that certain communities have been facing forever,’ Jackson told Inequality.org. ‘There’s no gray area anymore. Either you turn a blind eye to the problems or you answer the call to action. Fortunately, we’re seeing many people answer that call.’”