Syracuse, N.Y. (NCC News) — On the last day to file taxes, people came out to the Hanley Federal Building in downtown Syracuse to support a Tax Day justice rally.
It was a chance for community members to speak up and speak out against a wide-range of issues that affect them in different ways, including economics, immigration, and race.
‘DON’T CUT FEDERAL PROGRAMS!’
Aaron Johnson says one of the main reasons he participated is to stand up against proposed cuts to certain federal programs.
“One of the biggest programs that I’m here to advocate for is Medicare and Medicaid. Elon and Trump with their budget have been proposing cuts that could amount to about $880 billion from Medicare and Medicaid.”
It was reported in February that President Donald Trump endorsed a house budget that could include $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid that would affect people and healthcare provider.
The White House posted to its website on March 11 that “President Trump will always protect” programs like Medicare.
Johnson noted how the cuts to certain federal programs could impact the Syracuse community.
“If they cut Medicare and Medicaid in a large way that’s going to cost thousands of jobs in the area.
Johnson wants to help inform the public about taxes and their money.
“Main purpose of the rally is to inform people of what their taxes go too. What kind of critical services they pay for, and kind of get them to understand this isn’t just money being taken from you,” said Johnson.
“This is money that serves you, that helps you and try and get people to oppose the cuts that are coming to extremely critical services like social security like Medicare.”
FREE THE PEOPLE FROM MEDICAL DEBT
He’s not the only one. Jessica Maxwell, a longtime activist, joined the Tax Day justice rally to speak against what she considers one of the biggest problems.
“We are literally subsidizing the richest people in the world while we have large portions of our community who don’t have enough to make and they can’t afford their rent, who are constantly in debt,” said Maxwell.
“Medical debt is a huge issue. People don’t go to the doctor because they can’t afford it.”
According to a Gallup study with West Health, around 31 million Americans report that had to borrow an estimated total of $74 billion in the past year to help pay the bills. Maxwell says she wants to draw more attention to important matters like human rights.
“We don’t see everybody equally benefiting and everybody being equally taken care of despite the contributions we are all making.”
IMPACT
Johnson wants people to leave the protest knowing how important services like Social Security and Medicare can be.
“We want people to know these are your services that you should take advantage of. And we should be expanding them, not cutting them because these are important to everybody. They’re important to our economy and you know our physical health of our entire community.”