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Right-Leaning Nonprofit Launches $2.5 Million Campaign to Push Tax Reform

August 9, 2017

The American Action Network's Middle-Class Growth Initiative launched a $2.5 million ad on Wednesday to increase pressure on lawmakers to tackle tax reform.

The ad, which was created by a nonprofit funded by supporters of House Speaker Paul Ryan (R, Wis.), will run on national cable TV through the August recess to reach Republican members of Congress, CNN reported.

The ad, entitled "Laid Off," features a former metal worker who says he lost his job due to foreign competition.

"America's tax code is so complicated, we can't be as competitive," the man says in the ad. "Thousands of jobs like mine are lost to places like China."

At the end of the ad, the man pleas for Congress to "pass tax reform that brings the middle class back."

"Laid Off" will air in 24 Republican congressional districts, including Ryan's district, according to CNN. The ad will display the name and number of respective representatives at the end of the commercial, encouraging Americans to call their representatives.

The ad is part of a broader $5 million ad buy that was announced at the end of July, after the Senate failed to pass healthcare reform.

At that time, Ryan said the House intends to pursue "historic tax reform" this fall, and the White House has laid out an aggressive timeline to have a bill signed into law by mid-November, according to CNN.

President Donald Trump previously announced his ideas for tax reform earlier this year. He said he wants to lower the number of tax brackets from seven, down to three, double the standard deduction, and create and provide tax breaks for families who have expenses related to childcare.

Trump further wants to lower the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent.

The last time Congress passed comprehensive tax reform was in 1986 under President Ronald Reagan.