Millions of Americans found themselves on the short end of the stick when they filed their taxes under Trump’s new scam of tax laws this year. One of the most affected groups of people were Gold Star families that are collecting survivors’ benefits — leaving those families to pay out thousands more in taxes at the end of the year. Considering these specific families have already lost their main financial support, it makes this added financial turmoil that much more disgusting.
Jessica Braden-Rogers, whose spouse Michael lost his life in the Middle East, was one of the many people left sickened and looking for answers after she filed her taxes. But when she called the White House in an attempt to air her concerns and question the new tax bill that affected her and her family so deeply, she was met with no help and a lot of resistance. In fact, Rogers stated that when she called the White House, she was promptly hung up on.
CNN had Braden-Rogers on Don Lemon’s show Wednesday night to tell her story where she explained to the host, “None of us found out until we were filing our taxes.”
The Gold Star widow went on to tell CNN that she has been spinning her wheels when it comes to getting any sort of answers from her congressperson or anyone within the White House. “I was hung up on by them,” Braden-Rogers described. “And I have received no responses. And so have many of the military widows that I’ve spoken to.”
Jessica made it clear that many military families are now left with the impossible decision of paying their taxes or paying their bills. “It’s that dire in many cases,” she said.
Braden-Rogers ended her segment stating, “We’ve already sacrificed enough. And this is just even more sacrifice.”
This is far from the first time Trump has received heavy criticism over his tax laws and their effects on Gold Star families — he famously fought with Gold Star father Khizr Khan after he spoke out against him during the Democratic Convention. But Trump had no sympathy for the situation then either, stating, “Mr. Khan, who has never met me, has no right to stand in front of millions of people and claim I have never read the Constitution, (which is false) and say many other inaccurate things.”
So, at this point, it’s strikingly clear that the Trump administration not only knows that they’re putting the screws to millions of Gold Star families, they actually really just don’t give a damn.
Featured image via DC Tribune galleryÂ
