Context Memo

To: Ethan Whittet and ENGW 3302

From: Seung Ha Lee
Date: March 24, 2017

The attached letter regards a scenario that involves the president

executing important financial decisions for the United States. President
Trump and his financial advisory board have made claims that does not
truly reflect the state of economy and are taking actions that are
unfavorable for the country. The president has proposed tax reforms
that would significantly reduce marginal tax rates for individuals and
businesses at every income level. His budget plan proposed 18% cut to
the budget of the National Institutes of Health and suggested $54
billion increase in military spending. Professional economists have
analyzed Trumps financial plans and suggested improvements for the
economy.

The sender of this letter is the Tax Policy Center. This research group
provides analyses of tax proposals and financial issues and
communicates their analyses to the public and policymakers in a
timely manner. The target audience of this letter is Elizabeth Warren,
senior senator of Massachusetts. Elizabeth Warren is an important
political figure who can directly advocate the opinions of her local
citizens into the White House. As one of our local representatives,
Warren is knowledgeable and experienced with tax and budgeting
proposals.

The letter in this situation would be sent in the mail because letters
appear to be more formal and authentic to a politician rather than an
email or call. Also, the reader can thoroughly review the message and
provide appropriate feedback. Written communication is more
appropriate for complex subjects such as taxes and policies that
include important facts and figures.
Elizabeth Warren
Elizabeth for MA PO Box 290568
Boston, MA 02129
March 24, 2017

Dear Elizabeth Warren,

As a Research Associate of Tax Policy Center, I have written this letter

to ask you to advocate our analyses of President Trumps taxes and
budgeting proposals. As a leading figure in the Democratic Party, I
believe that you have considerable influence over the final decisions of
President Trumps orders. President Trump believes that he has
inherited an economic mess and has suggested unreasonable solutions
to our current state of economy. As a team of professional tax and
policy experts, we are confident to inform you our analyses of Trumps
plans.

First of all, President Trump has proposed a tax reform that would
greatly reduce marginal tax rates for individuals and business at all
income levels. The plan would incentivize Americans to work and save
their earnings, but it reduce federal revenues by $9.5 trillion during its
first ten years. Unless the government also reduces spending, his plan
could increase national debt by nearly 80 percent of gross domestic
product by 2036. Although cutting taxes are beneficial to working
Americans, an increase in national debt negates the incentives of tax
cuts. In conclusion, our concern is that these tax cuts would be
unsustainable in the long-run as national debts would increase
tremendously.

Secondly, President Trumps budget plan has proposed an 18 percent

cut to the budget of the National Institutes of Health. The budget would
cut an estimate of $5.8 billion out of a total of its current funding of
$31.7 billion. As a result, the budget would be at its lowest in 15 years
without taking account into biomedical inflation. The cut could
potentially lose research and researchers because the budget cut could
leave no funding for new awards in 2018. Trump has also suggested a
reorganization of the National Institute of Health by removing the
Fogarty International Center. As a training facility to do research in low-
income countries, the Fogarty helps Americans from emerging diseases
and abolishing the Fogarty center can significantly impact the future
health of Americans.
Lastly, he proposed to increase military spending by $54 billion to
prepare fight against ISIS and build new military ships and aircrafts.
The 10 percent increase in military spending will be expensed through
budget cuts to non-defense programs such as the Department of
Housing and Urban Development and Environmental Protection
Agency. The plan called for a 24 percent cut to the EPAs budget, which
would reduce about $2 billion from its annual budget of about $8.1
billion. From this cut, the resource to respond to environmental
emergencies would be eliminated. Staffs and scientists who are
responsible in responding to emergency calls of any chemical dangers
would no longer be available. In conclusion, the budget cut affects the
health and safety of surrounding neighborhoods.
With these analyses, our agency believes that Trumps taxes and
budget proposals are detrimental to health of our economy and people.
Because you have served as a Special Advisor to the Secretary of the
Treasure under President Barack Obama, I believe that you can
understand the complexity of our tax analyses. In addition, as a
Senator, you were assigned to the Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions Committee and I believe that you can understand the harmful
effects of cutting spending on departments that affect the health of our
people. With your expertise and influence in the White house, your
help is extremely important in informing the consequences of Trumps
proposals.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. Our team can provide
further information and research if we were not clear in our analyses.
We would happily accept any form of feedback.

Sincerely,

Seung Ha Lee
Research Associate at Tax Policy Center