Ted Cruz has come out against the House GOP tax proposal on the grounds that it raises taxes for some in Democratic states like New York and California:
THE HILL – Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Tuesday criticized the House GOP tax plan for likely raising taxes on individuals in high-tax states such as New York and California and called for language to repeal the individual mandate to produce more revenue.
Cruz called raising taxes on people in wealthy, staunchly Democratic states such as New York and California”a mistake.”
Cruz has teamed up with fellow conservative Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) in calling for tax reform to include language repealing ObamaCare’s tax penalty on people who don’t buy health insurance.
The provision would raise an estimated $300 billion to $400 billion over the next decade, which Cruz and other Senate conservatives say could be used to lower individual tax rates even further.
“There are some taxpayers who are losing exemptions, particularly in some high-tax states like New York or California that could conceivably be paying higher taxes. I think that is a mistake. I think tax reform needs to cut taxes for everybody,” Cruz told reporters at a press conference Tuesday.
The New York Times reported Tuesday that the House bill would raise taxes on one-third of all middle-class families next year.
Cruz also calls for repealing the individual mandate, citing how every Republican in the Senate has supported that in the past:
Cruz argues that repealing the individual mandate will give members of the tax-writing committees of the Senate and House more leeway to cut rates, so that no one sees their taxes go up.
“One of the real virtues of repealing the individual mandate, number one, [is] every Republican in the Senate has voted to repeal the individual mandate, 100 percent of us,” Cruz argued.
He said an additional $400 billion in revenue would make “it much easier” to pass a tax reform bill, “particularly if that money is directed to lowering individual rates.”
The individual mandate should be repealed, not just for the increased revenue, but on the grounds that is unconstitutional. That’s a fact jack!
But of course…
A senior Senate GOP source familiar with the tax bill the Senate Finance Committee plans to unveil Thursday said it likely won’t include language to repeal the mandate.
“We’re not going in that direction,” the source said.
Sure, why would they. They won’t repeal Obamacare so why on earth would they give us relief from the individual mandate, especially when it could help derail their precious Obamacare. Ugh.