Blue Dogs oppose GOP tax package
A bloc of fiscally conservative Democrats will announce their opposition to the Republicans’ far-reaching effort to overhaul the tax code on Wednesday.
The business-friendly Blue Dog Coalition had represented the best chance for the Republicans to win at least a modicum of Democratic support for their sweeping tax-reform package, which GOP leaders, scrambling to secure a major legislative victory this year, are racing to enact before Christmas.
But Blue Dog leaders, after mulling the package passed by the House Ways and Means Committee last Thursday, say the Republicans’ proposal breaks all the group’s guidelines for a tax code redesign. It fails to simplify the tax code, they contend, while busting the budget, neglecting new infrastructure investments and threatening too many middle-class families with a tax increase.
“We simply cannot support a bill that, by every kind of measurement, has been determined to add over $2 trillion to the deficit at the expense of middle-class Americans,” the Blue Dog co-chairmen, Reps. Jim Costa (D-Calif.), Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) and Daniel Lipinski (D-Ill.), said in a statement obtained by The Hill.
“It’s a fact that some middle-class Americans will see their taxes go up and small business owners will face a more complex tax system under this bill,” they added. “We are not convinced that the middle class gets a fair shake when it comes to the deductions that have been eliminated, where the tax brackets are set, and whether and where jobs will be created.”
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/360432-blue-dogs-oppose-gop-tax-package
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