Democrats see an opportunity in the passage of the House tax-reform bill to use it against them in the upcoming midterms. Democrats hope to tie the tax bill to the Republicans’ unsuccessful attempts to repeal Obamacare and show the GOP is favoring the rich to the middle class.
The House bill provides that all income groups receive temporary tax cuts, though some lower income groups will see their taxes increase in case the House bill is passed into law. Should this happen, Democrats will be more than eager to use it as a weapon against Republicans. Democrats also believe Republicans will have have issues with tax reform, regardless of whether their bill becomes law.
“First and foremost we are trying to stop the damn thing, because it would be a disaster. But I think there’s no doubt that this is going to be a massive problem for them in the political sense — much like with health care,” said Jesse Lehrich, the communications director for Organizing for America.
The GOP bill has been seen by Democrats as only favoring businesses and wealthy Americans, with the burden falling on the working class. They say Republicans won’t manage to escape it in the 2018 campaign.
“Shamefully, this Republican Tax Scam victimizes the millions of middle-class Americans who deserve to keep more of their hard-earned paychecks. House Republicans are exposing how out-of-touch they really are, and it’s going to haunt them at the ballot box in 2018,” Representative Ben Ray Lujan, chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said.
Political analysts also agree that voting for the House bill will pose additional complications for Republicans in the upcoming campaign. Some GOP members, mainly from states where state and local taxes are to be eliminated, also voted against the bill.
Those Republican lawmakers who joined in voting against the bill expect their move not to support their party will help them resist the possible political blowback of the bill.
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