Monday, December 4, 2017

"Hard-working Californians deserve to see a tax cut too:" Darrell Issa on why he voted No on the tax bill



...The tax plan approved this week would have made some good steps forward — simplifying the tax code, changing the corporate tax rate from the world’s highest to be more globally competitive, and bringing down the rates for individual taxpayers — but I worry that even under the reduced tax rates, many across our state could be forced to pay more, not less, and for me that is simply unacceptable.

For taxpayers in our district, being able to deduct their state and local income taxes from their federal return is the first line of defense against the tax increase factory the Democrats have built in Sacramento. Democrats in our state Capitol have worked around the clock for years, churning out tax increases by the dozen on everything from gasoline, everyday purchases, paychecks — even plastic bags at the grocery store. Taken together, our state lawmakers have put Californians’ taxes at the top of the list — highest income taxes in the country, highest sales taxes nationwide and now, thanks to the latest 12-cent-a-gallon gas tax hike, the highest gas prices anywhere in the land.

For Americans with leaders in their state Capitol less greedy than our own, eliminating the deduction makes little difference. But for us, eliminating the ability of Californians to deduct their hefty state and local taxes significantly compounds the substantial burdens already imposed on the taxpayers by our state. Even worse, eliminating the state and local tax deduction would assure that almost all of the bill’s tax cuts would be distributed to other states — leaving California with the bill.

Hard-working Californians deserve to see a tax cut too.