By John Dempsey, WLS-AM News
(CHICAGO) Two Chicago area Congressmen, one a Democrat, one a Republican, appeared on WLS Tuesday morning to weigh in on the Republican tax bill that is coming up for a vote in Congress on Tuesday.
Wheaton Republican Peter Roskam and Chicago Democrat Mike Quigley both appeared on “The Big John and Ramblin’ Ray Show.” Roskam says the tax bill will help the economy, and he rejects criticism from Democrats that the majority Republicans cut them out of the legislative process.
“The Democrats had every opportunity for four days to offer their alternative and they didn’t do it”, said Roskam. “And the reason they didn’t do it is, it’s a lot of work to propose an alternative. Instead they offered amendments that simply would have restored the status quo. Now, it’s their prerogative to do that, and they chose to exercise that prerogative, but I think it’s a glimpse into the strategy and that is, look, they just simply didn’t want this bill to pass.”
Roskam also says it is wrong to characterize the bill as a giveaway for the wealthy.
“It’s just patently not true. So you have a tax bill of 73-thousand dollars in one of our examples, and you’re going to save about two thousand dollars. You’re a single mom earning low 40’s, you’re gonna save a thousand dollars and for that person, that’s real money.”
However Democrat Quigley told WLS that the bill will explode the deficit, which he says will hurt the economy in the long run, and prompt Republicans to use that as an excuse to try and cut entitlement benefits next year.
“And I get the idea that tax cuts can spur economic growth but almost every economist of note will tell you that’s if they’re revenue neutral. No one thinks this is revenue neutral. Under the best of circumstances, it still adds a trillion dollars to the debt and deficit over a ten year period, and that can actually slow growth.”
The plan — which critics say is heavily weighted to ease the tax burden of businesses rather than the middle class — drops the corporate tax rate down from 35% to 21%, repeals the corporate alternative minimum tax, nearly doubles the standard deduction for individuals and restructures the way pass-through businesses are taxed. The bill keeps seven personal income tax brackets, and lowers that tax rates for most brackets, including dropping the top rate to 37% from 39.6%.
It also limits the amount of your local property taxes that you can deduct from your federal income tax to $10,000. Quigley says that will hurt many Illinoisans who have huge property tax bills, and he says his constituents who have called his district office have made their feelings clear.
“I think in my district the results have been about two thousand eight hundred and 30 to three, pretty solidly against this thing. I think if you’re from a state like California, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, this tax bill is even rougher than it is on most folks.”
The House is expected to vote sometime in the early afternoon Tuesday. The Senate is also expected to vote Tuesday after the House.
@ 2017 WLS-AM News
