WASHINGTON, D.C. (WAVY) — Democrats are angry about what they call the “death of corporate taxes,” and Illinois Congressman Brad Schneider says it’s not right.
“If a law is not enforced across the board, is not enforced the same for everyone or every group, that’s not fair,” Schneider said.
Democrats blame the president’s 2017 tax law, which they say has given massive benefits to big corporations at the expense of individual taxpayers.
In Tuesday’s hearing on Capitol Hill, Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee complained that the tax law has cost the treasury $2.3 trillion in tax revenue and grown the federal deficit.
“Now, every time we need to get something done in Congress the first question is ‘Who’s going to pay for it?’” Pennsylvania Democrat Dwight Evans said.
But Republicans say businesses pay plenty of taxes.
“Regardless of whether you are profitable or not, you have to pay them: real estate taxes, wage taxes, excise taxes, use taxes and providing benefits for your workforce,” Pennsylvania Republican Mike Kelly said.
Kelly is just one of more than a dozen Republicans who defended the Trump administration’s tax cuts. He says Democrats should stop comparing personal income tax to big corporation taxes.
“I’m so tired of the identity politics where big corporations don’t pay taxes and rich people don’t pay enough taxes. The truth of the matter is they do pay, they pay a lot, and in addition to what you don’t see is all their charitable giving,” Kelly said.
But Democrats say that something is clearly broken and it needs to be fixed.
