Nancy Pelosi performed the oldest magic trick in the book – pay attention to this hand while I do something else with the other – when she moved to give top-earning Americans tax relief in the next coronavirus stimulus package, while at the same time slamming Republicans for giving tax breaks to big corporations.
The hypocritical House Speaker faced backlash following her moves to reverse a $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions, known as SALT, which was included in the 2017 Republican tax reform bill.
“We could reverse that for 2018 and 2019 so that people could refile their taxes,” Pelosi said as reported by The New York Times. “They’d have more disposable income, which is the lifeblood of our economy, a consumer economy that we are.”
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The rollback “would provide a quick cash infusion in the form of increased tax rebates to an estimated 13 million American households,” the New York Times reported.
However, economists and tax experts blasted Pelosi’s idea, according to Politico, arguing the move wouldn’t give the economy much of a boost and would not benefit the people Nancy Pelosi is claiming she wants to help.
“This is not a good idea,” said Michael Linden, executive director of the progressive Groundwork Collaborative. “It would not help the economy heal, and it would not benefit the people who need help.”
Those exclusively benefiting would be American households earning more than $100,000 per year.
“Restoring the SALT deduction, as Speaker Pelosi advocated, would once again force low and middle-income people to subsidize wealthy individuals in high tax states and municipalities — like the Speaker’s home in San Francisco, California,” Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) said, The Hill reported.
Seth Hanlon, a senior fellow at the liberal Center for American Progress, added that Pelosi’s proposal “doesn’t strike me as the most effective way of targeting economic stimulus.”
“There are ways you could target it to truly middle-class people,” Hanlon explained. “The problem is, relatively few middle-class people claim SALT.“
“We know a lot of the areas that are getting hit hardest by the coronavirus were hit by SALT, too,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.). “Many small businesses have been crushed by this. We have to help them get back online.”
