Democrat candidate Sean Casten spoke during an interview on Sunday about President Trump’s tax cuts, calling for them to be “completely eliminated.”
Casten, who is running against incumbent Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) in a close race for Illinois’ Sixth Congressional District, told WLS in an interview on Sunday that he believes “the tax reform that was passed should be completely eliminated” because most of the money from the tax cuts went to people who did not need it.
“By giving a tax cut to corporates in the top 1 percent, 83 percent of the tax cut went to people who didn’t need it,” Casten said. “And it hasn’t triggered investment. It hasn’t triggered wage growth. What it’s triggered is a massive increase in dividends. And when 35 percent of U.S. equities are owned by foreigners, that means that more money left the country from the tax bill than flowed to 99 percent of Americans.”
Despite Casten’s views on tax cuts not helping Americans, most Americans say they supported the tax cuts passed under the Trump administration’s tax reform package. A poll conducted shortly after the tax reform bill passed found that 51 percent of Americans approved of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
The tax cuts also gave hundreds of companies the incentive to give tax reform bonuses to their employees, increase wages, and boost investments.
Even though Casten has been vocal about opposing tax cuts, he had once worked as a lobbyist seeking to reap the benefits of tax breaks.
Roskam’s campaign released an ad in September slamming Casten for lobbying for tax breaks, accusing him of indirectly lobbying Roskam himself at one point while he served as chair of the Subcommittee on Tax Policy of the House Ways and Means Committee.
The race between Casten and Roskam in the western Chicago suburbs that make up Illinois’ Sixth Congressional District is so tight it has been labeled a “toss up,” according to the latest polls.
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