A coalition of liberal and labor groups named “Not One Penny” began airing a series of television ads on Saturday targeting five of California’s Republican members of Congress over the GOP’s tax reform plan.
The plan would cut middle class and corporate taxes, and remove a deduction for local and state taxes, which would disproportionately impact high earners living in states with high taxes, like California and New York.
It would also limit the property tax deduction to $10,000 and decrease the cap on mortgage interest deduction for loans at $500,000, which is half of the current $1 million limit.
“The Republican tax plan will raise taxes on California families by eliminating middle-class tax deductions to pay for a massive tax break for the super wealthy and big corporations,” the narrator of the 30-second ad says. “Tell your member of Congress to vote ‘no’ on the Republican tax plan. California families can’t afford it.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, the “Not One Penny” more ads are running in districts represented by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), Rep. Steve Knight (R-Palmdale), Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa), Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) and Rep. Mimi Walters (R-Irvine).
2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton won all five congressional districts in which the ads are being aired. The Times notes: “Flipping those districts is critical to the Democrats’ effort to retake the House of Representatives next year.”
“Not One Penny” released a similar ad in August:
https://www.facebook.com/taxmarch/videos/331710310601824/
Last week Issa became the first House Republican to oppose the House version of the bill, known as the Tax Cut and Jobs Act.
“[M]y overriding concern with the current House tax reform proposal is that many Californians who need and deserve tax relief won’t benefit from the current framework, or at worse, may see their tax burden rise as a consequence of certain changes including, but not limited to, the elimination of the state and local income tax deduction,” Issa said in a statement.
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), whose district is not targeted in the “Not One Penny” ads, said he supports the GOP tax plan despite the fact that some Californians could suffer higher taxes, because he believes it will help the majority of citizens throughout the rest of the nation.
“Why punish the rest of the nation because California is stupid?” Hunter said in an interview with KUSI. “It’s a tough vote for me, but I’m not gonna keep the economy down for the whole country because California has bad government.”
Adelle Nazarian is a politics and national security reporter for Breitbart News. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
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