Tax revolting
If you can’t come together when one team ... is acting like a bunch of Mafia thugs, it’s not right and it won’t stand. Brown joins Andy, N.J.er in war on GOP plan
California Gov. Jerry Brown
ALBANY — California Gov. Jerry Brown ripped congressional Republicans for “acting like a bunch of Mafia thugs” in pushing through their controversial tax bill.
Brown, New York Gov. Cuomo and New Jersey Gov.-elect Phil Murphy in a conference call Monday with reporters held open the possibility of a lawsuit should Congress pass a joint bill into law.
“The most immediate evil of this cynical maneuver called the tax bill is to further divide America when we’re at one of our most divisive periods in history,” Brown said.
He said that “if you can’t come together when one team, who has a couple-vote majority in the Senate, is acting like a bunch of Mafia thugs, it’s not right and it won’t stand.”
Rep. John Faso, a Hudson Valley Republican who voted against the House tax reform bill, called Brown’s remark about the Mafia “pretty outrageous.”
“I think Mario Cuomo would have objected,” Faso said, invoking the late former New York governor, and father of the current governor, who spoke out often against Italian stereotyping.
A spokesman for the current Gov. Cuomo, who in 2001 commissioned a poll on whether “The Sopranos” television show did damage to the image of ItalianAmericans in New York, had no immediate comment on Brown or Faso’s statements.
Cuomo during the conference call again argued that a bill that would severely restrict the ability to deduct state and local taxes amounts to double taxation.
The three Democrats said they are exploring legal options should a bill pass Congress and be signed into law by President Trump.
“If we don’t succeed (in killing the current proposals politically), we are going to have to take this to the limit,” Murphy said.
The three said versions of the plan that would allow homeowners to deduct up to $10,000 of their property taxes are a slight improvement. But they argued the overall bill will devastate 12 high-tax states like New York, California and New Jersey that are also strongly Democratic and went for Hillary Clinton over Trump. “It’s political retaliation through the tax code,” Cuomo said. Brown added, “We need to come together. This bill will divide the blue states from the red states. The Democrats from the Republicans. It is evil to the extreme.” Murphy, a liberal Democrat elected in November to succeed Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, called the tax reform proposals “a scam to the ultimate extreme” that will widen the inequality between the rich and poor. The three said the bottom 40% of Americans will see virtually no tax relief while the rich will benefit disproportionately.
Noting how Republicans started the repeal-and-replace movement right after Obamacare passed, Cuomo predicted a similar push by Democrats when it comes to the tax reform bill he and his fellow blue state leaders say was rushed through haphazardly.
“If they do this, the next day we’re going to start the repealand-replace the divisive tax act,” Cuomo said.
But Cuomo, Brown and Murphy were at a loss when asked exactly what they can do to counteract the legislation if it passes.
“This is quintessentially a political challenge,” Brown said. “Our job is to communicate the fraudulent and nefarious character of this tax bill.”
The three also renewed their calls for the Republicans in their states to vote against any measure that they believe will hurt their constituents.
Faso tweeted that if Cuomo “was truly concerned about this tax legislation, he would have contacted me — but no one from his team has ever called.”