Republicans ‘like a bunch of Mafia thugs’

Candid governor says extra money would go to fund automation, not create jobs

Gov. Jerry Brown didn’t mince words blasting the Republican tax plan on Monday, saying it was “evil in the extreme” and targeted Californians’ pocketbooks.

Republican senators who passed their version of the tax cut bill in a narrow vote just before 2 a.m. on Saturday were “acting like a bunch of Mafia thugs,” Brown told reporters in a media call.

Two versions of the plan — which would be the first major legislative achievement of President Donald Trump — have passed the House and Senate in recent weeks. While a conference committee still has to iron out differences in the two bills and draw up a final draft, there aren’t many obstacles left

in the process. Republican leaders expect a final vote this month, and argue the plan will help invigorate the economy.

The plan will slash corporate and personal tax rates, while eliminating most deductions — including one that allows taxpayers to write off state and local income tax they paid each year. More than six million Californians take advantage of the state and local tax deduction each year, deducting an average of $18,438 per family, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center,

and eliminating the deduction could mean a higher tax bill for many state residents.

Both versions of the GOP bill allow taxpayers to deduct up to $10,000 in state property tax payments, but they ax the income tax deduction entirely.

“They're throwing a wrench into the engine of our economy,” Brown said, speaking with fellow Democrats Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York and Governorelect Phil Murphy of New Jersey, whose states are two of the other largest beneficiaries of the state tax deduction.

Republicans say giving companies a tax cut will mean more money for hiring workers. But Brown predicted that any extra funds in corporate accounts would be used instead to fund new automation technologies that could lead to job cuts.

“They're going to put it into automation and machines to replace people,” he said.

More philosophically, Brown warned that the plan “will divide the blue states from the red” and threatened to “rip the country apart” at a time when America is deeply politically divided.

“This is not just moving tax dollars around,” Brown said, arguing that global rivals like Russia and China are becoming more unified and authoritarian as the U.S. becomes

more divided.

Rep. Mimi Walters, RIrvine, who voted for the plan in the House, fired back at Brown in an email to the Bay Area News Group on Monday afternoon.

“I cannot think of anyone worse to give advice on tax policy than Jerry Brown,” she said. “California is the highest taxed state in the nation, and our state budget is out of control. We do not want to duplicate the governor's reckless tax and spend policies in Washington, D.C.”

The blue state governors also painted the plan as a way for Trump to get back at states that opposed him in the 2016 election. “You're using New York,

California and New Jersey as a piggy bank to finance tax cuts for other states,” Cuomo said. “It's political retaliation through the tax code.”

Cuomo suggested that the plan could be illegal, and said his administration was studying potential legal action, while Brown sounded more cautious on that front.

California's 14 Republican members of Congress could cast decisive votes in the final approval of the plan. Three members of the state's GOP delegation voted against the House version of the bill, while others supported it but said they wanted to see some changes in the conference committee.

“We'll do everything we can to convince our Republican representatives that the right thing for America is to defeat this bill,” Brown said. “It's really stupid and they will regret it.”

Rep. Darrell Issa, RVista, one of the representatives who voted against the bill in the House, said Monday afternoon that he also opposed the version of the bill passed by the Senate. “California families are already forced to endure some of the highest state sales and income tax rates in the nation — they deserve to see tax relief too,” he said in a statement.