Sen. Baldwin says Republican tax plan ‘favors behemoths’

RACINE - Taking the fight against the Republican tax plan into the backyard of House Speaker Paul Ryan, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) picked apart the legislation Saturday and laid out how a grass-roots resistance movement could defeat it.

She said the bulk of the benefit goes to the top 1% income bracket and powerful, multinational corporations while doing little for middle-class working families.

“This is a tax plan that favors behemoths,” she told about 75 people, who applauded often. “If you believe in trickle down, then this plan is for you.”

To defeat the plan, she said, Wisconsin residents need to call, write and email their elected representatives.

The House plan, introduced this week, and the Senate version, which still is to come, may be an important re-election issue for both Baldwin and Ryan (R-Wis.).

If passed, the plan would hurt college students who could not deduct interest on college loans; harm the pressing need to rebuild the country’s aging infrastructure; and either drastically increase the national debt or lead to substantial cuts in Medicare and Medicaid, she said.

Hedge fund managers and venture capitalists would retain a major loophole, the so-called carried interest provision. That allows them to be taxed at a low capital gains rate rather than a much higher income tax rate.

President Donald Trump had campaigned on closing the loophole, but it is not addressed in the House bill.

Alec Zimmerman, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Republican Party, said Baldwin regularly votes for higher taxes and now she is opposing a plan that would save an average Wisconsin family of four about $1,200 a year.

“It’s more clear than ever that Senator Baldwin is picking Washington special interests over Wisconsin families,” he said in an email.

People at the meeting seemed to side overwhelmingly with Baldwin.

“They (Republicans) are going to throw the middle class a few crumbs,” said Bruce Hauser, a retiree from Sturtevant. “I don’t see anything in it for me.” Jane Durment of Racine said while countries such as China are investing heavily in their people, the Republican tax plan would lead to cuts in education and infrastructure.