A Republican senator has a plan to ‘Rescue America.’ Here’s what it could cost Californians
Many California lower and middle income earners would pay as much as $1,550 more in taxes under a plan devised by the Republicans’ Senate campaign chairman, an analysis by a Washington research group finds.
Sen. Rick Scott, R. Florida, who heads the election effort, wants all Americans to pay taxes, though he insists he is not raising them.
His plan has ignited a political firestorm. On Monday, the day when most federal income tax returns were due, the White House released a “fact sheet” vowing President Joe Biden “will fight against the Republican plan to raise taxes on middle-class families.”
Many Republicans have also been wary of the proposal, but Scott has been vigorously defending his “Rescue America” plan,“ a policy blueprint he unveiled in February.
“All Americans should pay some income tax to have skin in the game, even if a small amount,” he says in his plan. Scott is proposing no minimum tax and has not given any specifics as to how his tax plan would work, but it would not involve any tax rate increases. He aimed to encourage people to work rather than rely solely on government income programs.
“There are two categories of folks in America who do need to pay their fair share. We have a sizable class of people in the country who live off government handouts, even though they could be working,” he wrote in an op-ed in the Daily Caller. Scott’s office sent the op-ed Monday when asked for comment about the plan..
“I’m talking about able-bodied, working-age Americans. They need to contribute to the system they are benefiting from. The best way to do this is by getting a job. If they refuse to work, they need to be required to pay into the system,” Scott said.
He also noted that there are very wealthy people not paying their fair share of taxes, and “that’s wrong.”
Tax plan’s California impact
But it’s the lowest wage earners who would pay more taxes, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center reached the same conclusion.
The ITEP’s estimate of the impact on Californians:
▪ Lowest 20% of income earners, making $26,100 or less, a tax increase of $790.
▪ Second 20%, making $26,100 to $49,900, tax increase averaging $1,550.
▪ Middle 20%, making $49,900 to $82,700, tax increase averaging $480.
▪ Next 20%, making $82,700 to $147,800, tax increase averaging $130.
▪ Next 15%, making $147,800 to $344,200, tax increase averaging $20.
▪ Next 4%, making $344,200 to $961,700, tax increase averaging $10.
▪ Wealthiest 1%, making more than $961,700, no increase.
A smaller percentage of Californians would probably see higher taxes than in other states.
Southern states seem to have many people who pay no federal income tax or negative federal income tax under current law because they have low incomes or collect Social Security or for other reasons, said Steve Wamhoff, ITEP director of federal tax policy.
It is not unusual for some people to pay no tax. Some have extremely low incomes, and therefore are not subject to tax liability because of the standard deduction. Retirees and people with disabilities can sometimes have no tax liability because their income is not subject to taxation. Certain tax credits can also reduce the tax liability to zero.
Rick Scott and Republicans
Scott’s plan has hardly been universally embraced by Republicans.
“Let me tell you what will not be on our agenda. We will not have as part of our agenda a bill that raises taxes on half the American people and sunsets Social Security and Medicare within five years. That will not be part of the Republican Senate majority agenda,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters a few days after Scott unveiled his plan.
Such plans are easy targets for the opposition, and Democrats are pouncing.
“This is your Tax Day reminder that Senate Republicans want to hike taxes on over HALF of Americans if they take back the Senate. We must defeat them,” the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee tweeted Monday morning.
The White House fact sheet said “congressional Republicans’ plan will increase middle-class families’ taxes an average of nearly $1,500 this year alone and take $100 billion out of the hands of middle-class families each year.”
The $1,500 figure — actually $1,480 — comes from the Tax Policy Center. It’s the average that people who received tax increases would pay.
The plan has not been endorsed by all “congressional Republicans,” and McConnell noted that “If we’re fortunate enough to have the majority next year, I’ll be the majority leader. I’ll decide in consultation with my members what to put on the floor.”
Scott, the former governor of Florida, who is said to be weighing a presidential bid as soon as 2024, has insisted the White House is distorting his plan.
“That the most unpopular president in recent history is spending more time lying about Senator Rick Scott’s plan than addressing the myriad crises he’s created says everything you need to know about Joe Biden and this White House,” spokesman McKinley Lewis told The Sacramento Bee Monday.
As chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Scott is an important fundraiser and organizer in the GOP’s bid to regain control of the Senate. Currently Democrats and Republicans each hold 50 seats.
That means Republicans need a net gain of one seat for control next year, and the nonpartisan Inside Elections analysis sees the party gaining one to three seats. In California, Sen. Alex Padilla, a Democrat, is seeking election to a full term, and the analysis rates his prospects as solid.
This story was originally published April 19, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "A Republican senator has a plan to ‘Rescue America.’ Here’s what it could cost Californians."
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