With Congressional Republicans and President Trump set to score a massive win before Christmas with their tax reform bill, Democrats and their liberal media lapdogs were letting loose with their smear and fear campaign. But During HLN’s Unfiltered, host S.E. Cupp called out California Democrat Ted Lieu for trying to recklessly scare voters into thinking the bill was going to hurt them when, in fact, the opposite was true.
After Cupp introduced Congressman Lieu as someone who had called the sweeping tax bill a “scam,” he claimed Democrats weren’t against tax reform but were “opposed to stupid tax reform. And this is a scam because it's going to raise taxes on millions of middle-class families to prove really large tax breaks for the super-rich…”
But Cupp swiftly shot down the Congressman’s nonsense by pointing out that “the facts are, according to the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation, middle-income households between 20,000 a year and 100,000 a year are going to get $61 billion in tax cuts in 2019.”
“And another estimate says that families making the median income will get a tax cut of over $2,000 next year,” she added before quipping: “Is the Joint Committee on Taxation part of the scam?”
Lieu asserted that the committee’s analysis was “inaccurate,” and then noted how “for most Americans, by 2027 all across America, most Americans' taxes will go up because many of these provisions start expiring but not the corporate tax cut.”
Pointing out the obvious, Cupp said that he and the rest of his colleagues should simply vote to make the cuts for the middle-class permanent. “Yeah, but you can just vote to have them not expire, right? I mean, isn’t that just incentive to make them permanent,” she asked. Lieu never addressed how he could help make the middle-class cuts permanent but he bizarrely argued that they should do that for the corporate tax rate, which it already did.
“This is really designed to help the super-rich. And keep in mind this gives them a massive tax break for people who have estates totaling $11 million it doubles that to $22 million,” Lieu began to ramble before Cupp called him out for not telling the entire truth:
But you're not sharing the rest, which is that a lot of middle-class people are going to get tax cuts. To me, it just feels like you're scaring voters, which strikes me as a little reckless when many of them will benefit from tax cuts next year.
“Some will, some won’t,” Lieu responded. Cupp talked over him to correct the record, accurately noting that “No, many will, many will.”
When Cupp asked the rest of her panel to weigh in, TV’s Andy Levy slammed the media by describing their coverage of tax reform as “fairly abysmal.” He also paraphrased a New York Times piece that said: “Even among people we estimate will have a 90 percent chance of getting a tax break in the bill, almost half don’t believe they will be getting a tax cut.” “Wherever could they have gotten that idea? I mean, I can’t imagine,” he snarkily replied to himself.
It's fairly obvious that the media was aiding the efforts of Democrats. In the network news overage alone you had ABC pulling out all the stops to smear the bill, while NBC failed to tell their viewers about the popular deductions still in the bill while stoking fear about them not being there.
Relevant portions of the transcript below:
HLN
S.E. Cupp Unfiltered
December 19, 2017
5:16:36 PM Eastern(…)
S.E. CUPP: Joining us now is one member of Congress who has called the plan a “scam,” Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu of California. Thanks for joining us, Congressman.
TED LIEU: Thank you S.E.
CUPP: Okay, so, tell me why this bill is a scam.
LIEU: Well look, Democrats are not opposed to tax reform. We're opposed to stupid tax reform. And this is a scam because it's going to raise taxes on millions of middle-class families to prove really large tax breaks for the super-rich, it's not paid for, it going to cost $1.5 trillion in exploding the debt and federal deficit, and it's going to result in $25 billion in cuts to Medicare because of exploding deficit.
CUPP: So, yeah, I get you're not going to like this bill. But the facts are, according to the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation, middle-income households between 20,000 a year and 100,000 a year are going to get $61 billion in tax cuts in 2019. And another estimate says that families making the median income will get a tax cut of over 2,000 dollars next year. Is the Joint Committee on Taxation part of the scam?
LIEU: No, but it’s inaccurate. This also depends on where you live. If you live in California, New Jersey, New York, and several other states you taxes will go up immediately. And then for most Americans, by 2027 all across America, most Americans' taxes will go up because many of these provisions start expiring but not the corporate tax cut.
CUPP: Yeah, but you can just vote to have them not expire, right? I mean, isn’t that just incentive to make them permanent?
LIEU: Well, then we should just do that for the corporate tax cut, but they don’t do that. This is really designed to help the super-rich. And keep in mind this gives them a massive tax break for people who have estates totaling $11 million it doubles that to $22 million.
CUPP: But Congressman, I completely understand that point. But you're not sharing the rest, which is that a lot of middle-class people are going to get tax cuts. To me, it just feels like you're scaring voters, which strikes me as a little reckless when many of them will benefit from tax cuts next year.
LIEU: Some will, some won’t.
CUPP: No, many will, many will.
LIEU: Again it depends on where you live. If you live in the fifth largest economy in the world, California, or the sixth largest, depending what measure you use. People there are going to have their taxes increased.
(…)
ANDY LEVY: Ben Castleman wrote a piece in The New York Times last Friday about how Americans aren’t buying the tax plan. He said—tweeted, even among people we estimate will have a 90 percent chance of getting a tax break in the bill, almost half don’t believe they will be getting a tax cut. Wherever could they have gotten that idea? I mean, I can’t imagine. I think the media coverage of this has been fairly abysmal.
(…)
