New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo charged Republicans Thursday with intentionally crafting their tax bill to target Democratic-leaning states to pay for tax cuts that benefit Republicans.
“This tax provision hits the blue states by eliminating the state and local tax deductibility and uses that money to finance the tax cut in the red states,” Cuomo said on CNN’s “New Day.”
Cuomo said the move to eliminate the state and local tax deduction “put a dagger in the heart of New York and California,” and that the Republicans leading Congress basically said, “Let’s pillage the blue to give to the red.”
“You want to hurt New York? You want to hurt California? They’re the economic engines,” Cuomo said.
The decision to eliminate that deduction led to pushback from many hailing from states with high incomes and high state taxes, like California and New York. Members of Congress hailing from those states voted against the bill, including several House Republicans.
Outside of hitting those high-tax blue states, Cuomo said the tax law was sold to the public with a “bait and switch” campaign by packaging it as a boon to the middle class while being skewed in reality toward the highest earners and corporations.
“They sold it as ‘we’re going to help the middle class,’ ” Cuomo said. “It wound up being a benefit for the rich and the rich corporations.”
Cuomo said in response to the law, they would “propose a restructuring of our tax code” and indicated his support for some kind of legal challenge.
Cuomo said he was not sure what the Republicans did is constitutional and that there were “legitimate grounds” for legal action, but added the final retribution for the new law would come at the ballot box.
“They know exactly what has happened, and they’re going to remember,” Cuomo said. “Democracy ultimately works.”