Republican leaders last week sent lawmakers home with orders to do all they can to promote the benefits of the new tax law, while Democratic leaders called for their rank-and-file to make trashing the tax cuts a major priority while back in their districts.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., sent a memo to Democrats Wednesday urging them to hold events in their districts to criticize the tax cuts and to promote their theory that they will lead to slashed entitlement funding while providing little benefit to the average worker.
“We must continue to amplify the truth about the GOP Tax Scam and the threat to Medicare,” Pelosi said in the letter. “I hope that this District Work Period, you will hold events in your community to spotlight these powerful issues. Your office has been provided with event suggestions, talking points and other supporting materials for engaging your constituents.”
Republicans, meanwhile, are being urged by their own leadership to showcase the businesses and individuals who are benefiting from the new tax law, which slashed corporate and individual rates.
The tax reform law is considered the GOP’s biggest accomplishment, and the party hopes it will provide enough political momentum to help them hold onto the majority in November.
Republicans have touted the $1,200 annual tax savings an average family of four would reap because of the law. The corporate tax cuts have prompted higher wages, bonuses, and more hiring.
“More than four million Americans have received bonuses, and 9 in 10 Americans are seeing more money in their paychecks thanks to the new withholding tables,” GOP recess talking points say. “What defenders of the status quo call ‘pathetic’ and ‘crumbs’ is, to most people, the opportunity for a better life.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who has been aggressively promoting the tax cuts in media interviews and appearances around the country, will visit the Dallas headquarters of Southwest Airlines, which was among the corporations to issue employee bonuses after the cuts were signed into law. Ryan plans to hold a town hall with Southwest employees.
Republican Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., is also using Women’s History Month in March to promote the tax cut benefits for working women and the nation’s 9.4 million female business owners. She’s also set up a map on the GOP’s website promoting the tax bill, “fairandsimple.gop,” that shows where companies have provided new benefits including bonuses and pay increases as a result of the tax law.
It’s too soon to determine who will win the messaging war.
Recent polling suggests public sentiment on the tax cuts is improving. A CNBC poll released earlier this week found, among 800 respondents, only 32 percent reported seeing more money in their paychecks due to the tax cuts, which were signed into law on Dec. 22.
In an Associated Press-NORC poll taken in mid-March, 46 percent said their take-home pay increased, 13 percent said it went down, and 40 percent said it stayed the same. Of those familiar with the law, 70 percent said it would help “large corporations and the wealthy.”
Democrats have seized on recent corporate share buyback announcements as evidence the tax cuts are mostly benefiting companies and shareholders and not the average worker.
“Voters know the GOP tax scam doesn’t help them, and in November, they’re going to punish Republican Senate candidates for pushing a plan that jeopardizes their Medicare and Social Security, raises their costs, and jeopardizes their jobs so that CEOs and big corporations can rake in more profits for themselves,” Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesperson David Bergstein said.
Democrats are also warning that the big tax cuts will eventually hurt federal revenues enough to require reductions to Medicare and Medicaid.
House Democratic lawmakers and staff declined to share their talking points. A Democratic political aide said the GOP is reaching “real limitations of their tax messaging,” because enough voters are not feeling the benefits and are worried about the impact on the nation’s deficit.
The AP-NORC poll found that 59 percent of respondents believe it will increase the deficit.
A GOP conference committee spokeswoman, Olivia Hnat, said Democrats are employing scare tactics that won’t win over voters.
“The burden is on Democrats to defend why they voted against these benefits for American families,” Hnat said. “People are seeing the positive results of tax reform right now, and we need to keep this drumbeat going through the elections. That’s why the Chair is leading a sustained messaging strategy to help members share stories of bigger paychecks and more jobs in their districts.”
Nonpartisan pollster Ron Faucheux said polling on the tax bill suggests Democrats may need to switch their election talking points.
“When it passed, voters were highly distrustful of the tax bill,” Faucheux said. “But since then, support has risen and opposition has dissipated. As long as the economy appears to be doing well, it will be hard for Democrats to use the tax bill against Republicans they way they expected in this year’s elections.”
