Democrats are the party of the wealthy, a flip from decades ago when it was the party of the poor and middle class.
Democrats represented 65% of taxpayers with a household income of $500,000 or more in 2020, according to IRS data, while 74% of taxpayers in Republican districts have household incomes of less than $100,000.
In 1993, the dynamic was reversed, with the typical Republican congressional district showing it was 14% wealthier than its Democratic counterpart. In 2020, data shows those Republican districts were now 13% poorer.
The data comes as some Democrats push to end former President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax law, which caps the federal deduction for state and local taxes at $10,000. The beneficiaries would predominantly be the 1% of the United States’s wealthiest households, with property owners in high-tax states benefiting from the relief on federal taxes.
NEW YORK HOUSE DEMOCRATS PRESS FOR REPEAL OF SALT DEDUCTION CAP
Democrats who won previously Republican districts campaigned on restoring the deduction, especially in states such as New York and New Jersey, where a handful of red districts were flipped blue in 2018.
“I’m not voting for any change in the tax code whatsoever unless there’s the restoration of the SALT tax deduction. I’m laying that chit on the table,” Democratic New York Rep. Tom Suozzi said.
Some lawmakers are even threatening to derail President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure package if it does not include reversing Trump’s cap on tax deductions, with a group of lawmakers sending a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on the matter earlier this month.
NEW: 8 House Democrats say in a letter to Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen that they “could not vote” for an infrastructure bill “unless it restores SALT deduction relief.”
Those Democrats: Sherrill, Malinowski, Gottheimer, Suozzi, Pallone, Pascrell, Sires & Phillips. pic.twitter.com/q7h51snyEw
— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) April 1, 2021
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“We’re going to keep fighting until this is part of the bill. It’s as critical as a road or a bridge or a tunnel, which is why we are going to keep fighting for it until the end,” New Jersey Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer said.
