Cheating GOP States Want Covid Funds To Cut Taxes For Rich

[babylonsister]

https://crooksandliars.com/2022/07/cheating-gop-states-use-covid-funds-tax

Cheating GOP States Want Covid Funds To Cut Taxes For Rich
Nearly Two Dozen GOP States Attempting to Use Covid Relief Funds for Tax Cuts
By Common Dreams — July 6, 2022


Republican leaders in nearly two dozen U.S. states are attempting—potentially in violation of federal law—to use coronavirus relief funds approved by Congress last year to finance tax cuts instead of devoting the money to combating the ongoing pandemic and its economic consequences.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that GOP officials are working to subvert a provision in the American Rescue Plan (ARP) that bars states from using money from a $350 billion Covid-19 aid program "to either directly or indirectly offset a reduction in the net tax revenue."

Last March, just days after President Joe Biden signed the ARP into law, 13 Republican state attorneys general sued the Biden administration over that provision, decrying it as an "unconstitutional assault on state sovereignty." In the nearly year and a half since the GOP officials filed suit, numerous Republican states have moved to slash taxes—often in ways that primarily benefit rich households and profitable businesses.

Whitney Tucker and Coty Novak of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities noted earlier this year that Iowa—one of the states that joined the legal action against the Biden administration—replaced its "graduated personal income tax with a flat 3.9% tax while retaining credits and deductions that would allow wealthy Iowans to pay even less."

"Lawmakers in multiple states are pushing deep tax cuts as states see stronger-than-expected revenues driven largely by the federal government's robust fiscal response to the Covid-19 recession," Tucker and Novak observed. "Iowa, Mississippi, South Carolina, and West Virginia are pushing for income tax cuts that would deliver outsized gains to wealthy residents and profitable corporations."

snip//

"In a flurry of court filings, many of the states argued for the ability to move money around freely—plugging federal dollars into various parts of their budgets, for example, then using the savings to pay for state tax cuts," Romm reported. "Republicans have won nearly every federal lawsuit, convincing judge after judge that the rules are unconstitutional. The Treasury Department repeatedly has appealed, but the decisions for now have left the Biden administration unable to enforce the rules in much of the country."

Republished from Common Dreams (Jake Johnson, staff writer) under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

[ProudMNDemocrat]

1. And when the money is all spent..

These same states will have their hands out for more because of low revenues coming in.

No! Do these states not know what Surpluses are for? To protect oneself when recessions happen. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure that out

[Lonestarblue]

2. Even when red states have surpluses, their hands are still out for federal money.

When Hurricane Harvey hit the Gulf coast, Texas had over $10 billion in a rainy day fund. They demanded funds to rebuild from the federal government.

I appreciate the need for federal money to help in natural disasters, but for regular allocations to states I would like a policy change where no state can receive more than it pays in federal taxes. Blue state taxes fund tax cuts for the wealthy in red states, most of which are taker states. That’s deliberate. I’m tired of the sane states funding these right-wing insurrectionists. Citizens in blue states should benefit from their tax dollars, not citizens in red states that want to take away everyone’s rights and turn the US into a backward theocracy.

[Mad_Machine76]

3. Didn't they try this

last year and one court said that they couldn't but another court said they could (and that was the last update I remember)? What f**king hypocrites! They posture all the time about they're all self-sufficient and they don't need or want federal funds while (mostly) pocketing federal funds at every opportunity.

[obamanut2012]

4. DeSantis has taken all trhat money and given it to State agencies to spend

On anything, including things lik3 Nepressos and boats, and is using this to "prove" how good teh FL economy is. It isn't, it's in a shambles, and he and his GOP Legs have done zilch about rising rents, house costs, the insane taxes and even more insane home insurance. He could ahve used that money to give State workers a raise and a bonus, but no.