Roughly 50 percent of Americans on the bottom half of the income distribution do not pay federal income taxes because they do not earn enough to have income tax liability and because many receive tax credits. Millions of these Americans do pay federal and state government taxes in the form of payroll taxes, sales taxes and other levies.
“All Americans should pay some income tax to have skin in the game, even if a small amount,” Scott’s proposal states. “Currently over half of Americans pay no income tax.”
Scott’s pitch comes at an uncertain moment for conservative policymaking as Republicans debate to what extent they need a proactive agenda to run on in the 2022 midterm elections. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has been adamant that the Senate GOP will not release a platform ahead of the election, saying the party only needs to reveal its plans for running Congress “when we take it back.”
That position has proved unpopular with some Republicans who believe the party should put forward a set of policy priorities. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), for instance, is putting together a comprehensive legislative package for House Republicans. Scott’s 11-point proposal includes many other long-standing conservative projects, such as eliminating the Education Department, building President Donald Trump’s border wall and declaring that there are only two genders.
“I’ll warn you,” Scott wrote in the introduction to his plan. “This plan is not for the faint of heart.”
He predicted the plan would face blowback, and he was right. Some experts pointed out that Scott’s push for a nominal federal income tax runs counter to the GOP attempt to tie high taxes to the Democratic Party. Others pointed out that Trump found political success by rejecting cuts to Social Security, Medicare and other programs popular with the poor and middle class. By contrast, Scott’s rhetoric harks back to the widely criticized comments by Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential campaign arguing that the “47 percent” of Americans who pay no income taxes would automatically support the Democratic Party.
“It’s dramatically off-message for where Republicans are going on taxes — they shouldn’t be talking about raising taxes on anybody,” said Brian Riedl, a former aide to Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a center-right think tank. “The GOP has moved away from the 2010 ‘makers and takers’ framework — so it’s a little outdated.”
Samuel Hammond, a policy expert at the Niskanen Center, another center-right think tank, also pointed out that the GOP tax cut of 2017 doubled the standard tax deduction — and therefore the number of Americans paying no federal income taxes.
Scott’s office declined to comment on how his income tax proposal would work or provide additional details.
“Wasn’t it supposed to be a big success of the Paul Ryan tax plan that they increased the standard deduction quite a bit?” Hammond said.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on twitter: “Senate Republicans just released an economic plan that doesn’t include a single proposal to lower prices for the middle class. Instead he wants to raise taxes on half of Americans — including on seniors and working families.”
Some Republicans defended the pitch by the senator from Florida. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich praised Scott for attempting to craft a GOP policy platform ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, while not endorsing all of the platform’s specific ideas.
“He’s at least raising important questions over, ‘Should every American have some stake in the country?'” Gingrich said. “Rick would probably say he started the dance but he doesn’t think this is the final symphony. … He and Kevin McCarthy are moving in the right direction that we have to have something positive — both to communicate to the voters and get our own candidates to think about governing next year.”
Frank Luntz, a former GOP pollster, said in an email that he believes the proposal would be popular.
“Scott is clearly appealing to the center of the political and social spectrum,” Luntz said. “Most Americans do believe everyone should pay at least some taxes, but no one wants to pay more than their fair share.”
In a statement, Scott said: “What my plan tackles is the willing-to-work shortage caused by Joe Biden and the Democrats who decided to pay people more not to work. It talks about able-bodied people who are taking a paycheck rather than working, not those who already pay into the system. We need to get Americans back to work. Making sure every American has skin in the game is a way to do it and the American people agree.”
Asked by Fox News Tuesday night about Democrats’ criticisms that his proposal would raise taxes, Scott said, “Of course not,” even though his plan would raise taxes.
But even some allies of Scott said his timing could hurt Republicans.
“It has sort of raised a lot of people’s eyebrows. … There’s been a buzz about: Is this the smart thing to say right now, given that we have Democrats on the run?” said Stephen Moore, who served as an economic policy adviser to Trump. “I’ve said for 30 years everybody should pay some income tax, if you’re going to vote and have government benefits. But is it the smartest time to be saying that right now? No.”
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee also announced Wednesday morning that it is launching a five-figure radio ad campaign highlighting Scott’s plan.
Michael Strain, an economic policy expert at the American Enterprise Institute, a center-right think tank, said he agreed with Scott’s “underlying motivation” of ensuring that everyone in the country contributes to the broader society.
“But I don’t think that means everyone needs to contribute to the individual income tax system,” Strain said. “Raising kids is a contribution; working is a contribution; being a member of your community is a contribution. Yes, let’s have a stronger norm that everyone is a contributing member of our society — but I don’t know why that means everyone needs to contribute through a nominal income tax.”