Rep. Roybal-Allard and Other Los Angeles Area Leaders Condemn GOP Tax Scam That Exacerbates Inequality and Overly Burdens Californians

Press Release

Today, Southern California Congressmembers Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40), Linda Sánchez (CA-38), Judy Chu (CA-27), and Jimmy Gomez (CA-34) joined with Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Los Angeles Police Department First Assistant Chief Michel Moore, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby, and United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) President Alex Caputo-Pearl for a press conference at Los Angeles City Hall to highlight the ways in which the recently passed Republican tax reform law will unfairly punish California families and exacerbate economic inequality. This press conference coincides with local events led by Members of Congress across the country to teach their constituents about the impacts of this bill and what it means for them.

The members of Congress released the following statements:

"This Republican tax plan will irresponsibly increase the national deficit by $1.8 trillion over the next 10 years while threatening funding for schools, firefighters, police, and other vital services here in Los Angeles and across the State of California," said Rep. Roybal-Allard. "Plain and simple, this plan is a sham and a tremendous windfall for the wealthiest 1% and large corporations at the expense of our hard-working families. This type of trickle-down economics hasn't worked previously, and it won't work now."

"Republicans jammed through a hastily written tax bill that few had read and even fewer understood," said Rep. Sánchez. "I am concerned about the numerous provisions buried in this law that could negatively impact California. Many of the details of how the law will be implemented are still being worked out by the IRS and the Treasury Department. That is why it is so important that Southern Californians pay attention as more revelations surface from this new law. I'm worried that the Republican tax law will stifle our investments in freeway and local transportation projects, reduce our home prices, and force cuts to our brave first responders and schools."

"In just a few days, we will be celebrating Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a day to honor the man who inspired a nation to share his belief that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. But he didn't just mean the terrible sin of racial injustice. He was talking about economic injustice as well. How disappointed he would be, then, in the tax cuts Republicans passed at the end of last year," said Rep. Chu. "This bill borrows trillions of dollars from our children to make the rich richer, while forcing Californians to accept a lower standard of living by capping the amount of state and local taxes they can deduct, while keeping those deductions for corporations. And if squeezing California families through SALT caps wasn't enough, Republicans went even further and eliminated the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate, raising costs of healthcare for American families. This bill overwhelmingly benefits the wealthy, with 83% of the benefits going to the top 1%, while leaving little for the rest of us."

"The unprecedented attacks on California values from President Trump and congressional Republicans will not be tolerated," said Rep. Gomez. "These attacks have come from the same direction but on different issues, from opening up our coast to oil drilling to repealing the legal status of thousands of Salvadorans, Nicaraguans, Haitians, and DREAMers. All of this because the people of California have had the audacity to say NO. The punitive Republican tax law hurts working families and hits California especially hard. We will resist their bigotry, trickle-down economics, and extreme agenda, not just in the streets but at every level of government."