GOP Rep. Peter King lashed out Sunday at his own party’s tax bill, predicting it’ll have a “damaging impact” on the U.S. economy — and suggesting it’s a way for Red States to get even with Blue States.
In an interview with radio host John Catsimatidis on “The Cats Roundtable,” the New York lawmaker also condemned the House tax bill’s elimination of the medical deduction.
"It will have a damaging impact on the overall economy as well as on individuals,” he said. “It's a terrible thing and I voted against it.”
It [also] takes away the medical deduction.… for people who have long-term illnesses,” he added, including “Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, strokes … “
“Those are extraordinarily high medical bills, and they won't be able to be deducted anymore,” he asserted.
King also took aim at the reduction or elimination of state and local deductions.
"The new deductions will not be enough to offset the loss in the real estate and state income tax deductions,” he said, asserting the reform effort “is being done at the expense of New York and New Jersey.”
“We give far more to Washington then we get back,” he asserted about New York. “For every dollar we give we get 79 cents back. That's a $48 billion shortfall…. Now, take South Carolina, for every dollar they give they get about $1.70 back… a surplus of $23 billion… That's one of the reasons why New York has so many financial issues."
King agreed that “it makes it easier” for Red States like South Carolina to get even with Blue States like New York, “absolutely.”
"Mick Mulvaney, the budget director, he's from South Carolina,” King said. “And he started in with that the other day when a New York reporter asked him about it, and he basically started attacking New York…. [The tax bill] gives a tax cut to many of the red states."
He branded the Senate tax bill “worse” than the House version, saying he hoped President Donald Trump, a New York native, would “get engaged” in the process.