GOP senator whines it’s unfair that report confirms the GOP tax scam didn’t work

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is lashing out at the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) after its analysts confirmed the failure of the Republican tax scam.

“I have received comments from others who believe that the CRS observations are not entirely nonpartisan in tone or objective,” Grassley whined in a letter sent on Friday to CRS director Mary B. Mazanec.

He complained that the office’s analysis “takes a position and tone that is favorable to one side of a debate” without “balancing it with alternative objective views.”

“CRS ought not to present its analysis as objective, nonpartisan, and authoritative,” he continued.

The leading Republican senator went on to request that Mazanec “meet with my professional staff” to hear his complaints about the agency’s work.

CRS analyzes policy and legal issues for all members of Congress, regardless of party affiliation. “CRS is well-known for analysis that is authoritative, confidential, objective and nonpartisan,” notes the Library of Congress website.

Grassley has a history of referencing the well-respected service when it served his purposes — but now that it contradicts his preferred narrative, he’s pitching a fit.

In a report released in May analyzing the effect of the Republican tax law, which was passed in 2017, CRS verified that Trump’s biggest legislative accomplishment cut taxes for big business while doing almost nothing for average workers.

“From 2017 to 2018, the estimated average corporate tax rate fell from 23.4% to 12.1% and individual income taxes as a percentage of personal income fell slightly from 9.6% to 9.2%,” the report noted.

That was always one of the major areas of criticism for the GOP tax scam from the beginning, when it was written behind closed doors by the party in concert with major donors and corporate interests.

The CRS report also verified that the scam didn’t have much of a stimulative effect on American business, despite Republicans from Trump on down insisting it would.

“It’s difficult to overstate just how weak the tax law’s influence was. Investments in US businesses did not seem to respond at all to the law’s provisions,” Vox noted, summarizing CRS’ findings.

Grassley was on the front lines shilling for the poorly designed policy, which probably explains why he is so upset at CRS.

He argued a few days after the law passed in 2017 that the wealthy deserve large tax cuts because working people spend “every darn penny they have” on things like “booze or women or movies.”

As it became clear that the tax scam was riddled with errors and flaws because Republicans cobbled it together hastily, Grassley demanded that Democrats work to fix the mistakes his party had created.

In February, when many people began to complain that the law had reduced their tax refunds, Grassley said it was “stupid” for them to be concerned about their money.

The tax scam has failed, as had long been predicted. It isn’t helping the economy and isn’t the miraculous solution Republicans promised it would be. Voters have already rejected many of the Republican legislators who passed it.

CRS merely confirmed what has already been known, but Grassley can’t handle the truth.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.