Trump blames Schumer for Republican tax law that Schumer voted against

Donald Trump on Friday falsely blamed Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer for a provision of the Republican tax law that raised taxes for many New Yorkers, in an attempt to deflect criticism of his slow coronavirus response.

“Cryin’ Chuck Schumer was on a late night show using a false talking point over & over again. ‘We don’t have enough testing,’ he would repeat, when he knows we have done a great job on Testing, just like we have on Ventilators and everything else,” Trump tweeted Friday morning. “He lied, gave NY SALT. Run AOC!”

Trump followed up with a second tweet fleshing out his false accusation about “SALT,” the State and Local Tax Deduction that Republicans capped as part of the tax law Trump signed in 2018.

Capping the amount of state and local taxes Americans can deduct largely impacts Americans living in high tax states like New York, which Schumer represents.

“Cryin Chuck Schumer, compared to what other Senators have brought home to their states, has brought very little back to N.Y. A totally overrated loser, the one thing he has given them is SALT,” Trump tweeted. “He never even called me to stop it. No wonder Cuomo & most others can’t stand him. AOC!”

There’s a lot to unpack in those tweets.

First and foremost, the cap on SALT was not Schumer’s fault, as Trump suggested.

It was Republicans who pushed for the cap on the SALT deduction that broadly hurt blue states, which often have higher state and local taxes to pay for services for residents.

Schumer — as well as every Senate Democrat — voted against the tax law in December 2017, saying it benefited the rich over the middle class.

Schumer also rallied against the SALT cap when Republicans were pushing through the tax law earlier that year.

An October 2017 press release from Schumer’s office stated that the senator that month had “launched a statewide push across Congressional districts, urging House members to oppose the repeal of state and local tax deductions as the GOP tax plan unfolds and now endangers Long Island homeowners.”

And since the law passed, Schumer has been pushing to repeal the SALT cap, which he says is hurting tax payers in his state.

Trump’s false accusation about the SALT cap, as well as his push for progressive New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to wage a primary against Schumer for Senate, appears to be another attempt at distraction to shift blame for his botched coronavirus response efforts.

Americans have struggled to get coronavirus tests since the early days of the pandemic.

And even though testing capacity has increased, public health experts say it’s nowhere near levels needed to reopen the economy.

Schumer has attacked Trump for the lack of testing, saying on Tuesday that Trump’s testing plan — intended to help reopen the economy — is “pathetic.”

Trump meanwhile has repeatedly praise himself for his slow efforts, claiming on Wednesday that the 1 million reported cases of COVID-19 were proof of his success.

“The only reason the U.S. has reported one million cases of CoronaVirus is that our Testing is sooo much better than any other country in the World. Other countries are way behind us in Testing, and therefore show far fewer cases!” he tweeted.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.