Senate Republicans’ No Good, Very Bad Tax Day

News coverage from Tax Day called out Senate Republicans’ tax-hike agenda – highlighting how voters have a “strong aversion to the tax increase language as well as the idea of sunsetting all federally funded programs in five years,” and how the more Republicans double down on the plan, “the more Democrats lick their chops.”

See for yourself:

MSNBC (VIDEO): Mehdi Hasan On Senate Republicans’ Tax-Hike Plan

• The plan is so out there, it could actually backfire on Republicans and help Democrats.

• The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee recently field-tested Scott’s plan with swing state voters and found strong aversion to the tax increase language as well as the idea of sunsetting all federally funded programs in five years.

Cheddar News: Tax Day Highlights Dem, GOP Tax Plans Ahead Of Midterms

• The Republican tax plan, originally released by Florida senator Rick Scott, the head of the Senate Republican campaign arm, would be far reaching.

• It reads in part, ‘All Americans should pay some income tax to have some skin in the game, even if a small amount.’ Now that would mean raising taxes on the poorest Americans.

• In addition to the tax provisions, the plan would end all federal laws after 5 years and force Congress to pass them again – which includes popular entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.

• The Rick Scott plan has turned out to be a blessing for Democrats.

The Hill: Senate Democrats hit GOP with billboards on Tax Day

• The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) marked Tax Day on Monday by rolling out billboards in Florida and Wisconsin, hitting Republicans over Sen. Rick Scott’s (R-Fla.) proposed plan to require all Americans to pay at least some income tax.

• The billboards, which read “Senate Republicans’ Plan: Raise Your Taxes,” will be deployed in Orlando and Miami, Fla., near the offices of Sens. Rick Scott (R) and Marco Rubio (R), and in Oshkosh, Wis., targeting Sen. Ron Johnson (R). Scott is the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and Rubio and Johnson are facing closely watched reelection bids.

• “If Senate Republicans have their way, hard-working Americans — including seniors, families with children and individuals making less than $40,000 per year — would all have to pay more when they file their taxes today,” said DSCC spokesperson Nora Keefe.

• The Tax Day billboards are the latest moves from the Senate Democrats to needle Scott over his plan.

Washington Post: On our radar: Senate campaign committee also seeking to highlight Scott tax plan

• The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee announced Monday that it has bought billboard space in Florida and Wisconsin to promote the claim that Senate Republicans plan to raise taxes.

• The DSCC said its billboards are near the Florida offices of Scott and Sen. Marco Rubio (R). Another billboard has been purchased in Wisconsin near the office of Sen. Ron Johnson (R), the DSCC said.

Washington Post (Opinion): Democrats have found a line of attack against the GOP. It’s a start.

• Sen. Rick Scott (Fla.), the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and author of the much-criticized “11-Point Plan to Rescue America,” is the gift that keeps on giving for Democrats.

• The more he doubles down on his plans to raise taxes on as many as 100 million Americans; to sunset all federal legislation after five years (presumably including Medicare and Social Security)… the more Democrats lick their chops.

• Since Monday was tax day, Democrats naturally focused on the tax hike aspect of his plan.
  

• Republicans opposed raising any taxes on corporations, even on those that pay zero dollars in federal taxes; passing a $35 cap on insulin and a plan to allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drugs prices; funding to allow schools to reopen quickly and safely; and shoring up state financing to keep cops, firefighters and other state and local personnel on the payroll. Plus, most Republicans — including 200 House members and 30 senators — opposed the hugely popular infrastructure package.

• In short, they are willing to help the super-rich and big corporations but virtually no one else.

ABC News: Democrats define new foe in tax debate: The Note

• The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee now has billboards up in Florida and Wisconsin with Scott’s face on them to supplement radio ads, mailings and a dedicated website.

• [Scott] is standing by his proposals to ensure that all American workers pay at least some taxes, as well as his proposal to have all federal programs expire unless they’re renewed by Congress.

Tax Notes: Rick Scott Plan Bashed by Democrats’ Tax Day Campaign

• The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) said in an April 18 release that it organized a tax day campaign featuring billboards with the message “Senate Republicans’ Plan: Raise Your Taxes.”

• The billboards went up in Orlando and Miami, Florida, and Oshkosh, Wisconsin, near the offices of Scott —  chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee — and Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., according to the release.

• “If Senate Republicans have their way, hard-working Americans — including seniors, families with children, and individuals making less than $40,000 per year — would all have to pay more when they file their taxes today,” DSCC spokesperson Nora Keefe said.

• The billboards will help ensure that every Republican Senate candidate is held accountable for the party’s tax policy, Keefe said.

• Scott’s controversial 11-point plan, published in February, has been lambasted by Democrats and proven to be a headache for Republican leaders.

• Scott’s tax plan has provided ample fodder for Democrat attack ads that portray it as part of the Senate Republican agenda, including one launched by the DSCC featuring a clip in which Fox News Sunday’s John Roberts grills Scott on his plan.

• When Scott dismissed Roberts’s characterization of his proposals, Roberts rebuffed him.

• “It’s not a Democratic talking point; it’s in the plan,” Roberts said.

MSNBC: Monday’s Campaign Round-Up, 4.18.22

• The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is recognizing Tax Day by launching new billboards in Miami and Orlando, highlighting Republican Sen. Rick Scott’s proposed tax hikes. The billboard’s message reads, “Senate Republicans’ Plan: Raise Your Taxes.”

POLITICO: Playbook PM

• WaPo’s Michael Scherer and Josh Dawsey profile NRSC Chair RICK SCOTT (R-Fla.), the member of Senate GOP leadership who’s also a thorn in the side of Senate GOP leadership — and he’s not backing down.

• Meanwhile, on Tax Day… the DSCC is putting up billboards in Florida and Wisconsin saying, “Senate Republicans’ Plan: Raise Your Taxes.”

Business Insider: GOP senators slammed Rick Scott for creating needless problems with his controversial tax plan: report

• After Sen. Rick Scott released his conservative “Rescue America” policy plan, fellow Republican senators grumbled to GOP leadership about the attacks they were facing because of the proposal.

• Scott’s Senate colleagues brought forward articles that showed members being attacked for certain provisions of the plan, especially the proposal about taxes and another on implementing term limits.

• Several members reportedly “chastised” the senator “in round-robin fashion” for the unneeded problems that he was creating for members.

• Democrats quickly seized on the proposal and have attacked the Scott plan as a tax increase on American families.

• The “Rescue America” plan aims to get every American to pay some form of federal income tax “to have skin in the game.” That would represent a tax increase to the roughly 50 percent of Americans who currently pay no federal income taxes.

• Some Republicans have privately complained that Scott has turned the NRSC into the “National Rick Scott Committee.”

New York Daily News: Democrats slam GOP for ‘income tax for all’ plan that would hike taxes on tens of millions

• Democrats marked Tax Day by putting up ads hitting Republicans over a proposal by Senate leaders to force all Americans to pay income tax, a plan that would raise taxes on tens of millions of people.

• “Senate Republicans’ Plan: Raise Your Taxes,” reads the message on billboards in Miami and Orlando near the Florida offices of Rick Scott (R-Fla.), the head of the Senate GOP campaign arm.

• “If Senate Republicans have their way, hard-working Americans — including seniors, families with children, and individuals making less than $40,000 per year — would all have to pay more when they file their taxes today,” said Nora Keefe, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

• The ads also target Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who is battling to win reelection in November, along with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), a prime target for Democrats.

• The billboards are the latest moves from the Senate Democrats to saddle the entire GOP with Scott’s plan.

Brian Tyler Cohen (@BrianTylerCohen):

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