Politics

Rep. Keith Ellison Dodges On Repealing Tax Cuts

MSNBC

Amber Athey Podcast Columnist
Font Size:

DNC Vice Chair Keith Ellison dodged four times when asked Sunday night if his party would repeal tax cuts if they won a majority in Congress.

WATCH:

Ellison said during an MSNBC interview that Democrats were going to target the working class during the upcoming midterm elections. MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki wondered if Democrats would repeal the Republican-led tax cuts if they were trying to attract blue-collar voters.

“The fact is, working people did get something,” Kornacki explained. “Is the Democratic message to those working folks that you can keep the tax cut from Donald Trump, or is the message repeal the tax cut?”

Ellison said he believes the message to “rich folks” is “repeal” as they got a larger proportion of the cuts, but he did not address what the message would be to the working class.

“But what about the tax cuts that folks got in their paychecks?” Kornacki pressed.

“How can we create a society where we can expect our kids to do better than us? Nothing about these tax cuts indicates that, in fact, working folks tax cuts…are temporary,” Ellison responded, suggesting he won’t support the tax cuts.

“I want to get a direct answer,” Kornacki asserted. “They’re temporary but they do go for a number of years here, so, is the message…that the tax cut is going away?”

Ellison shifted his talking points away from the fact that the tax cut also helps rich people and corporations, and instead argued that the tax cuts are problematic because they would add to deficit spending. He also called the working class cuts “small money.”

“They know that they’re being played,” Ellison declared.

Kornacki asked one more time if Ellison wanted to get rid of the tax cuts, and Ellison said he was going to “look at what kind of tax situation” is “fair to everybody.”

 Follow Amber on Twitter