Democrats take control of the House on January 3 and are already planning their attack on the year-old Republican tax bill.
Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA), incoming chair of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, plans to hold hearings on the legislation. And CNBC’s Ylan Mui says that Democratic lawmakers will focus on two specific lines of attack against the tax overhaul: U.S. corporations that have laid off workers after receiving substantial tax cut windfalls, and blue states hit hard by changes to the state and local tax (SALT) deduction rules.
General Motors, which announced plans to lay off 15,000 workers and close plants in the U.S., and AT&T, which received an estimated $3 billion in tax benefits and is laying off more than 7,000 workers, are two likely targets.
Conservatives are preparing for battle, as well. Anti-tax advocacy group Americans for Tax Reform plans to launch a campaign to defend the reduction of the top corporate tax rate to 21 percent. "Taxpayers and taxpayer-friendly elected officials now must defend 21 percent as a bright line in the sand that cannot be crossed,” said Grover Norquist, the group's president.
