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Ellison Refuses to Say if Democrats Support Repealing Middle-Class Tax Cuts

April 2, 2018

Democratic National Committee vice chairman Rep. Keith Ellison (D., Minn.) refused to answer on Sunday if Democrats would support repealing tax cuts for middle-class Americans.

MSNBC's Steve Kornacki repeatedly attempted to get Ellison to answer if Democrats, who widely stood in staunch opposition to Republican-led tax reform passed at the end of 2017, would want to repeal the middle-class tax cuts. Ellison, however, continued to dodge and instead discuss repealing tax cuts for higher-income families and companies.

"Is the Democratic message to those working folks that 'you can keep the tax cut that you got from Donald Trump' or is the message 'repeal the tax cut?'" Kornacki asked.

"I think the message for the richest folks who got the tax cut, and the biggest companies, needs to be 'repeal them,'" Ellison said.

"I have no idea why corporate tax rate needs to drop from 35 percent to 20," Ellison said.

Kornacki went on to ask about middle-class taxes at least three more times while Ellison routinely glanced off camera and continued to talk about taxes for corporations and wealthy Americans.

Republicans have touted the tax reform plan President Donald Trump signed into law, noting that many workers across the United States are seeing raises and bonuses from their employers because of the tax reform law and its reduced corporate tax rate. Proponents of the new corporate tax rate, which was lowered from 35 percent to 21 percent, have argued it allows U.S.-based companies to compete with international competitors, the majority of which have much lower tax rates in their home countries.