Ohio GOP Senate hopeful: Middle class isn't paying its fair share

This post was originally published on this site

If you happened to catch last month’s debate-stage chest-bumping altercation between two Ohio GOP candidates running for the state’s open Senate seat, then you have a point of reference for the man who apparently thinks middle-class Americans aren’t paying enough in taxes.

Mike Gibbons, who narrowly leads the Republican primary, remarked last fall that “the middle class is not really paying any kind of a fair share.”

Gibbons, a millionaire investment banker, made the comment during a September podcast produced by the local business journal, Crain’s Cleveland Business. But the remark is being newly scrutinized due to a recently released 11-point Republican agenda in which Senate GOP campaign chief Rick Scott said Republicans plan to raise taxes on working families by more than $1 trillion over the next decade.

In the video, Gibbons, seated in front of a campaign backdrop, explained, “The top 20% of earners in the United States pay 82% of federal income tax—and, if you do the math, and 45% to 50% don’t pay any income tax, you can see the middle class is not really paying any kind of a fair share, depending on how you want to define it.”

It’s one of those comments that doesn’t read any better in context. Gibbons goes on to accuse Democrats of spinning a narrative that “the middle class is getting screwed” because they need middle class votes to win elections, according to the Washington Post. Gibbons states he has nothing against a progressive structure but concludes, “How much of the total tax bill can a very small percentage of the nation pay and still be a democracy?”

Gibbons’ comments have a similar feel to Scott’s declaration that everyone needs “skin in the game” on taxes, although his campaign was quick to deny that he has any intention of raising taxes on middle-class Americans.

“Mike Gibbons does not support tax increases on any American—and never has,” campaign spokesperson Samantha Cotten said in a statement.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is likely dying a slow death over the whole situation. Scott released the tax hike agenda in defiance of McConnell, who had explicitly planned to release exactly no information about what Republicans planned to do if they won back the Senate Majority this fall.

Now the Ohio Senate race, which in regular times should be a gimme for Republicans, is awash in the debate over raising middle tax classes. If Scott hadn’t released his memo, Gibbons’ interview might have gone unnoticed—or simply been considered a singular gaffe. But in the context of Scott’s GOP agenda, the question of Republicans raising taxes on working Americans has become a focal point for the moment.

One of Gibbons’ opponents has even reposted the video to his YouTube account under the caption “Tax Hike Mike Gibbons.”