INDIANAPOLIS – The county that Congressman Messer lives in near Washington, D.C. would contain some of the biggest beneficiaries of the tax plan that Congressman Messer and his Republican colleagues have supported.
Repeated non-partisan analyses of the McConnell tax plan have shown that its benefits will accrue to the wealthy, even though it will ultimately raise taxes on many middle class Americans. By 2027, the bill the Senate passed would force individuals earning between $40,000 and $50,000 to pay a combined $5.3 billion more every year, while Americans who make more than $1 million would receive $5.8 billion in tax cuts.
The regions that would benefit the most from the tax bill, then, would be those with the highest incomes—many of which are the collar counties of Washington, D.C. The top three wealthiest counties by median income, and eight of the top 20, are all in the Washington metro area, according to the Census Bureau. None of them are in Indiana.
Recent reports have shed new light on Congressman Messer’s residency and indicated that he and his family live not in a two-bedroom home with his mother in Greensburg, but instead in the Washington, D.C. suburb of McLean, Virginia. McLean is located in Fairfax County, the third wealthiest in the nation by median income according to that same report.
“If Congressman Messer wants to add trillions of dollars to the debt and raise taxes on middle class Americans by supporting this tax bill, he should make sure the benefits go to the people he represents, not the people he sees every day,” said Will Baskin-Gerwitz, Senior Media Strategist for the Indiana Democratic Party. “This tax plan won’t put more money in the pockets of middle class Hoosiers, but it’s a great way to drive up housing prices in Congressman Messer’s neighborhood.”
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