GOP Jewish Rep Slams Tax Bill As Anti-New York ‘Redistribution Of Wealth’

Rep. Lee Zeldin Image by Wikimedia Commons

By Nathan Guttman December 21, 2017

Lee Zeldin may be one of Trump’s most loyal supporters in Congress. But the recent vote on Trump’s tax reform faced the New York Jewish Republican with a tough choice, between his party, and his constitutents.

Zeldin went with his constituents, voting against the tax reform bill when it came to the House floor and later when it got back from conference.

Speaking to CNBC on Wednesday, Zeldin drew on socialist lingo to explain his opposition to the bill. “It’s a geographic redistribution of wealth … when you are taking extra money from a state like New York or New Jersey to pay for a deeper tax cut elsewhere,” Zeldin said.

Zeldin, like other Republicans from high-tax states, has complained that limits on state-tax deduction will hurt disproportionately their constituents.

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO