Early tax payments weren't a victory

I got two pieces of unsolicited mail in a 10-day period recently from Congressman Peter Roskam, and each was sent at taxpayer expense. These mailings touted his victory in a "battle with the Internal Revenue Service" over whether people could deduct prepayment of their 2017 property taxes.

The congressman is a paper tiger. People prepaid their 2017 property taxes in droves last year for one reason and one reason only: the hastily passed tax law that Roskam strongly supported. That law got rid of the full deductibility of property taxes paid after 2017, so last year was the last time those taxes could be deducted.

And the people who prepaid those taxes did their research and got professional guidance on deductibility. This wasn't the IRS's idea. This wasn't red tape and bureaucracy run amok. People stood in line last year because Peter Roskam did not do his job.

If Roskam were a true representative of his constituents, he would have fought to preserve the full deductibility of the property taxes his constituents pay - now and in the future. And if he weren't going to fight for us, perhaps he could have at least negotiated terms of surrender - maybe gotten his constituents another year or two of deductibility.

Instead, he got steamrollered by his own party. His lack of spine is hardly a surprise when you see how scared he is of his own constituents.

Do your job, Mr. Roskam. The duties are in the title: represent. And if you can't do that, at least quit squandering taxpayer money on redundant mailings of your silly lies.

Steve Kightlinger

Wheaton