Krishnamoorthi, Diganvker at odds over tax cuts
Democratic congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg and Jitendra "JD" Diganvker, his crosstown Republican challenger in the 8th District, view the balance between the benefits and costs of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 very differently.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that over the course of the next decade the act would grow the nation's gross domestic product by an average 0.7 percent and create 1.1 million jobs, but it also would increase the projected deficit over that period by $1.9 trillion.
Diganvker said he represents the kind of struggling, small-business owner who will benefit from the tax cuts.
"Almost two years I drove Uber to support my family," Diganvker said.
"So these tax cuts help every hardworking man and woman who wakes up every day and goes to work. This tax cut is adding value to their bottom line. You need to put the food on the table today, not 20 years down the road."
He said there's more flexibility to the time available to adjust the deficit, which he believes also can be addressed through the balance of trade between the U.S. and other nations. He doesn't consider compromises to Social Security or Medicare to be ways of lowering the deficit.
"That is our hardworking Americans' first priority, and we must protect them," Diganvker said. "There should be no discussion on that kind of issue."
As a former small-business owner as well, Krishnamoorthi believes the nation's economic policy should foster economic growth and help entrepreneurs succeed.
"But at the same time, it has to be fair and fiscally responsible," he said. "And this particular tax law was neither fair nor fiscally responsible."
By adding trillions to the nation's deficit, the act saddles future generations with liabilities they didn't rack up, he said. Furthermore, 83 percent of the cuts' benefits go to the top 1 percent of income-earners and corporations that are not necessarily investing them back into workers and new capital.
"The third reason I was against it is that in our district state and local tax deductions routinely exceed $10,000 per family," Krishnamoorthi said. "And yet this tax bill caps the state and local deductions at $10,000.
"And what you're going to see is a lot of households possibly see their taxes rise instead of fall."
Krishnamoorthi said he agreed with lowering of the corporate tax rate from its too-high, uncompetitive 35 percent. But lowering it all the way to 21 percent requires the rest of taxpayers to make up for that reduction in revenue.
"I think we could have seen some kind of tax relief that would have been more broadly shared, but it didn't happen in this very partisan tax bill," Krishnamoorthi said.
The 8th District is roughly centered in Schaumburg and includes parts of northwest Cook, northeast DuPage and northeast Kane counties.