Prairie State Wire

Grover Norquist doesn’t see how Republican lawmakers can lose if they just stick to the plan they've already put forth.

“I believe the Republicans will win the House and Senate in 2018 largely because of this tax bill,” Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, said during a recent appearance on the "Chicago's Morning Answer" radio show.  

Norquist insists that the bill's plan to lower taxes on companies to make them more competitive and to drop the corporate tax rate has been a long time coming.

“Taking the corporate rate down from 35 to 20 percent is something we should have done about 20 years ago,” he said. “Socialist China is at 25 percent, we’re at 35 percent, and people wonder why we can’t compete against China. It’s stupid tax policy. Our government, our IRS, our president is responsible.”

But with President Donald Trump and a Republican House and Senate now in charge, Norquist said fiscal responsibility and a practical taxation system are now part of the equation. 

“Keep in mind, this is not the last tax cut,” he said. “There will be a tax cut every year we have a Republican House, Senate and president.”

Norquist said all the arguments against the plan, including talk that it will increase the deficit, are way off center.

“If you increase growth from 2 percent to 3 percent a year over the next decade, we will increase revenue by $2.6 trillion,” he said. “That’s a very low estimate on how much growth you will get. (Former President Ronald) Reagan went from 2 percent growth to 4 percent growth for the seven years after his tax cut took effect. In today’s dollars, that would have added trillions.”

Norquist is adamant about that being too good of a deal for Republicans to allow to slip away. He recently wrote a Washington Examiner op-ed where he said “the fate of the tax reform bill is the fate of the modern Republican Congress.”

Norquist said a win on the tax issue will serve as a signal to voters everywhere that on the big issue of the day, the Republican power base they elected was able to work together and handle power responsibly.

“We’re in good shape, the House is committed to getting this done,” Norquist said. “Democrats have spent the last X- number of decades saying ‘Let’s screw the top 1 percent.’ Two-thirds and maybe three quarters of the people paying that highest rate are in fact businesses. The effort is to bring that rate down to 25 percent. We are particularly damaging small business, self-employed people, and the people that did it are the liberal Democrats.” 

Norquist said he wished there was more room to work more tax deductions into the plan, but he still remains convinced the plan will generate significant growth.

With the House having already passed its version of the bill, the measure will now head to Senate for debate with Trump having already indicated he hopes to have the bill on his desk for signature sometime around the Christmas holiday.

Dan Proft, one of the hosts of "Chicago's Morning Answer," is a principal in Local Government Information Services, which owns this publication.