- Sen. Rick Scott said his plan didn't include a new income tax requirement for most Americans.
- But his proposal promises to ensure every American pays taxes so they have "skin in the game."
- It's a sharp break from other prominent Republicans like McConnell and Trump.
A prominent Republican senator tried recasting details of his proposed midterm platform for the GOP after facing major blowback from Democrats and potentially saddling Republican candidates in the midterms with a tax hike on tens of millions of low-and middle-income Americans.
Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, released a document named "an 11-point plan to rescue America," laying out what he believed Republicans should campaign on in the midterms. He told Politico that it was not intended to represent a broader GOP platform.
The outline on page 35 proposes to compel every American to pay some amount in federal income tax, arguing they'd become more invested in the country's success.
But Scott insisted that he doesn't intend to raise taxes in a conversation with Fox host Sean Hannity.
"Did you see Chuckie Schumer saying that your plan is to raise taxes on more than half of Americans?" Hannity asked, referring to political attacks from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. "I didn't see that in your plan. Did you have that in your plan? Was it in invisible ink in the copy that I got? Because I didn't see that."
"Of course not," Scott replied. "No, Chuck Schumer who wants to raise taxes for everything, while as governor I cut taxes and fees 100 times. We're the opposite."
—Acyn (@Acyn) February 23, 2022
But the plan itself includes in very clear language a proposal to newly extend income taxes to millions of Americans.
"All Americans should pay some income tax to have skin in the game, even if a small amount," the Scott plan read. "Currently over half of Americans pay no income tax."
Scott's office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last year, 57% of Americans didn't pay federal income taxes, per the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. In 2019, the figure was around 44%.
The spike compared to years prior was largely due to emergency federal aid — like the expanded child tax credit and stimulus checks — in the pandemic zeroing out people's income tax obligations. The group projects that the share of households who won't pay income taxes in 2022 will fall to roughly 43%, amounting to roughly 75 million households.
It's a group of people who don't earn enough to file taxes or who receive tax credits that offset what they might owe the federal government. It's also made up of a substantial share of seniors who are retired and out of the workforce.
The Scott plan was a sharp break from what Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had intended for Senate Republicans in their endeavor to win back control of the House and Senate. The Kentucky Republican in January rejected laying out a GOP midterm platform listing their policy aims if they recaptured Congress, saying the party would make it known "when we take it back."
It's also a departure from the views of former President Donald Trump, who could mount a second bid for the White House in 2024. In 2015, he proposed issuing lower-income Americans with a new tax form to send the IRS saying "I win" if they owed nothing in federal income taxes, NBC News reported at the time.
Scott's tax proposal came under heavy fire from Democrats, including Schumer. "We're going to make sure everyone knows about your plan to raise taxes on 'over half of Americans'!" he said in a Tuesday tweet.
The Florida Republican only dug further in. "@chuckschumer and the Democrats' fake outrage about my plan further illustrates just how out of touch they are with the American public," he said in a Wednesday tweet. "Americans want everyone to pay their fair share. Working Americans all pay taxes on their income, and retirees already paid plenty."