Doherty & Cicilline Battle Over Corporate Tax Rates
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Republican Brendan Doherty on Wednesday called out Congressman David Cicilline for apparently flip-flopping on reducing the corporate tax rate during Tuesday evening’s WPRI debate.
While Doherty says he’s always been a supporter of reducing what he calls the “highest corporate tax rate in the world,” he noted that as recently as last March, Cicilline’s campaign was using the Republican’s stance to tie him to Presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
But during the debate, Cicilline said he agrees with Romney when it comes to reducing the corporate tax rate.GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST
Cicilline’s campaign and the State Democratic Party did not respond to a request for comment, but in a fundraising letter sent last March, the Congressman’s campaign did take Doherty to task for being out-of-touch.
“David is facing a conservative Republican in this upcoming election who is so out-of-touch, he actually supports repealing the Bush tax cuts for middle-class families while slashing the corporate tax rate by over 33%,” the letter stated.
Doherty’s campaign manager Ian Prior called Cicilline’s support “simply not credible.”
“Throughout this election, Congressman Cicilline has spoken out against tax cuts for corporations and suddenly, when asked to provide a single illustration of his ability to work in a bipartisan manner, he claims a complete reversal on the issue,” Prior said. “Mr. Cicilline cites a reduction in the corporate tax rate as his own area of agreement with Romney. This sudden change of heart is simply not credible and demonstrates the struggle Cicilline faces to identify a single area in which he can claim a bipartisan position. Mr. Cicilline’s claim to support a reduction in the corporate tax rate is completely contrary to his support for the Progressive Caucus Budget, which would increase effective corporate tax rates and would eliminate the Bush-era tax rates for everyone, increasing taxes on middle class Rhode Island families.”
