Bloomberg goes off on GOP tax bill: We CEOs ‘don’t need the money’

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) slammed the GOP tax bill in a new column, calling it an “economically indefensible blunder that will harm our future.”

“Last month a Wall Street Journal editor asked a room full of CEOs to raise their hands if the corporate tax cut being considered in Congress would lead them to invest more. Very few hands went up,” Bloomberg wrote in a Bloomberg op-ed. “Attending was Gary Cohn, President Donald Trump’s economic adviser and a friend of mine. He asked: ‘Why aren’t the other hands up?’

“Allow me to answer that: We don’t need the money.”

{mosads}“It’s pure fantasy to think that the tax bill will lead to significantly higher wages and growth, as Republicans have promised,” Bloomberg continued. “Had Congress actually listened to executives, or economists who study these issues carefully, it might have realized that.”

The former New York City mayor and billionaire businessman ripped the bill for its impact on education, infrastructure and wealth inequality, saying it will make challenges in each of those areas “worse.” 

Bloomberg also slammed the bill’s nearly $1.5 trillion impact on the national deficit.

“Ignoring the bill’s price tag, or pretending we needn’t worry about deficits, is like ignoring climate change or pretending we needn’t worry about its effects,” he wrote. “I’ll say one thing for Republicans in Congress: They’re consistent.”

The tax bill “hand[s] corporations big tax cuts they don’t need,” according to Bloomberg, “while lowering the tax rate paid by those of us in the top bracket and allowing the wealthy to shelter more of their estates.”

“The tax bill is an economically indefensible blunder that will harm our future,” he added. “The Republicans in Congress who must surely know it — and who have bucked party leaders before — should vote no.”

Bloomberg’s comments come as the House and Senate meet in conference committee to try and reconcile their tax bills into a final version.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Thursday threatened to vote against the bill unless the child tax credit is expanded, putting the legislation in jeopardy of being delayed past Christmas.

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) previously voted against the Senate’s version of the tax bill because it would add $1.5 trillion to the deficit, and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) has said he’s undecided currently undecided on the bill in its current form.

Lawmakers have promised a final version of the tax bill soon, and Trump has said he hopes to sign a bill before Christmas.