But the new law never turned into the political gold that Republicans had hoped. Polls consistently show less than half of Americans approve of the tax cut, and many voters see it as disproportionately helping the wealthy and large corporations. Against that backdrop, making the individual cuts permanent, or at least talking about doing so, was seen as helping to make the tax law more attractive to the average voter.
“There will be a high correlation between Republicans who don’t win re-election and those who don’t talk about tax cuts,” said Ryan Ellis, a Republican tax lobbyist.
Democrats see it differently.
Republicans, including Erik Paulsen of Minnesota and Peter Roskam of Illinois, were heavily involved in the passage of the legislation, and another vote on the issue could give their Democratic opponents more fodder for campaign ads, said spokesmen from the respective Democrats’ campaigns.
“People thought the tax bill was bad, but it was over and in the past,” Lake said. “A vote makes the issue current. It makes it part of the ongoing agenda.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.