Let me be clear up front: I don’t actually expect political ads to be 100 percent honest. And I know this may come as a shock to some of you, but I don’t expect much out of anything called “MAGA Inc.” to be based 100 percent in reality. But the PAC, which is holding onto a bunch of money raised for Donald Trump in 2022 that was mostly spent attacking Republicans and propping up Trump himself, is dropping an ad today on multiple conservative news outlets attacking Ron DeSantis.
And, of course, there are some problems.
First and foremost, we need to address the obvious: “Ron DeSalesTax” does not easily roll off the tongue. It’s forced, and you can hear it in the ad itself. The only way they could make it work is with a children’s song that put some natural pause between those syllables. Otherwise, it’s a nightmare to repeatedly say.
Secondly, the ad purports that, as a Congressman, DeSantis wanted to raise everyone’s taxes with a 23 percent sales tax and that, in Biden’s current economy, we’d all be suffering way more as a result of it. Those of you who have paid attention to national politics for more than a few minutes probably understand that this is a reference to some Republican tax plan that would eliminate the income tax. And you’d be right.
The ad refers to the Fair Tax, a proposal that would completely eliminate the income tax and base national tax revenue on sales taxes, which would dramatically increase your costs upfront, as the ad alleges. But what it’s ignoring is the fact that you’d have no money being pulled from every paycheck you get.
And, as an aside, with so many people in America also doing part-time or full-time contractor work to make ends meet, those folks aren’t paying massive tax bills quarterly or come tax time in April.
Yes, the viability of the Fair Tax is debatable in the current economic moment, as inflation’s effect on the prices consumers face makes things a lot tougher, but in general, not having to pay income tax seems like a pretty conservative idea. So conservative, even, that some conservatives today are pushing for a 30 percent national sales tax in a new FairTax proposal in the House. It seems odd to say that some of the people who spent a lot of time, effort, and political capital pushing Kevin McCarthy to the right are bad for America, but that’s what this MAGA Inc. ad does.
All’s fair in love and war and political advertising, and I’m sure no one actually begrudges the Trump team for pushing this lame attack out. But it comes at a time when DeSantis just signed a sales tax exemption on key family-focused items, such as “diapers, wipes, children’s clothing, cribs, and strollers.”
It should also be noted that, as Governor of Florida, DeSantis has seen major revenue coming in without raising taxes on the citizens there. And, as a citizen of Florida, Trump himself knows this. But, again, don’t expect honesty in political ads. It’s all about trying to knock someone down, and in this case, with Republicans circling the wagons around Disney for some reason, everyone wants to knock down the most successful governor in the country.
Weird, isn’t it?