Latest remarks made by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) in a Fox News interview last week have further highlighted his failure to represent his Iowa constituents.
Steve King has erroneously claimed in a recent FOX News interview that a Treasury program to ensure that mega-wealthy tax evaders pay taxes lawfully owed is anti-capitalism.
To combat illegal and unfair practices, Treasury department officials recently released information regarding a program that targets individuals using international schemes to evade paying taxes lawfully due. The program follows enforcement actions against UBS last year resulting in the uncovering of thousands of Swiss bank accounts held by U.S. citizens and the uncovering of millions of dollars that had illegally evaded U.S. taxation. Enforcement actions against UBS resulted in it agreeing to pay $780 million to settle an investigation of its activities.
From 2002 to 2007, UBS helped American clients evade as much as $300 million a year in taxes, U.S. prosecutors alleged. Information disclosed as a result of the enforcement action also led to the recovery of hundreds of millions dollars more in unpaid taxes and numerous criminal prosecutions.
Iowa Rep. Steve King has claimed that this program to enforce the tax laws of the United States is anti-capitalism. King quoted figures that the super-rich pay a great amount of tax in the country but fails to explain why preventing tax evasion by the super-rich or enforcing the rule of law is anti-capitalism.
King's other claims that the super-rich "give" Americans their jobs is simply not true. Small and independent business owners all across America provide the bulk of jobs in our country and these business owners pay their taxes. King doesn't think the super-rich tax evaders should pay theirs. He fails to realize that the reason the top 1% of individuals in the country pay more tax is because the middle-class has been squeezed over the past decade.
King shows in dramatic fashion that he is not standing up for Iowa's working families by failing to support a program designed to catch tax cheats. King's comments echo his wildly distorted view that anything done outside the extreme right of the political spectrum is socialist. King's display of modern-day McCarthyism is a policy that must be rejected in November's mid-term election by someone who can support the rule of law and represent the integrity of Iowans and their interests.
Iowa's working families pay their taxes and they need someone in Washington to make sure that wealthy-elite tax evaders pay theirs.
Matt Campbell is a democratic candidate running for U.S. Congress in Iowa's fifth district.