Mnuchin, Ivanka Trump Press Family-Friendly Message On Tax Reform

BERKELEY TOWNSHIP, NJ — In front of a room of Republican supporters, Rep. Tom MacArthur, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Ivanka Trump pressed a singular message on Monday morning: that the proposed tax reform will help New Jersey's families.

It was a message that was warmly received by most inside the Bayville Fire Company firehouse on Monday morning.

Outside the firehouse, however, more than three dozen protesters gathered on the front lawn of the firehouse in the rain to give a cold shoulder to not only the tax reform proposal but to MacArthur in particular. They held signs urging MacArthur to vote against the tax reform bill.

MacArthur, whose Third District includes not only Berkeley but a significant portion of Ocean County as well as part of Burlington County, said after Mnuchin and Trump departed that he will be voting yes on the House bill but that he plans to keep pushing for changes.

"I fought for the deduction for property taxes," MacArthur said, both as he introduced the event and after. "No bill is perfect, but I will keep fighting for the medical (expenses) deduction and the mortgage interest deduction," citing the Senate bill that would maintain both deductions.

According to a New York Times analysis of both the Senate and House versions of the proposed tax reform, the House bill currently would allow homeowners to deduct up to $10,000 in property taxes, would eliminate the deduction for mortgage interest for all but a primary home with a mortgage of $500,000 or less, and would eliminate the deduction for mortgage interest on a home equity loan.

The House bill also would eliminate the deduction for medical expenses as soon as 2018, according to the analysis, and would eliminate the deduction for interest on student loans. MacArthur mentioned the medical expenses deduction in passing but never addressed the student loan interest deduction during or after the event.

The medical expenses deduction is significant in Ocean County, where nearly a quarter (22.2 percent) of its nearly 600,000 residents are age 65 or older, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and many of them have health issues related to aging.

That deduction also impacts families, as the expenses of childbirth would no longer be deductible. According to the Census Bureau, 23.6 percent of the Ocean County's residents are ages 18 or younger. Ivanka Trump and MacArthur emphasized the tax reform plan would help those children and their parents, highlighting the doubling of the standard deduction for married couples with children to $24,000 and what Trump said was the protection of the adoption expense deduction and the increase on the income ceiling to $75,000 for the child tax credit.

"We don't to make it too expensive for people to have families," Trump said.

Mnuchin said tax reform is a critical part of President Donald Trump's plans to revitalize the economy, and he insisted it has been thoroughly vetted to ensure it brings tax relief to families.

"The president's economic agenda is all about creating growth and bringing jobs back to America," Mnuchin said, adding that he believes tax reform will convince corporations to bring money back to the United States, which he believes will fuel economic growth.

"We believe we can get back to sustained economic growth of GDP (gross domestic product) of 3 percent or higher" as a result of tax reform and deregulation, Mnuchin said.

Ivanka Trump echoed those remarks, saying aggressive deregulation and efforts on workforce development in the vocational sector will help not only provide more jobs but also more skilled workers to fill existing jobs.

"We used to have the most skilled workforce in the world," she said.

The audience, which sat mostly quiet during the event, included Gov. Chris Christie, who gave introductory remarks praising MacArthur for fighting for the property tax deduction, as well as a host of local Republicans. Attendance at the event was by invitation only, which irked a number of those who showed up hoping to get a seat.

One couple, Jason and Nancy Ireland from Brick, tried to get into the room before Mnuchin and Trump arrived but were rebuffed by MacArthur's staff. "Are there any Democrats in here?" Jason Ireland yelled two or three times, demanding the opportunity to get in and ask questions about the tax reform bills. The couple was forced to leave. The blinds were drawn and the doors locked to prevent anyone from going in or out of the door.

Later, as the event was winding down, Marianne Clemente, a longtime Berkeley Township resident, began asking if she could ask a question — a request that was ignored by MacArthur, who pressed on with concluding remarks. Reporters trying to talk with her were pushed toward a press briefing in a separate area, with one aide saying to another, "Get her out of here," referring to Clemente.

MacArthur read a couple of questions from audience members, but there was no open opportunity to ask questions of Mnuchin or Trump on the tax reform bill.

Afterward, MacArthur said the event was not intended to be a free-for-all like the town halls he held in Waretown in March and in Willingboro in May. At both of those events, MacArthur took questions for extensive sessions.

"Town halls can get out of control," he said. "That's not what I was after today. Today was about creating the space for these two people from the administration to speak."

MacArthur said studies that show taxes going up six or seven years down the road are based on parts of the tax reform disappearing at that point, which he said would not happen.

"I would fight that," he said.

But he said that as long as the property tax deduction is maintained as it's currently formulated — with a $10,000 ceiling on the deduction — he will vote in favor of the House bill. MacArthur said Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, has assured him the deduction will remain.

"As long as there's no bait-and-switch, I will vote yes," he said, adding he continue to fight to get items he sees as positives in the Senate bill included. "No bill is perfect. If I waited for the perfect bill, we'd never get there. The reflexive yeses and nos are hurting us."

"This is about bringing taxes down for your families," MacArthur said.

You can watch the event below:

Photo of Rep. Tom MacArthur, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Ivanka Trump by Jeremy Grunin, used with permission; remaining photos by Karen Wall, Patch staff