Sinema raises concerns about proposed tax in Democrats' bill as lobbying intensifies for her vote
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CNN Digital Expansion DC Manu Raju
By Alex Rogers and Manu Raju, CNN
Updated 4:38 PM ET, Wed August 3, 2022
CNN)Republican senators and the business community are mounting a full-court press on Sen. Kyrsten Sinema to sink -- or substantially change -- the Democrats' economic package, arguing in private conversations that the new tax increases would hurt companies in her home state of Arizona.
And in a private call with business groups on Tuesday, Sinema asked a question about the bill's proposed 15% minimum tax on corporations that gave them some hope for optimism.
"Is this written in a way that's bad?" Sinema asked, according to Danny Seiden, president of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, who relayed the call to CNN.
"It gave me hope that she's willing to open this up and maybe make it better," Seiden said.
Sinema's office declined to comment about the call. But she has expressed concerns about other tax provisions as well -- namely on raising taxes on so-called carried interest, which would impact private equity and hedge fund managers, and raise $14 billion in the Democrats' bill. Sinema has relayed to top Democrats that she wants that provision out of the bill, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Sinema, the lone holdout among the 50-member Senate Democratic Caucus and who was blindsided by news of the deal last week, has refused to tip her hand one way or the other on the bill -- giving conservative critics of the bill reason to believe they could convince her to change her mind. Democrats are still confident that they can win her over but also acknowledge that they may have to make some changes -- particularly over the tax provisions -- to get her to "yes."
But as she's been in talks with Democrats who have touted the bill's benefits, Republicans like Senate Minority Whip John Thune have expressed concerns to her about the taxes on companies and the proposal to hire new IRS agents to bolster tax enforcement.
"She's analyzing it," the South Dakota Republican said of Sinema. "Keeps her own counsel, I think as most of you know, and usually comes to her own decisions, pretty independent of any pressure that she might get from either side. So you know, I think she's going through that process right now."
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https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/03/politics/kyrsten-sinema-democrats-tax-questions-companies/index.html
