Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

GOP Jewish Rep Slams Tax Bill As Anti-New York ‘Redistribution Of Wealth’

Lee Zeldin may be one of Trump’s most loyal supporters in Congress. But the recent vote on Trump’s tax reform faced the New York Jewish Republican with a tough choice, between his party, and his constitutents.

Zeldin went with his constituents, voting against the tax reform bill when it came to the House floor and later when it got back from conference.

Speaking to CNBC on Wednesday, Zeldin drew on socialist lingo to explain his opposition to the bill. “It’s a geographic redistribution of wealth … when you are taking extra money from a state like New York or New Jersey to pay for a deeper tax cut elsewhere,” Zeldin said.

Zeldin, like other Republicans from high-tax states, has complained that limits on state-tax deduction will hurt disproportionately their constituents.

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly. 

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.