Phoenix — Yesterday, it was reported that Senator Kyrsten Sinema told lobbyists that she opposes any increase in tax rates on wealthy individuals, capital gains, or corporations — in other words, her biggest donors.
This widely popular provision—which has been a Democratic priority since Trump signed the 2017 tax cuts—was previously seen as a key method of raising the money to pay for Biden’s economic and social infrastructure package, the Build Back Better plan. This is just the latest on a growing list of widely popular Democratic priorities that Sinema’s obstruction, and her insistence on shrinking the package, has put in jeopardy. This list of priorities at risk because of Sinema also includes the Democratic plan to reform prescription drug pricing and measures to combat climate change.
“The fact that Sinema told this to lobbyists—not her constituents—makes clear once again: if you’re looking for an answer on where she stands, you better be ready to write her a check first,” the Primary Sinema Project said in a statement. “It is clear that Sinema has lost touch with the people of Arizona and our interests.”
And like many other measures Sinema is forcing Democrats to cut, Biden’s plan to raise taxes on corporations and the wealthiest Americans is extremely popular. Consistently, polls find that voters support raising taxes on the wealthy. And a recent Data for Progress poll found that voters in Arizona support increasing taxes on the wealthiest through the Build Back Better plan by a staggering margin of 53 points.
The super-wealthy and large corporations have profited off of these tax cuts since Trump signed the 2017 law. In 2018, they helped the 400 wealthiest people in the U.S. pay lower tax rates than any other group for the first time in American history. Tax cuts on the wealthy and corporations also helped companies like Amazon pay $0 in federal taxes for several years in a row, and have let billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk not pay any federal income taxes some years, even while increasing their wealth by billions.
While Sinema has put this tax plan and other key provisions of Biden’s agenda in jeopardy, she has raked in funds from the very individuals and corporations profiting off of her obstructionism.
Since her successful 2018 campaign, Sinema has quickly become a favorite of corporate special interests, lobbyists, and wealthy executives:
In the third quarter of 2021 alone—amid reconciliation negotiations—Sinema received a combined $27,000 from PACs of pharmaceutical companies, including Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Genentech, Gilead and Merck, as well as a combined $16,000 from the executives at five leading pharmaceutical companies.
Also in the 3rd quarter of 2021, Sinema received $50,000 from PACs for the financial services industry.
Insurance company Blue Cross/Blue Shield’s PAC has given her $58,250, while DaVita Inc has given $24,500, and UnitedHealth Group has given $24,500.
Sinema’s received a total of $187,200 from CEOs from 12 corporations (i.e. Apple and Walmart) that make up “The Business Roundtable,” a group that has been preparing to fight against corporate tax increases like the ones Sinema is torpedoing.