EXCLUSIVE: Democratic candidate’s pledge to cut taxes is derided as a misleading “joke”

A leading Democratic congressional candidate is running a new campaign ad that critics are already calling misleading.

In Christina Bohannan’s latest ad, she argues that, if elected, she will “cut middle class taxes.” But Bohannan’s legislative and rhetorical records suggest that it would be a major shift for her to become a tax cutting champion.

As a state legislator, Bohannan opposed the largest tax cut in Iowa’s history, as well as legislation that reduced the state income tax to a flat 3.9 percent, exempted retirement income such as 401(k)s, pensions, and IRAs from state taxes, reduced corporate taxes, and reformed corporate tax credits.

She also is opposed to the Working Families Tax Cuts (WFTC), which her opponent — Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R., Iowa) — championed in Congress. 

Bohannan said that the WFTC, the largest tax cut since World War II, “defies all common sense”; Miller-Meeks, on the other hand, has touted its policies, which include no taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime, and no taxes on Social Security. 

Bohannan’s opposition to the WFTC could play poorly in Iowa’s 1st District, especially because the legislation doubled the death tax exemption, directly benefitting thousands of farms in Iowa. 

Emily Tuttle, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), said that Bohannan’s latest pledge is a “joke.”

“Liberal Christina Bohannan has made one thing crystal clear,” Tuttle added. “If there’s a chance to lower taxes for Iowans, she’s a guaranteed ‘no.’” 

This is the third consecutive cycle in which Bohannan has run against Miller-Meeks; over the years, she has been criticized repeatedly for her dishonesty, and her misleading pledge to cut taxes adds to the Republican Party’s list of attacks on her. In the past, she has been criticized for resume inflation, arguing that an internship made her an environmental engineer. 

For her part, Miller-Meeks has a track record of defeating Iowa Democrats who are successfully tarred as tax-hikers. During the 2020 cycle, Republicans at the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) ran ads in the race’s closing days about how Miller-Meeks’s opponent, Rita Hart, stood for higher taxes. 

“Hart voted for higher taxes on gas,” CLF’s ad warned. Hart “voted against middle class tax cuts for Iowa families. She even opposed tax cuts that would have saved Iowa families $1,000 a year.”

In that race, Miller-Meeks went on to defeat Hart by six votes.