New Yorker says this former SC congressman feels 'inferior' because of his state

The debate over a GOP tax bill is getting spicy after a Republican congressman slammed the White House budget director for trying to “screw” his state.

U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., tweeted Tuesday that Mick Mulvaney, a former S.C. congressman, “probably feels inferior” because federal taxes from New York “subsidizes his state of South Carolina.”

King’s blast follows comments from Mulvaney in favor of a GOP tax plan that eliminates deductions for state and local taxes. Mulvaney argues the current tax law benefits federal taxpayers in higher tax states like New York, which, as King noted, pay more into the federal government that they receive from it. (South Carolina, on the other hand, gets more in federal benefits than its citizens pay into it in taxes.)

“You live in New York City, and I live in South Carolina. Why should I pay more federal taxes than you do?” Mulvaney said in an interview Tuesday. “Because that’s the way the world works right now. And I think you could make the argument that is not fair, that is not right.”

The proposal is seen as driving a wedge between Republicans from higher tax states like King and lower tax conservatives like Mulvaney.

Like New York, South Carolina has a state income tax. However, it is not as high as New York’s. New York City also has a local income tax, unlike anything in South Carolina.

Mulvaney represented South Carolina’s 5th District in Congress from 2010 until earlier this year, when he was appointed to head the Office of Management and Budget by President Donald Trump.

This story was originally published November 15, 2017 at 9:01 AM with the headline "New Yorker says this former SC congressman feels 'inferior' because of his state."