Ad campaign targets Loebsack, Bustos on taxes

A conservative group is targeting Reps. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, and Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., on the U.S. House tax bill that was heading to a vote Thursday.

American Action Network, a Washington advocacy organization, is targeting seven lawmakers ahead of the vote with a TV ad that portrays the choice as one between middle-class tax cuts and support for Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

'Across America, working families are in desperate need of tax reform that increases take-home pay, creates jobs and strengthens our economy,” the organization's executive director, Corry Bliss, said in a statement.

The ad says the bill would save the typical family $1,200 a year.

PolitiFact reported that would be the case in the first year under the House GOP bill, but that would shrink over time.

Jared Smith, a Bustos spokesman, responded to the ad in an email: 'It's no surprise that the same billionaires who stand to benefit from Paul Ryan's tax scam are now running misleading ads designed to attack Congresswoman Bustos.”

Smith, citing the Tax Policy Center, said the bill would lead to a tax increase for 30 million American families. The Tax Policy Center issued a report last week saying that, in 2018, 7 percent of taxpayers would see an average tax increase of $2,100. But it also said 76 percent of taxpayers would see a cut averaging $1,900, though those at the top of the income scale would see more.

Over time, the report said, the number of those getting a tax cut would shrink as some provisions expire and because of other changes. The number seeing a tax increase would rise.

Zach Meunier, Loebsack's campaign manager, responded to the ad in an email, saying: '”Attacks by DC-based, shadowy, special interests groups on Dave's efforts to help protect middle-class families have never fooled Iowans.”

Both lawmakers are targets for the political arm of House GOP in the 2018 elections.

These TV ads are part of a $20 million campaign American Action Network launched in August to push for a tax overhaul. The group does not identify its donors.