Politics

Dem Congresswoman: The Rich Should Have To Pass Drug Tests Before Getting Tax Deductions

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Christian Datoc Senior White House Correspondent
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Congresswoman Gwenn Moore has a great plan for reducing the national deficit: forcing wealth Americans to pass drug tests before having their tax deductions approved.

In an interview with the Guardian, the Wisconsin Democrat is “sick and tired — and sick and tired of being sick and tired — of the criminalization of poverty.”

“We’re not going to get rid of the federal deficit by cutting poor people off Snap,” she added. “But if we are going to drug-test people to reduce the deficit, let’s start on the other end of the income spectrum.”

Therefore, Moore plans on introducing a new bill, the Top 1% Accountability Act, that will “engage the wealthy in a conversation about what fair tax policy looks like.”

U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore addresses a luncheon of Emily's List at the Hilton Washington Hotel (Getty Images)

U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore addresses a luncheon of Emily’s List at the Hilton Washington Hotel (Getty Images)

The bill would force households with “itemized deductions of more that $150,000” — a.k.a the one percent — “to submit to the IRS a clear drug test from a sample no more than three months old, or take the much lower standard deduction when filing their taxes.”

Moore claims the inspiration for the bill comes from her fellow Wisconsin representative, House Speaker Paul Ryan.

“When he stood in front of a drug treatment center and rolled out his anti-poverty initiative, pushing this narrative that poor people are drug addicts, that was the last straw.”

“Even Oprah gets the mortgage interest deduction,” she noted. “We might really save some money by drug-testing folks on Wall Street, who might have a little cocaine before they get their deal done.”

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