MSNBC "All in with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Katie Porter

Interview

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HAYES:  Democratic Congresswoman Katie Porter of California responded "Our freshman class includes intelligence analysts, nurses, veterans, and ahem law professors.  I think we can handle it."  That Congresswoman Katie Porter joins me now.  Congresswoman, Sarah Sanders basically said you`re too dumb to understand these taxes.  What do you think?
 
REP. KATIE PORTER (D-CA):  I know that I am ready to take a look at Donald Trump`s tax returns and for Secretary -- Press Secretary Sanders information, I do my own taxes and every year.  And I think it`s really insulting that we`re not being treated as a co-equal branch of government.  The law here is pretty clear that the President needs to turn over his tax returns and this is the job that the American people have taxed us -- taxed
* I can`t say taxes -- taxed us to do and it`s our job to do it.
 
So I really hope the President complies with the law.  I hope he quits dragging this out.  And I have every confidence in my fellow men and women on both sides of the aisle to be able to review these tax returns.
 
HAYES:  How do you interpret -- the letter today was really quite provocative.  It was quite aggressive about constitutional -- the Congress`s authority both under statute and the Constitution.  And it does seem like they have gone very nuclear very quickly.  How do you interpret that?
 
PORTER:  I think it suggests the reluctance of the President to comply with the law.  He truly is exhibiting the attitude that the rules that apply to the rest of us don`t apply to him.  He`s not an ordinary citizen, he`s the president of the United States, an office that he ran for and he has considerable power.
 
And the American people deserve to know if Donald Trump is working for us.  If there`s nothing to see in his tax returns, there`s nothing to see, but that`s a question that needs to be answered and that`s why I wholeheartedly believe the American people need to see these tax returns.
 
HAYES:  You know, there were subpoenas today from Congressional investigators of Deutsche Bank and other lenders the President, part of the sort of rounding up the financial picture.  What`s your response -- the President`s lawyers and some of his defenders are trying to make sort of an interesting argument which is basically yes, he`s president but he`s also simultaneously private citizen Donald Trump, and this is some kind of invasion, an encroachment into that sacrosanct sphere of privacy.
 
PORTER:  It just doesn`t work that way.  Anyone who runs for office including folks who run at the local level, for school board, for City Council, we all give up a great deal of our privacy.  As a member of the House of Representatives for example, I have to make financial disclosures.  And so he can`t have it both ways.  If he wants to be President of the United States, then he needs to follow the rules and be forthcoming about any business dealings that may call into question what he`s doing as president.
 
If he wants to return to being a private citizen, I personally would be just fine with that.  But if he wants to have the Office of President, then he needs to follow the rules.  He can`t make his own rules.  This is a tripartite government.  There`s a role for the courts, there`s a role for Congress, and there`s a role for the president.  He doesn`t get to control the rest of us.  We each have an important job to do.  I respect he has to do and it`s frustrating that he doesn`t respect the job of Congress.
 
HAYES:  You know, the president and Republicans and their allies spent the day touting the big tax cut which was in sort of a numerical sense largely a corporate tax cut.  But the New York Times ran this headline which I thought was interesting.  Face it, you probably got a tax cut.  Studies consistently find that 2017 law cut taxes for most Americans, most of them don`t buy it.
 
There does seem to be a divergence of reality which that most people did seen their tax liability be reduced even if most people don`t feel that way.  What do you think of that?
 
PORTER:  I think one of the things about the Trump tax law is that it`s having very disparate effects around the country.  So I represent Orange County California and the limit in the Trump tax law on state and local tax deductions is a huge issue for us.  I was working on my taxes today and every time I would put in a deduction, it would pop up you`ve already hit your $10,000 state local deduction cap.
 
HAYES:  Yes.
 
PORTER:  I`d put in something else, it pop back up, you`ve already hit your $10,000 state and local deduction cap.  So for folks here in Orange County, we`re hearing from a lot of them that they owe $5,000, $7,000, even $14,000 in additional taxes, and a lot of folks are having to turn to credit cards to try to find that money to pay those extra taxes.
 
So by singling out states that have expensive homes or that have significant state and local taxes, Donald Trump is really making the effects of his tax plan felt -- is being felt unevenly around the country.  So folks here in Orange County are not happy.  I`ve co-sponsored legislation to reverse the limit on state and local taxes and I`ve co- authored a bipartisan letter to Speaker Pelosi and Majority -- I`m sorry, Minority Leader McCarthy asking them to bring that legislation up for a vote on the House floor.
 
HAYES:  There`s also news today about how corporations have fared under this regime.  Twice as many companies paying zero taxes under the Trump tax plan.  The theory of the case there was that that reduced liability would lead to increased investment and better job growth, and the president`s defenders say, hey, look at just -- look at the job numbers.  Look at the growth numbers.  Everything is going great.  What do you say?
 
PORTER:  Look, the economy is doing fine.  It was doing fine before this tax plan.  What we`ve seen primarily as a result of the tax plan is companies are taking their money and they`re engaging in stock buybacks.  And that`s exactly what we saw with JPMorgan Chase.  You know, earlier this week in a hearing, I asked the CEO Jamie Dimon, will you, you know, look at this worker working full-time in your bank, they couldn`t afford to make ends meet.  How about raising worker pay?
 
And so we`re not seeing corporations reinvest that money.  In fact, if you read a lot of shareholder letters, what these CEOs are saying is we have excess capital, we have excess cash, we`re looking for ways to invest.  And I think the obvious answer is to invest it back in your workers, to invest it back in the American people who help make your corporation profitable.
 
HAYES:  Do you -- do you think there will be appetite should Congress -- Democrats retake Congress to just reverse these tax cuts or to raise taxes in other areas?
 
PORTER:  I personally think we have to tackle tax reform.  We need fair tax
* fair tax plan.  And the fact that more and more corporations are paying zero is heading in the absolute wrong direction.  So whether it`s reversing Trump`s tax plan entirely or trying to improve upon the tax plan, we definitely have to do something.  We can`t keep asking Americans, individual workers, single moms like me to shoulder the tax burden while large corporations get off literally scot-free.
 
HAYES:  You do your own taxes.  You mentioned adding in deductions.  Did you get that filed before he came on today?  Are you -- are you in underwire?
 
PORTER:  I am on my way to the Post Office.  I have the check written.  I do owe federal tax this year despite my income being much lower so I`m going to get it in by the deadline.
 
HAYES:  All right, well, good luck with that.  I`ll let you go.  Congresswoman Katie Porter, thank you very much.  One of the most iconic structures in the Western world in flames today.  The fire at Notre Dame, what`s lost and what has been saved next.

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