Maxine Waters Uses L.A. Wildfires To Call For Higher Taxes on ‘The Rich’

Maxine Waters Uses L.A. Wildfires To Call For Higher Taxes on ‘The Rich’

Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, whose district includes Los Angeles, claimed during a NewsNation interview on Friday that she isn’t “playing politics” with the destructive wildfires ravaging the region when calling for higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

In her conversation with host Chris Cuomo, Waters — who is herself a multimillionaire — justified her position by saying that “services cost money” in response to the substantial resources needed to combat the blazes. This, despite the fact that residents of Los Angeles and California already pay some of the highest taxes in the country.

“I’m not into the blame game. I’m not into talking about whether or not Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is trying to protect himself and run for president, none of that,” Waters told Cuomo.

“The first thing we’ve got to understand is, services cost money, and we should be willing to get the richest people in this country, the richest 1% that is protected, to make sure they pay their fair taxes so that we can have the money to provide the services,” she explained.

“With that money and with those resources, the people who have been selected or elected to do the job should do the job. I don’t care who it is. It could be Democrat, it could be Republican, it could be whatever,” she continued. “But the fact of the matter is, we all should have heavy hearts right now, but we should have faith and we should be on point by making sure that we do everything to help the people that need us.

“Dammit, you can do the politics later. You can come and talk about Gavin Newsom later. You can talk about the Democrats later,” Waters insisted.

WATCH:

According to IRS data, the wealthiest 1 percent of earners contribute nearly 41 percent of all federal income taxes.

“The top 5% pay more than 65% of federal income taxes, the highest 10% pay 75% of them, and the top 25% are responsible for 89%. The bottom half of earners, making less than $46,627 a year, paid just 2% of federal personal income tax,” CBS Austin reported in October.

Meanwhile, Newsom, along with Los Angeles Mayor and former U.S. Congresswoman Karen Bass, are being criticized for a series of failures that many say have worsened the damage and loss of life caused by the fires.

On Sunday, Vice President-elect JD Vance pushed back against false claims that the incoming administration planned to withhold emergency wildfire aid, responding to anchor Shannon Bream’s questions about a press conference in Los Angeles from September 2024.

“We won’t give him money to put out all his fires,” Trump had said of Newsom. “And if we don’t give him the money to put out his fires, he’s got problems.”

When Bream asked if Trump planned to follow through on that statement, Vance clarified that the goal is to ensure that federal aid dollars are spent more efficiently. “No, look, President Trump cares about all Americans, right? He is the president for all Americans. And I think that he intends to have FEMA and other federal responses much, much better and much more clued into what’s going on there on the ground,” Vance explained.

Asked about Newsom’s invitation for Trump to visit California, Vance said, “I know the president would love to visit California” and that “our hearts go out” to those affected by the natural disasters.

“Whatever your political affiliation, it’s hard not to see those images and just be heartbroken for our fellow Americans who are going through a very tough time,” Vance said.

“And I do think, frankly, the federal government has to do a better job. President Trump is committed to doing a better job when it comes to disaster relief. That’s true for the hurricane victims and flood victims in North Carolina. It’s true for the fire victims in California. We just — we have to do a better job. We need competent, good governance,” Vance added.

Vance also noted that Trump still has valid criticisms of Newsom, “for, I think, some very bad decisions over a very long period of time.”


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