Rick Scott reups call for income tax on ‘those who decided not to work’

Rick Scott in the U.S. Senate. Image via AP.

Could taxing those with the lowest incomes pitch in to right America’s fiscal ship? One Senator continues to contend that they need to put “skin in the game.”

Sen. Rick Scott redoubled his case Wednesday for an income tax on those who have “figured out how to live off government.”

Scott, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, went into business for himself with his plan to “rescue America” that continues to draw scrutiny for suggesting that everyone, including those dependent on government, pay income tax. Despite pushback from Republicans including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Scott continues to proselytize on his 11-point plan.

It continues to feature in television interviews, with the latest on cable television Wednesday night, as Scott called for people to pay what they could, “even if it’s just a dollar.”

“There’s a lot of people that could work and decided not to work because they’ve figured out how to live off government. And we have a bunch of people that are out there, they’re working hard and paying their income tax, their property tax, their sales tax. We have retirees that paid in. And it’s not fair that we have people that, you know, just want to live off government. We can’t do that,” Scott said on NewsNation’s “On Balance with Leland Vittert” Wednesday night.

Scott offered a story about his childhood, noting that his mother urged him to tithe despite the family’s poverty, and then renewed his pitch for the tax.

“I don’t care if people pay a dollar. But we ought to be, we’re all in this together,” Scott added. “But we’ve got to make sure we’re all participating in this. If you can’t, you can’t. But if you can work, get to work and participate in this.”

After seemingly conceding that not everyone could work, and that there may be people living off the government because they have no other alternative, Scott went on to offer more reassurances to soften the message further.

“We need to have Medicare, we need to have Medicaid, we need to have Social Security,” words that no doubt will make people forget that his plan proposed a mechanism that many, including Sen. McConnell, interpreted as a pathway to sunsetting Medicare and Social Security.

The Senator continues to do cleanup on this concept.

A previous interview Wednesday stressed that he just wanted to “review” the programs: “Let’s review all the programs every five years. I didn’t say, ‘Let’s get rid of the program.’ I say we’re going to review to make sure we keep it going.”