Rep. Louie Gohmert to Newsmax TV: DC Statehood About Power, Not Taxation

Democrats' push for statehood for Washington, D.C., is based on a flimsy argument of "no taxation without representation," according to Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, on Newsmax TV.

"They're right: This should not be taxation without representation," Gohmert told "Saturday Report," noting other U.S. territories like Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands do not pay federal income tax because they do not elect a full voting representative.

"When I realized that, I filed a bill that would eliminate federal income tax for people in the District of Columbia," he added to host Carl Higbie. "But even Eleanor Holmes Norton will not sign on to my bill, and no Democrats will."

Norton has been the House delegate for Washington, D.C., since 1991, holding a vested interest in getting representation or removing taxation for her constituents.

But Gohmert noted the taxation argument falls apart and reveals the D.C. statehood movement as a mere ploy for more political power in Congress for Democrats.

"So, Carl, when you hear Democrats say, 'You either support D.C. being a state or your for taxation without representation': Wrong, the Democrats that do not support my bill, they are for taxation without representation," Gohmert added to Higbie. "If they were not, they would get on my bill."

Gohmert tweeted this week with video of his House floor speech:

"If Democrats were actually concerned about 'taxation without representation' there would have been a slew of them cosponsoring the bill I've been filing for many terms to eliminate the income tax for the District of Columbia. #DCStatehood is about politics, not principle."

Republicans oppose adding states as a matter of form, because those districts are heavy Democrat voter bases that will merely give Democrats two more senators and more representatives in the House. Also, Republicans have long argued, the resident areas of Washington, D.C., can be folded back into neighboring states of Virginia and Maryland as originally planned in the founding of our country.

"And I have told Eleanor: 'Look, I know you want statehood, but let's at least agree to stop taxing D.C. residents until such thing ever happens,'" Gohmert concluded. "She won't sign on to my bill.

"So the Democrats are supporting taxation without representation, not Republicans."

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