The contention by twenty-one Republican attorneys general (3/17, A18), that a provision in the $1.9 trillion economic aid package unconstitutionally prohibits states from cutting taxes, is a patent sham. The revenue used by states to fund services, maintain and expand infrastructure and repay debt is fungible and represents a zero sum pot of money. If states take federal stimulus funds and, at the same time, reduce state taxes they are clearly using the federal money to lessen the state tax burden, a use made impermissible under the American Rescue Plan.
The intent of the Plan is to enable states to combat the health and economic deficits wrought by the pandemic, not to substitute federal funds for state raised revenue, a claim hypocritically leveled against blue states by Republicans who opposed the stimulus.
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