gaining more power and seats in 2018 is at the tippity-top of the list True - but as I warned before on this forum, the Tax Law will hurt us regarding the 34 GOP House Republicans in states where this was punative.
I have never seen the Federal Government take such a stand as to hurt millions of Americans. If you want people on your side, don't make them spend thousands of dollars (right after the holidays no less) in order to try to avoid being screwed by the IRS. And we are rewarding Apple, Google, and Facebook at the expense of hard working Americans? This was POLITICAL MADNESS.
Your point is excellent, but a very big reason those people are being hurt in those states is because of the political leadership of those states - and the exhorbitant taxes they've levied on their constituents.
Taking California as an example, the state sales tax is 7.25%, and the top marginal state income tax is 13.3% - both highest in the nation. It's estimated (probably underestimated) that illegal immigration costs California ~$23 billion dollars/year. That's ~$600.00/year for every man, woman, and child in California, yet several cities and California politicians insist on giving sanctuary to illegals and even threatening to prosecute people who cooperate with the federal government. Total revenues in California in 2016 were around $120 billion. Of that ~$81.6 billion came from personal income tax. So, the cost of illegal immigration alone accounts for ~28% of the total state income tax collected annually.
I'm not dumping on immigrants, and definitely not blaming all of California's fiscal issues on illegals, but this is just one example of policy-based expenses that lead to higher taxes. The money has to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is taxes. Those Republicans running for seats in those states should campaign on lowering the tax burden in those states, and there are many ways to do this that are humane, fair, and maintain quality of life.