Scott Perry, Janelle Stelson lay out tax and manufacturing plan in 10th District race

• Jordan Wilkie/WITF
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 Courtesy of Stelson and Perry campaigns

Candidates for the Pennsylvania 10th Congressional District. Janelle Stelson, left, and Scott Perry, right.

Incumbent Republican Scott Perry and Democratic challenger Janelle Stelson both said they will support manufacturing growth in Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District. 

The candidates have the same priorities, including opposing some of China’s economic power, but they take different positions on taxation and manufacturing bills brought up in Congress. 

Parts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, signed by then-president Donald Trump, will expire at the end of 2025. 

Perry voted for the initial law and said renewing the components will help working families and manufacturers. 

He said the government should do a better job supporting businesses, especially those in defense manufacturing, to be competitive with China. 

“Your government that you pay for, that works for you, that serves you, should be doing a better job to set the conditions and the environment to make you successful.”

Analysis by the Tax Policy Center shows those tax cuts favored the already wealthy, without a trickle down effect to the majority of workers. Research by the Congressional Budget Office in 2019 showed federal deficits increased under the new tax plan. 

Perry voted against the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act, both with provisions to increase U.S. manufacturing. The Inflation Reduction Act passed on a party-line vote, with the CHIPS Act earning 24 House Republican votes. President Joe Biden signed both acts into law. 

Stelson, a former TV news anchor and political newcomer, said she supports both those bills. She did not say how she would vote on renewing the sections of the 2017 tax law, which would be a topic of debate in her first term in office should she be elected. 

Stelson said she supports any bill that increases taxation on the wealthiest individuals and largest corporations so that they “pay their fair share.” 

“Well we certainly need to continue bringing back American manufacturing,” Stelson said. “We also need to be reshoring jobs from countries like China, and of course strengthening supply chains here at home.”

The 10th District covers Dauphin County and parts of Cumberland and York. 

The deadline to register to vote is October 21st. The election is November 5th.

The Associated Press and WITF’s democracy reporter Jordan Wilkie are partnering to tell stories about how Pennsylvania elections work, and to debunk misinformation surrounding elections. 

Read the stories here