Pennsylvania Democrat Janelle Stelson is running television ads attacking Republican Rep. Scott Perry over his support for the FairTax Act of 2025, but the spots omit key details about what the legislation would actually do, according to a review of the bill’s text.
Stelson’s ads accuse Perry of backing a “huge new tax that makes everything more expensive and hits working people the hardest.” One ad shows a four-line summary of the FairTax Act but blurs most of the text, leaving visible only the phrase “enacting a national sales tax to be administered.”
The FairTax Act of 2025 would indeed create a national sales tax. But it would also eliminate the federal income tax, payroll tax, estate tax, and gift tax, and it would dismantle the Internal Revenue Service. The legislation includes a rebate provision requiring recipients to hold a Social Security number and lawful residency status. The bill is designed to be revenue neutral, meaning the total tax collected by the federal government would not increase under the plan.
A Rematch Two Years in the Making
Stelson’s 2026 campaign against Perry is a repeat of their 2024 contest, when she came within roughly 5,000 votes of unseating the incumbent, according to City and State PA.
NRCC spokesman Reilly Richardson pushed back on Stelson’s ads in a statement to Breitbart News. “Retread loser Janelle Stelson has nothing to run on, so she’s resorted to blatantly misrepresenting Congressman Scott Perry’s position on taxes,” Richardson said. “The truth is, Stelson supports raising Pennsylvanians’ taxes, while Congressman Perry helped lower them.”
Other Tax Positions in the Race
Stelson supports eliminating the no-tax-on-tips and no-tax-on-overtime-pay provisions included in the Working Families Tax Cut. In March, Americans for Prosperity, Job Creators Network, and Americans for Tax Reform launched a swing-district tour, including a stop in Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District, aimed at promoting the law’s tax savings for workers and small businesses.
Perry has been a cosponsor of legislation to codify a no-tax-on-tips policy. “You should keep absolutely as much money as you can that you earn,” Perry said in February 2025. “And so anytime there’s an opportunity to let people do that, yeah, I want to be part of that, and I’m going to be championing that.”
Perry has also said any reduction in federal revenue should be paired with spending cuts. “If we’re going to take in less revenue, then you’re going to have to spend less money, so there’s two sides of this coin,” he told Breitbart News, adding that “the federal government spends too much.”
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