Democrat Candidate Caught Lying About Opponent Over Tax Hikes

Democrat Rep. Laura Gillen (NY-4) is hoping to win reelection by brazenly lying about her Republican opponent, Town of Hempstead Receiver of Taxes Jeanine Driscoll.

Gillen released an attack ad against Driscoll last week in which she falsely claimed her opponent raised taxes in her town.

“As tax receiver, Jeanine Driscoll sided with party leaders, not us, and delivered a 12 percent tax increase, the largest in town history,” Gillen lied. “I'm Laura Gillen, and in Congress, I'm working with both sides to cut middle-class taxes and to permanently restore the full state and local tax deduction. I approve this message because you deserve tax relief, not another Driscoll tax hike.”

Nassau families need relief.

As tax receiver, Jeanine Driscoll sided with her party bosses, not us, and delivered the biggest tax increase in TOH history.

You deserve a representative in Congress who will put Long Island first, not party politics. pic.twitter.com/asJkccXKif

— Laura Gillen (@LauraAGillen) September 17, 2026

This isn’t the first time Gillen made this fallacious claim. Back in August, her campaign sent out mailers blaming Driscoll for higher taxes. But she was quickly debunked when others pointed out that Driscoll’s position does not give her control over tax rates in the town.

From The New York Post:

First-term Democratic Rep. Laura Gillen falsely accused Republican nominee Jeanine Driscoll of backing a $42 million tax hike in the Town of Hempstead in mailers sent to voters, her opponent said.

“Jeanine Driscoll stuck us with a massive tax hike we can’t afford,” one Gillen mailer claimed.

“Welcome to Nassau County. Home of Jeanine Driscoll’s $42 million Tax Hike.”

Driscoll is the Town of Hempstead Receiver of Taxes, overseeing an administrative office that collects and disburses taxes for the Town of Hempstead and other special districts and school districts.

In that capacity, she has no role in voting on or approving or reducing tax rates.

Despite that, Gillen’s mailers falsely put the blame on her for taxes going up.

Driscoll slammed Gillen over the lie, noting that “trying to blame me for tax hikes is like demanding a tax cut from the IRS administrator — I collect the bills, I don’t set the rates.”

The candidate added, “If voters want to hold someone accountable for higher taxes, they should look at the only person in this race who actually voted to hike them: Laura Gillen.”

And this is the crux of the matter.

Gillen’s record provides an idea of why she is falsely claiming her opponent raised taxes. The reality is that Gillen voted twice against a bill that would reduce New Yorkers’ tax burdens.

One of the provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act lifted the SALT cap to $40,000 for 2025 and $40,400 for 2026. The SALT cap is a federal limit on how much in state and local taxes people can deduct from their income when they file federal taxes.

Between 2018 and 2024, the limit was only $10,000, which hurt a lot of New Yorkers — especially those living on Long Island. This is because their combined taxes exceeded $10,000, so they were unable to deduct most of what they paid to the state.

National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman slammed Gillen for lying about her opponent. “News flash for Laura Gillen: Repeating the same debunked lie doesn’t make it true! Gillen knows her record of voting to hike taxes and against increasing the SALT deduction is damning, but no desperate spin can change the facts,” she told Townhall. “Long Islanders will vote this pathological liar out in November.”

As Driscoll suggested, Gillen voted against this bill. Twice. The last thing she wanted was to give some tax relief to Americans dealing with higher grocery and gas prices because the last thing Democrats want to do is take less money from our paychecks.

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