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Taxes, polls show, have historically been a better campaign issue for Republicans than Democrats. This year, Democrats appear to be testing that assumption.

Democrats are dominating television advertising about the topic, according to data compiled by Kantar Media Intelligences campaign media analysis group. Of 43,245 tax-related ads that aired in House races through the end of September, some 63% were backed by Democrats, the numbers show. The disparity was even starker in Senate races, where some 73% of tax-related television advertisements came from the Democratic side, leaving Republicans with just 27%.

The Democratic push to gain an edge on taxes may have gotten new momentum with the inversions issue. Over the summer, as Democrats started talking in highly political terms about tax inversions companies reincorporating overseas for tax purposes the issue appeared to give them a one-two punch: Labeling companies as tax dodgers gave them a populist message, and they could accuse Republicans in Congress of not acting on legislation to stem the practice. GOP lawmakersare pushing for a tax-code overhaul that would make the U.S. more attractive for businesses in the first place.

Now Democrats are extending the tax theme into the 2014 campaigns, trying to paint Republicans as the defenders of tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy.

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Elizabeth Wilner, a senior vice president at Kantar, said one reason Democrats have been able to seize on the issue is that Republicans have avoided promoting it. Republicans really havent had that much to say about taxes, Ms. Wilner said. They dont have an agenda, at least not one that they are promoting in their ads.

The muted Republican tax message is notable because House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) last month said that fixing the tax code was a necessity in order for Congress to lay the groundwork for economic growth and mobility. While Republicans have pushed for a tax overhaul, neither party is likely to tackle such complicated and fraught legislation in an election year. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman David Camp (R., Mich.) released an ambitious tax plan in February, but it quickly became clear that the GOP leadership would not rallying around it this year. Then Camp announced a month later that he was not running for re-election.

In the Senate, the tax-writing committee has also been in flux, as former Finance chairman Max Baucus, (D., Mont.) was appointed ambassador to China. His successor, Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) is eager to pass a tax overhaul. But Democrats are divided and the Senate leadership has shown little interest in the issue.

Republicans say that they are talking about taxes. Kirsten Kukowski, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, noted that RNC Chairman Reince Priebus last week gave a speech in which he said that overtaxing simply helps Washington D.C. Other Republicans have offered up tax plans, like to expand the child tax credit. If Democrats are running more tax-related ads, I have a feeling this has to do with us having a wealth of issues to talk about and them being fairly limited, she said.

Moreover, letting Democrats dominate the air war over taxes hasnt seemed to hurt Republicans in general. A September Wall Street Journal/NBC poll found that Republicans had a four-point advantage over the Democrats when people were asked which party would be better in dealing with taxes.

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Democrats Test Waters, and Dominate Airwaves, With Tax Ads