It looks like we will have a showdown in the near future.
The White House has stated, as clear as they can, that Obama will not support an extension of the Bush Era tax cuts for Americans making more than $250,000 a year. Period.
And Republicans have sworn to not “raise” taxes, even if it isn’t an actual raise, but is really just letting what was passed as a temporary tax cut expire. The Bush Tax cuts were instituted right after Bush got us into two very expensive and long-lasting wars. He and the Republicans promised that cutting taxes would improve the economy, but instead the economy tanked and the deficit went through the ceiling. As Bush himself put it, we won’t get fooled again!
Republicans even claim closing loopholes that allow multinational corporations to not pay any taxes at all are tax increases. This madness has to stop! Even without the Bush era tax cuts, taxes are already lower than they were under Reagan. And Reagan raised taxes when he had to. Grover Norquist complains about Bush Sr. raising taxes, but somehow fails to mention that Reagan raised taxes (more than once).
I am very glad that Obama is drawing a line. He has already compromised on this and all it did was delay our economic recovery. The time for compromising on this issue is over.
Of course, the Republicans will make a lot of noise about this. Just look at what they just did with Clinton’s recent remarks. The GOP claims that Bill Clinton said we should extend the Bush tax cuts temporarily, but if you read the full interview in PolitiFact he said nothing of the kind.
Republicans are going to lie about this. They are going to attack Obama. They are going to claim he raised taxes and increased spending, when he did neither. Obama has lowered taxes (especially on the middle class) and has cut spending. When the Republicans were in power, all they did was cut taxes and increase spending. The Republicans are really just complaining because Obama is refusing to give another handout to the only people who don’t need a handout, the very richest 1%. If we do throw even more money at the rich, they will just create a new bubble when they try to find a place to invest it. And the only jobs they will create will be in other countries.
Tell Obama to be firm on this. I am one of those people whose taxes will go up, but I say, it is about time.
5 Comments
I would say that Republicans are trying to create a sound byte issue for ads, but they already have the ads even though taxes are low. The base already thinks that Obama raised taxes when he didn’t.
From Obama’s point of view, unfortunately, he has to accept that they are going to blame him no matter what he does. So it is time to do the right thing because the political opportunity has already passed.
I have scratched my head over this for more than a decade. We were never asked to support the wars by any kind of “suffering” to our wallets or any thing that would keep the cost off of the Federal credit card. Now they are trying to make a balanced budget a plank in the platform. Arrrggggg are the American people really this silly? If I hear “Job Creators” one more time I am going to vomit! Profit creators and greed creators but jobs … not so much!
Romney himself claims to be unemployed, what a bum, with over $90 million in income shouldn’t he be out creating jobs???
I make ~$50K a year. Let the Bush tax cuts expire. I’ll pay my share and those making more than me can pay their share too. If I need more $ I’ll work another job, like I did before the tax cuts. The greatest generation didn’t have a problem paying income tax and neither do I.
Question: If personal income taxes go up for all Americans, does that mean they will go up for corporations as well? Does this mean corporations (who are legally considered people) will be held to the same tax rate as flesh-and-blood citizens? Or is the corporate tax rate already off the table in this debate? Seems to me the GOPers tend to neglect the fact that individual taxes are not necessarily the same thing as corporate taxes.