Filed under: News, Politics, President Obama, Race and Civil Rights
If there ever was a time for Democrats to push back against George W. Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy, now is the time.
With their mid-term election prospects growing more dim by the day, Democrats have started to panic; many started acting like Republicans and endorsed keeping Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.
But now, President Barack Obama is clearly signaling where he stands on the issue. In a speech on Thursday, Obama is expected to announce that he opposses extending Bush tax cuts for couples making more than $250,000 and individuals making more than $200,000.
The New York Times writes:
Mr. Obama's opposition to allowing the high-end tax cuts to remain in place for even another year or two would be the signal many Congressional Democrats have been awaiting as they prepare for a showdown with Republicans on the issue and ends speculation that the White House might be open to an extension. Democrats say only the president can rally wavering lawmakers who, amid the party's weakened poll numbers, feel increasingly vulnerable to Republican attacks if they let the top rates lapse at the end of this year as scheduled.
It is not clear that Mr. Obama can prevail given his own diminished popularity, the tepid economic recovery and the divisions within his party. But by proposing to extend the rates for the 98 percent of households with income below $250,000 for couples and $200,000 for individuals - and insisting that federal income tax rates in 2011 go back to their pre-2001 levels for income above those cutoffs - he intends to cast the issue as a choice between supporting the middle class or giving breaks to the wealthy.
Given the state of the economy, extending tax cuts to the less than 2 percent of the population that makes over $250,000 per year makes sense. The percentage of African American households that makes above that amount is miniscule. As White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs put it:
"This economy is not hurting people that make $800,000 a year; it's hurting families that are making $40,000 a year."
Republicans argue that tax increases, even to people with financial abundance, will hurt the economy. USA Today writes:
House Minority Leader John Boehner, whose district includes Ohio, countered with a proposal for a two-year freeze on all current tax rates, while cutting back federal spending to 2008 levels. Boehner said this morning on ABC's Good Morning America that no one's taxes should be raised during such a tough economy.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., accused Obama of seeking "a massive tax hike on small businesses in the middle of a recession" and added that "it's no surprise that most Americans think the country is on the wrong track and that Democrat policies have failed to do anything to fix their top concern, the economy."
Republicans are wrong on this issue and most Americans know it. A new CBS poll finds that 56 percent of Americans believe the tax cuts should expire. Even 48 percent of Republicans say the tax cuts should expire.
That's because they know $250,000 is a lot of money. They know that most of the wealth in this country is concentrated in the hands of a few. They know $250,000 per year means that you can live more than comfortably anywhere in the country. That's because, regardless of party, I think most Americans don't have a problem paying their fair share.