While President Obama continues to push for letting the Bush tax cuts expire for everyone making more than $250,000 a year, the Republicans in the Senate are now pushing a plan to leave those cuts in place but to raise taxes on everyone else.
Republicans have consistently denounced President Obama’s plan to allow the Bush tax cuts on income over $250,000 to expire at the end of the year. “We ought not raise taxes on anyone at the end of the year,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has said of the Obama plan, which would raise taxes on roughly 2.1 million high-income earners (while still preserving a piece of the tax cut for them).
A new Senate GOP tax plan released by McConnell and Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch (R), however, raises taxes on nearly 10 times as many Americans by allowing certain tax breaks signed into law by President Obama expire at the end of the year. Putting an end to those three tax breaks — the Child Tax Credit, a tax break on college tuition, and a more generous Earned Income Tax Credit — would raise taxes on 20 million families…
But remember, it’s only class warfare if you go the other way.
17 comments
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Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort
July 26, 2012 at 9:15 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
And the middle class and poor will still vote for them
baal
July 26, 2012 at 9:19 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I wonder if Grover is on board with this tax hike.
Modusoperandi
July 26, 2012 at 9:22 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Oh, please! Everybody knows that Obama’s so-called “tax cuts” were meant to be temporary. Bush’s temporary tax cuts, on the other hand, are permanent. Because shut up, that’s why.
Ben P
July 26, 2012 at 9:24 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I know you typically write your posts over time and then post them the next morning, but this is somewhat old news.
Yesterday the senate narrowly voted to kill the republican tax bill (I believe the one that’s referenced here) and narrowly passed a different bill which extends the tax cuts except for those making over $250,000.
In an interesting bit of gamesmanship, the bill extending all cuts except for those earning high incomes now goes back to the house. Effectively putting the ball in the republican’s court.
alanb
July 26, 2012 at 9:46 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“There’s class warfare all right – but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” -Warren Buffet
Eric R
July 26, 2012 at 9:49 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
It seems fairly evident that there is no such thing as a temporary tax cut.
Ben P
July 26, 2012 at 10:10 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I think most people who thought about the issue closely, even at the time, saw the expiration as a technicality.
Bush’s tax cuts contained the sunset provision (providing they expire after 10 years) to obtain a procedural advantage in the senate and allow them to be passed. It’s pretty clear that’s just a technicality making them non-permanent.
On the other hand, things like Obama did in the stimulus bill. (one time tax credits) are temporary almost by definition because they just occur once.
The Other Lance
July 26, 2012 at 11:11 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@Ben P (#4),
The Senate vote yesterday is moot. They voted on a finance bill originated in the Senate, which means it will never see the President’s desk. All finance-related legislation must start in the House.
The two Senate votes that occurred yesterday were a political maneuver, simply a chance for the Senetors to stake out their positions, instead of being useful work.
oranje
July 26, 2012 at 11:25 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
They let it slip just a little bit with the echoed use of the term “job creators” awhile back. But what I really want them to do is come out and admit they’re still following the gospel of trickle-down economics. Bring that out into the open so it can be mocked and killed once and for all.
Michael Heath
July 26, 2012 at 11:52 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Ben P writes:
Here’s the NYTs report: http://goo.gl/9BXNM
The Dems plan won’t pass the House nor will the House/Sen-GOP plan pass the Senate.
d cwilson
July 26, 2012 at 12:30 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
baal@2:
Of course he is. His “no tax raise” pledge only applies to taxes on the 1%.
theschwa
July 26, 2012 at 1:43 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Tax breaks for rich WILL work, they will strengthen the economy and reduce the debt. It just takes time. Give the breaks time to work and revamp (increase) them if needed every few years. 100 year increments ought to do it…
Ben P
July 26, 2012 at 2:07 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I seriously doubt that is really the case, because there are many parliamentary ways around that.
Most commonly the senate simply takes an unrelated tax bill, amends it completely, and then passes its own version. Voila, the bill “originated in the house” and was passed by the senate, then it goes back to the house for confirmation of the amendments.
Hence why Boehner is talking about giving the bill a vote on the house floor, and there is no discussion of this supposed constitutional defect.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/240537-boehner-says-democrats-will-get-vote-on-senate-tax-bill
Ben P
July 26, 2012 at 2:09 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
It may not pass the house. (and I’d agree with you it’s not likely). But the political point of it is to toss the bill into the republicans court and say that if the bill fails (and nothing gets resolved in the meantime), it was republicans who refused to extend the tax cuts.
The Other Lance
July 26, 2012 at 2:34 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The Senate version isn’t going anywhere. Even the Senate majority leader says so:
— NYT article linked in #10.
It’s only political grandstanding.
shockna
July 26, 2012 at 3:07 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Don’t mean to nitpick too much, but McConnell is the Senate minority leader, not the majority.
Regardless, I’ll forgive a little grandstanding if it somehow does make Republicans buckle under pressure and pass the goddamn thing. Not that I believe that’s going to happen…
The Other Lance
July 26, 2012 at 3:33 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Doh. You are, of course, correct.