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The Spectacle Blog
This email came from Vice President Joe Biden:
I’ll cut to the chase: If Congress doesn’t act soon, middle-class Americans will see their taxes go up starting on January 1st, taking almost $1,000 out of the pockets of a typical family next year.
Last year, President Obama and members of both parties in Congress cut the payroll tax for 155 million workers, putting money in your pockets. Now, that tax cut is expiring. So in September, the President and I proposed extending that tax cut and cutting your taxes even further: giving the typical family a $1,500 tax cut. Steps like this won’t just help families feel more secure in their budgets, it’ll give them more money to spend at local businesses that will hire more people and make investments in new equipment too.
We thought the extension would win bipartisan support again. How could Republicans in Congress, some of whom have pledged not to raise taxes by a penny, oppose extending the same tax cuts they just passed? But after years of protecting expensive tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, many Republicans now say we should let this middle-class tax cut expire.
The answer to Biden’s question in the last paragraph, is that some — not all — Republicans now oppose extending the payroll tax cut because they perceive it as a temporary measure at a time when permanent tax reform is called for. Regardless, this is probably the highest card that the Obama team had to play: because the Republicans scuttled the supercommittee, your taxes are going up in the very near future.
View all comments (5) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Joseph Lawler
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/11/22/biden-republicans-want-to-rais
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Stan Redmond| 11.22.11 @ 5:16PM
A tax cut is expensive Mr. Biden? Last I checked that's my money you want.
And Mr. Biden... How many tax increases has your beloved Obama care introduced on EVERYONE? How many new taxes are required ON EVERYONE (through inflation and otherwise) by your adding trillions and trillions of dollars of deficit spending?
Sorry Biden but the only people I hear talking about REAL tax cuts, or at least stopping increases are the republicans.
albert constantine jr.| 11.22.11 @ 5:26PM
The last thing I recall the VPOTUS saying was that paying more taxes was our patriotic duty. What happened?
Rogue Elephant| 11.22.11 @ 6:36PM
Epic fail.
The Bruce| 11.22.11 @ 10:35PM
I'll garner one small positive from what he said: He at least admitted that the Bush tax cuts didn't only go to the rich (a lie that most liberals chant over and over).
dennis fabris| 11.23.11 @ 2:08PM
The Vice-president is right! "Sequestering” will cause taxes to rise for all, (this article), spending will be throttled, and the deficit will shrink – that’s the goal. The Republicans have embraced a “want their cake and eat it too” attitude and express much consternation about cuts to the defense budget – they have had more than one opportunity to negotiate this. BUT, the cuts actually do not reduce the amount spent on defense – they reduce budget increases. The budgets increase over the next nine years. How much has your income (budget) increased over the past few years? Mr. Biden is telling us what we can expect. The President and some members of congress do not want the low and middle class to face the tax increases promised by a sequester. Republicans do not want any tax increase. However, their unwillingness to compromise seems to be leading to just that – for what purposeful end? I say they are too cowardly to ignore their PLEDGE to do what is of best interest for our nation NOW. The last few years have identified many areas of opportunity to improve our fiscal health. We understand and there is no evidence that either party denies it. Nor, is it obvious that either party believes the necessary changes can be implemented overnight or without significant sacrifice. It seems to me that the Democrats have conceded a reasonable amount, including spending reductions and revenues - probably not perfect or enough, but there is time. The Republicans have conceded little of significance, preventing beneficial progress NOW.