Obama says he only wants to extend 80% of the Bush cuts — only for families earning less than $250,000.
Speaking at a White House press conference, Obama accused Republicans of “holding middle-class tax relief hostage” by insisting that all of the tax cuts passed under President Bush be extended. He called out Congressman John Boehner as the main culprit.
On Sunday talk shows, GOP Leader Boehner — fresh off his Obama-induced rise to national attention — seemed to sell out the 3% of folks who pay almost half of all income taxes:
WSJ, Boehner Opens Door in Tax Talks SEPTEMBER 12, 2010
The top House Republican said Sunday that he would support legislation that extended tax cuts for the middle class but not the wealthy if that was the only option, an apparent concession to Democrats that was met with skepticism from the White House.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703897204575487904204238046.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_5
What’s up?
Here’s my take …
Now, 80% of the Bush tax breaks — which candidate Obama said were all “for the wealthy” — get renewed — probably permanently, without any sunset provisioning. And, GOP is off the hook for “holding the middle class hostage”. My bet: Obama wanted them to stop the middle class tax breaks — so he could say that he was keeping a campaign pledge and have an addition $3 trillion to throw against his spending spree.
Then, GOP wins the House and immediately passes a bill to extend the Bush tax cuts for investors and business owners — i.e. “the wealthy”.
Either Obama OKs the extension — selling out his base — or, more likely, he vetoes the bill and owns the results if the economy continues to stagger. Neither are good options for the President.
Biggest question is how they sort out the capital gains, dividends and estate tax rates.
We’ll see …
The Homa Files 
September 13, 2010 at 3:49 pm |
Redistribution has been a real trigger word for the past 2 years. When will we talk about the initial distribution? 3% of people pay all taxes because they take such a disproportionate share of earnings. Fix that and people may not be motivated to vote for higher taxes.