Obama Calls on Congress to Extend Tax Cuts for the Middle Class
U.S. President Barack Obama urged Congress again today to extend for one year from December tax cuts for the middle class and reiterated his opposition to extending them to the wealthy, since the country can not afford that ” luxury “at the high deficit.
“What we need are policies that grow and strengthen the middle class, which help create jobs,” Obama said during his traditional Saturday’s speech by radio and internet.
Obama’s proposal is that the tax cuts approved during the administration of his predecessor, George W. Bush, and maturing in December was extended for one year, but only for families earning less than $ 250,000 annually.
Under the Obama plan, the wealthiest Americans (2% of the population) in 2013 to pay back tax rates of the time was President Bill Clinton.
“At that time our economy created nearly 23 million new jobs and had the largest budget surplus in history”, said the president in his speech.
Obama has been advocating for several months a tax increase for the wealthy and maintaining tax breaks for the middle class as a way to revive the economy and consumption and to address the large public deficit.
But this week the president has once again highlighted his proposal as an electoral weapon and example of the “different visions” of the country with him and what will be his Republican rival in the presidential election on November 6, Mitt Romney.
Republicans, who have a majority in the House of Representatives, argue that tax cuts should be extended to everyone, even for the wealthy, and have already anticipated that they will oppose Obama’s plan in Congress.
According to Obama, Republicans “are wrong”, since in the past decade’s tax cuts “benefited more wealthiest Americans than any other person” and “did not lead to increased wages and jobs for the middle class promised. ”
“Do not stay sequestered the vast majority of Americans and our entire economy as we debate the merits of another tax cut for the rich,” Obama asked Congress to insist on the need to extend the tax cuts for those earning less than $ 250,000 year.
Category: Business News
