President Obama spoke today about keeping the tax cuts for middle and lower-income families, but raising them to the Clinton-era level for those making over 250k. This is not only a system of fairness and social justice, but also a logical step in the right direction for our economic recovery, job creation and more.
Battling over the Bush tax cuts (again)… For Obama, this is both an opportunity (creates contrast with Romney) and a challenge (we’ve already been down this road before)… But have the Bush tax cuts actually worked?… Democrats blast Romney’s offshore accounts… House GOPers put pressure on House Dems… Boehner: The American people probably won’t fall in love in Romney… And has health care already disappeared from the campaign trail?
*** Battling over the Bush tax cuts (again): The last time we left you on this topic was back in late 2010, when President Obama agreed to temporarily extend the Bush-era tax cuts for all income groups — including the wealthy — which he had campaigned against in ’08. That move disappointed his base, but it also won him GOP concessions (on payroll tax cuts and unemployment insurance), and it paved the way to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and approve the New START treaty. But the president vowed not to extend the tax cuts for the wealthy at the end of 2012, when he would have more leverage (because it would be after his re-election bid). “When they expire in two years, I will fight to end them,” he said at a Dec. 7, 2010 press conference. And today, Obama makes his first chess move in this new tax-cut battle: At a White House at 11:50 am ET, the president will call for a one-year extension of the tax cuts for ONLY those making less than $250,000. House Republicans, theNew York Times notes, plan a vote later this month to extend the tax cuts for ALL income groups.
Read the story: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/09/12641073-first-thoughts-battling-over-the-bush-tax-cuts-again?lite
