Obama Says Repeal of Bush Tax Cuts for Wealthy Not Negotiable
By Shawn M. Griffiths on 11/15/2012 in Bush tax cuts, Fiscal Cliff, Headline, national, news, President Obama, Press Conference with 14 CommentsRead Time: 3 - 4 minutes
Credit: USA Today
As the fiscal cliff looms, one of the biggest topics of debate is the Bush-era tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of the year. Many Republicans want a full extension of the cuts, but President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that he will not extend them for top income earners.
The president stated:
“What I’m not going to do is to extend further a tax cut for folks who don’t need it, which would cost close to a trillion dollars and it’s very difficult to see how you make up that trillion dollars, if we’re serious about deficit reduction, just by closing loopholes and deductions.”
President Obama said he was open to compromise and new ideas during his first press conference since March. However, he also promised that he will not budge on the issue of extending tax breaks for households he believes don’t need it. He added that, after his re-election victory last week, his insistence that top income earners pay a little more “shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody.”
Negotiations are set to begin on Friday in hopes that an agreement between Republican and Democratic lawmakers can be reached. If a deal is not made by the end of the year and the tax cuts are allowed to expire across the board, analysts predict it will negatively affect middle and low income households, some of whom are already struggling in an economy recovering too slowly to keep pace with population growth.
The president has been adamant about preserving tax cuts for lower and middle income earners. During the press conference, Obama urged Congress to act immediately on extending tax breaks for middle and low income households while the debate over tax cuts for the wealthy continue. He argued that lawmakers “should not hold the middle class hostage” in the negotiations.
The White House insists that President Obama is committed on moving forward with his original budget plan, which is the plan he ran on during the campaign. The president wants to raise revenue by $1.6 trillion through the repeal of Bush tax cuts on households earning more than $250,000 a year.
Republicans, however, have argued that the president doesn’t have a real plan. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell argued that saying there needs to be a balanced approach or that people need to pay their fair share is not a plan. He went after Obama on not showing effective leadership by the continued use these “poll-tested talking points.”
The focus of public discourse has been on the fiscal cliff after the election and the government is in a similar position it was in before November 6. Congress is still divided and President Obama is still in the White House, but both sides have promised to work for bipartisan solutions since the election results were projected.
With less than fifty days before automatic federal spending cuts take effect and the Bush-era tax cuts are set to expire for all tax brackets, Americans will have to wait and see if leaders of the two mainstream political parties follow through with promises to find a bipartisan compromise before January 1.
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14 Comments
Matt Metzner
11.15.2012
@mmetzner
This is certainly a statement with big consequences as Obama positions himself for the fiscal cliff negotiations beginning tomorrow.
Lucas Eaves
11.15.2012
@lucaseaves
We saw how much the tax cuts cost the country since they were pass. We cannot keep them indefinitely, we are already at historical lowest. But as raising taxes on the middle class might kill the economic recovery, I think President Obama’s position is understandable and if the Republicans do not want massive cuts to the defense budget, they have to give in somewhere. And more taxes for the wealthiest is accepted by most Americans. It doesnt seem like rocket science to me.
Blake Bunch
11.15.2012
@blakebunch
The president has caught much flack for his plan on tax cuts for those with lower incomes and the middle class. With the Bush-era tax breaks for the top earners in this country, the outcome of Obama’s approach to the fiscal cliff will determine how we get out of this recession.
Terri Harel
11.15.2012
@tlharel
I never understand why everyone is so against taxes. Pay taxes, receive benefits. It is pretty simple. How can you complain about schools, roads, medicare and medicaid, when you don’t want to pay taxes? Pure laisse-faire isn’t feasible in a nation of 330 million.
Emma Goda
11.15.2012
@emmagoda
I agree with you Terri but maybe we would feel differently being in a different tax bracket or owned our own business?
Jane Susskind
11.15.2012
@jsusskind
I totally agree with this and think that in order to maintain the type of benefits we have, we need to pay taxes. What’s not okay, however, is when you pay taxes and still don’t see schools or roads improve and start getting benefits taken away. I think that’s where the frustration over taxes comes from.
Zachery Abramson
11.15.2012
@zabramso
This is exactly the point that I see as the problem. Repealing the Bush-era tax cuts is only a part of the solution. We still need to address our country’s priorities and spending.
Alex Gauthier
11.15.2012
@alexg
Obama’s argument that only 2% of the country will be affected by the tax hikes looks like it’s resonated with a lot of Americans
Michael Higham
11.15.2012
@michaelhigham
There’s one bargaining chip that’s out the window. I don’t think extension of Bush tax cuts would be beneficial for the government, but taxes are pretty high. Considering California’s tax initiative that passed and the projection of ending bush tax cuts, I wouldn’t be surprised if upper tax brackets express further discontent.
v
11.15.2012
Are you all too financially unsofisticated to understand that a tax on the wealthiest among us is a tax hike on anyone who does well in the future? Some will never suceed so they do not need to worry about those high earners because it is us or them. Sad. Sad. Sad. Another thought. When something happens that affects the bottom line of a business, which is how most high income earners earn income, do they usually just suck it up or do they usually pass it on to the middle class customer? So whos tax hike will it really be?
bob jackson
11.15.2012
@bobj72
So YOU’RE in favor of the “Maker & Taker Economic Policy” for the U. S.? Kinda’ says YOUR Candidate LOST, and that was to some extent based on YOUR Candidate’s Economic Policy, or lack thereof. (sic) …….
marc rech
11.23.2012
Romney was not the preffered candidate.
But lets look at this from an investors POV. An increase in taxes simply leads to a reduction in ROI, which leads an investor to look for other places to make money. This can hurt everyone, not just the rich. Taxes are also spent on bureaucracy, military waste, federal programs which dont always benefit the nation as a whole, subsidies for campaign donors, and can hurt small businesses who dont have accountants or lawyers who know the tax system.
Cassidy Noblejas Bartolomei
11.15.2012
@cassidynb
I’d like to hear about negotiations to reform the tax code and the unsustainable entitlement programs.
Also, it’s annoying that Congress could pass the Budget Control Act that may result America falling over the “fiscal cliff,” but can’t seem to pass a balanced budget. Hopefully tomorrow brings better news…
marc rech
11.23.2012
Perhaps if we nationalized the federal reserve, which if chock full of elitists who believe they know better than the 330 million inhabitants of the US then we would not have to worry about debt as the Congress would have to be honest with their tax increases, instead of taxing us all secretly through inflation to finance undeclared wars, waste on the federal level, and huge deficits!