USA TODAY Editorial: ‘Tax Debate Reflects Breathtaking Disconnect’ By GOP

September 15, 2010
Blog Post
Congressional Republicans continue to protect millionaires and billionaires at the expense of middle-class Americans -- promising to take America back to the exact same failed Bush policies that created the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and nearly doubled the national debt. An editorial in this morning's USA TODAY reveals the Republican intellectual disconnect between their claims of concerns about raising the deficit and their insistence on extending Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest few – adding $700 billion to the deficit over the next 10 years.

USA TODAY - Tax debate reflects breathtaking disconnect

…The disconnect is breathtaking.

Tax-cut supporters routinely decry deficits, but then do the very things that make them worse…When House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said over the weekend that, if push came to shove, he'd vote to raise taxes on the wealthy, he was roundly denounced by members of his own party.

Americans are "tired of Democrat leaders in Washington pursuing the same government-driven programs that have done nothing but add to the debt," Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., declared Monday as he announced legislation to keep the tax cuts for everyone. Never mind his own votes creating the debt, or that he's offering no way to pay for them.

…The most frequently repeated claim about raising taxes on the wealthy is that it's a job killer, because those taxpayers include many small-business owners. This is clever but misleading.  A report from Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation shows that the top two tax brackets — which begin at about $172,000 — account for just 3% of taxpayers with net positive business income.

Read the full editorial»

Democrats are committed to tax relief for American workers, their families and small businesses. Congressional Democrats and President Obama will permanently cut taxes for 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small businesses – and help get the Bush-Republican deficit under control.