Posted on 01/25/2010 5:31:21 PM PST by Kaslin
Taxes: On the eve of President Obama's first State of the Union address, two Democratic congressmen are advising him to extend the Bush tax cuts instead of letting them expire. Now that's a stimulus.
We hear that the administration is considering taking a more populist tack as it sails the choppy political waters of 2010. Some of President Obama's plans reportedly include several tax tidbits for the "middle class," including a doubling of the child care tax credit for families below $85,000 in income, and $1.6 billion for child care and a cap on student loan payments.
Such transparent populism aside, if the recent bank-bashing is any sign, the ship of state is still being steered into the iceberg ahead.
This time, we sincerely hope the State of the Union will be distinguished by a cessation of Bush-bashing. We're glad to see two Democratic congressmen have said enough of this, and rather than bash Bush, urge the administration to copy him.
Reps. Bobby Bright, D-Ala., and Mike McMahon, D-N.Y., sent a "Dear Colleague" letter on Thursday asking their fellow congressmen to support extending the Bush tax cuts, passed in 2001 and 2003, at least for two years.
"Allowing these tax rates to expire during this recession runs the risk of curtailing economic expansion just when it begins to pick up and could lead to a 'double-dip' recession," says the letter.
We agree and suggest that keeping them might put jobs back into this jobless recovery. Businesses need certainty for long-term planning and risk-taking, not one-year, one-time tax credit gimmicks.
President Obama did propose during the 2008 campaign and in last year's budget plan extending the Bush tax cuts affecting the poor and middle class.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
Argh! This is going to split the left-at-all-cost Rats who despise anything Bush, and the triangulation Rats who would like to survive like Bill Clinton.
He should but this issue just points up how America is living on borrowed money. We don’t have the guts to cut spending. Its not just the “Democracts”—its everyone, including middle class America—who will scream bloody murder if we actually cut spending. I hope we do but I doubt it. Its yet another sign that we don’t have what it takes to stem national decline. Moves toward Socialism—ie, turning adults into children taken care of by nanny government—are signs of decline. I hope we can turn it around.
Bait and switch Indian giver.
Instead we’ll get tax cuts for people that don’t pay taxes, and increases for the evil rich (which to Obama is anyone with a job)
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