Obama to Allow Tax Cuts for Wealthy to Expire

White House to Allow Tax Cuts for Wealthy to Expire
WASHINGTON
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the Obama administration will allow tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to expire on schedule despite calls from a small but increasingly vocal group of Democrats to delay any tax increases.

Geithner said the White House will allow taxes on top earners to increase on Jan. 1, 2011, as part of an effort to help bring down the mounting budget deficit. He said the White House still plans to extend tax cuts for middle- and lower-income Americans and expects to undertake a broader tax overhaul next year.

“We believe it is appropriate to let those tax cuts that go to the most fortunate expire,” Mr. Geithner said at a breakfast with reporters, hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

He also rejected concerns voiced by business groups and many Republicans that the administration’s economic policies are creating uncertainty and holding back private investment. “Business always wants their taxes lower and always wants to live with less regulation,” he said, adding that U.S. firms are “doing very well…competing around the world.”

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Pelosi rejects extending Bush tax cuts for wealthy
Wall Street Journal
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday rejected extending tax cuts for the wealthiest tax bracket that are set to expire at the end of the year.
Pelosi took off the table a short-term extension of those cuts floated by some lawmakers in her own party.

“No,” the speaker said at her weekly press conference when asked if the cuts for the highest bracket should be extended. “Our position has been that we support middle-class tax cuts.”

The cuts implemented by President George W. Bush and Republicans in Congress are set to expire at the end of the year, allowing income tax rates to spring upward. Democrats have begun exploring a potential extension of the cuts, but only for households earning less than $250,000 per year.

“I believe the high-end tax cuts did not create any jobs, increased the deficit and should be repealed,” she said.

A number of Democrats in the House and Senate in recent days have said they’d favor extending all of the tax cuts, partly because of the economy and partly because they fear any tax increases would be used against them in this fall’s elections.
GOP lawmakers have hammered away at Democrats over the expiring cuts, incorporating them into their election year argument that Democrats would seek to raise taxes.
One option discussed by members of the House Ways and Means Committee would be to raise tax rates on families making more than $250,000, but delaying the rate increase until 2012.

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FOX News contributor Andrea Tantaros on the future of the Bush tax cuts as some Democrats begin to support an extension of those cuts.

Bush Tax Cuts Roil Democrats
Wall Street Journal
Two more Senate Democrats called for extending tax cuts for all earners—including those with the highest incomes—in what appears to be a breakdown of the party’s consensus on the how to handle the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts.

Sen. Kent Conrad (D., N.D.) said in an interview Wednesday that Congress shouldn’t allow taxes on the wealthy to rise until the economy is on a sounder footing.

Sen. Ben Nelson (D., Neb.) said through a spokesman that he also supported extending all the expiring tax cuts for now, adding that he wanted to offset the impact on federal deficits as much as possible.

They are the second and third Senate Democrats to come out publicly in recent days in favor of extending all the tax breaks for the time being. Sen. Evan Bayh (D., Ind.) made similar comments last week.

“As a general rule, you don’t want to be cutting spending or raising taxes in the midst of a downturn,” Mr. Conrad said. “We know that very soon we’ve got to pivot and focus on the deficit. But it probably is too soon to cut spending or raise taxes.”

The comments from the senators represent a departure from what appeared to be an emerging unified Democratic stance on the Bush tax cuts, which held that those for the wealthiest Americans should be allowed to expire.
President Barack Obama and most Democrats want to extend only the breaks benefiting taxpayers who make $250,000 or less.
Allowing breaks for higher earners to expire would push the top individual tax rate to 39.6% from 35%, and would raise rates on capital gains and dividends, too.
The breaks enacted in 2001 and 2003, which affect taxpayers of all income levels, expire at the end of this year.

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Wild Thing’s comment…….
The Bush tax cuts have been so demonized by the left .
The bulk of Democrats want to kick the people while they are down and then they want to keep them down. They do this in the hopes that people will believe that they can’t survive without them. That’s the problem with professional politicians……..they never had a job in their life and couldn’t survive without Washington.
Now is the time for Republicans to come forward with a lot more tax cuts for the middle class – beyond just extending the Bush tax cuts. Let the Democrats go on record as opposing more tax cuts for the little people they claim to care so much about.