Come Saturday Morning: Reasons to Fight the Obama/GOP Poor Tax

Pass tax cut or we will all pay more: Obama to Dems
President Obama Saturday called on Democratic lawmakers to pass a Republican-backed tax-cut deal, telling them it would keep America's recovery on track. In his weekly radio address, the President said without the proposal's approval, more than 1 million jobs could be lost nationwide and families would face tax hikes in the new year. "If Congress doesn't act, Tax Rates will automatically go up for just about everyone in our country," he said yesterday. "That's unacceptable to me." The deal ext...

Bill Clinton's rebuke to Democrats: tax deal is 'best' Obama can get
In an impromptu news conference Friday at the White House, former President Clinton strongly endorsed President Obama’s Controversial tax-cut deal. House Democrats say Obama caved on tax-cut deal. Are they wrong? House Democrats block GOP-Obama tax deal. Is it dead? Bush Tax Cuts 101: Would extension boost the Economic Recovery? Mr. Clinton told reporters that, after reviewing the agreement the president reached with Republicans earlier this week, he felt it was “the best bipartis...

Last Word, I Hope
Most of the blogosphere continues to argue about the Tax Cut Compromise. I’ve said most of what I want to say, but most of the argument for me boils down to these points: One, the argument is that the Payroll Tax holiday is bad because if the lower Tax Rates became permanent they would eventually de-fund Social Security. I am skeptical the Republicans will be eager to extend the lower Payroll Tax rates this time next year, however, because - The Payroll Tax holiday doesn’t he...

Social Security advocates fear payroll tax cut (AP)
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's plan to cut Payroll taxes for a year would provide big savings for many workers but makes Social Security advocates nervous that it could jeopardize the Retirement program's finances. The plan is part of a package of Tax Cuts and extended Unemployment Benefits that Obama negotiated with Senate Republican leaders. It would cut workers' share of Social Security taxes by nearly one-third for 2011. Workers making $50,000 in wages would get a $1,000 tax c...

Social Security advocates fear payroll tax cut
WASHINGTON— President Barack Obama’s plan to cut Payroll taxes for a year would provide big savings for many workers but makes Social Security advocates nervous that it could jeopardize the Retirement program’s finances. The plan is part of a package of Tax Cuts and extended Unemployment Benefits that Obama negotiated with Senate Republican leaders. It would cut workers’ share of Social Security taxes by nearly one-third for 2011. Workers making $50,000 in wages woul...

It Just Gets Better and Better to Be Rich In America
What a great week to be rich in America! On Monday, President Obama compromised with the Republicans on extending the Bush Tax Cuts, leaving no Millionaires or Billionaires behind. By Thursday, a generous estate-tax exemption was heaped onto the deal, permitting wealthy couples to leave up to $10 million to their families without needing to pay a single cent in tax. Gee, thanks, grandpa! So thoughtful of you! Both moves are certain to further concentrate wealth in the hands of fewer and fewer ve...

Black Caucus opposes Obama's tax plan
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus on Friday announced that they are overwhelmingly opposed to the deal President Obama has struck with Republicans on extending the Bush-era Tax Cuts and are proposing their own alternative that essentially hews to a plan House Democrats passed this month. Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) was joined by CBC members Bobby Scott (D-Va.), Donald Payne (N.J.) and Donna Christensen (V.I.) in announcing the CBC's position on the pac...

Tax Cut Negotiations Continue, Udall Stands Firm
[E]ight Democrats including Ohio's Sherrod Brown wrote to Majority Leader Harry Reid to propose capping the Tax Breaks for incomes over $1 million. People making more than that would go back to Clinton-era Tax Rates. The savings should be used to shore up Social Security, Brown and the others wrote. [Pols emphasis] Class warfare? Not at all, these Democrats say. "Success in America should rightly be celebrated, but the very wealthy do not need Bonus Tax Cuts and America cannot afford to give ...

Social Security Advocates Fear Payroll Tax Cut
Like this Story? Share it: (AP) President Barack Obama's plan to cut Payroll taxes for a year would provide big savings for many workers but makes Social Security advocates nervous that it could jeopardize the Retirement program's finances. The plan is part of a package of Tax Cuts and extended Unemployment Benefits that Mr. Obama negotiated with Senate Republican leaders. It would cut workers' share of Social Security taxes by nearly one-third for 2011. Workers making $50,000 in wages would ge...

Social Security advocates fear payroll tax cut
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's plan to cut Payroll taxes for a year would provide big savings for many workers. But Social Security advocates are nervous that it could jeopardize the Retirement program's finances. The plan is part of a Tax Cut and extended Unemployment Benefits package that Obama negotiated with Senate Republican leaders. It would trim workers' share of Social Security taxes by nearly one-third for 2011. Workers making $50,000 in wages would get a $1,000 tax cut; th...

Obama takes credit for compromise (Politico)
President Barack Obama reprised his defense of his Tax Cut Compromise with Republicans in his weekly address on Saturday, arguing that the fate of Middle Class families — and the still-fragile Economic Recovery — is at stake as lawmakers consider the proposal. “The opportunity for families to send their kids to college hinges on this debate,” Obama said. “And our recovery will be strengthened or weakened based on the choice that now rests with Congress.” The...

Why didnt Barry just give Clinton the finger?
Anyhow, Barry bails at 9:30. Stay classy, Barry! Stay classy! Then there's this, ZOMG: [CLINTON:] First of all, I feel awkward being here and now you’re gonna leave me all by myself. [CLINTON:] I don't want to make her mad. Please go. You're in good hands. It's nice to see the Big Dog doing the Big Dog thing -- he's so smart, and such a great communicator -- but even Clinton can't buff this turd. It's not a good bill. Selling the plan on the basis of the Unemployment Insurance extension ...

Obama calls in Clinton to help with tax fight
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Friday called on a battle-scarred dealmaker, former President Bill Clinton, to help convince reluctant Democrats to back a Compromise tax plan before rates rise for most Americans in January. As Democrats in the House of Representatives sought to toughen provisions targeted at the wealthiest, Clinton urged them to pass the plan in its current form before they hand over control of the chamber to Republicans next month. "This is a much, much better...

Obama defends tax cut deal in weekly address
Well, we all knew this was coming, right? Tax Cut deal! So we hammered out a deal that reflects ideas from both sides. It wasn’t easy, and it’s by no means perfect. And as with any Compromise, everybody had to live with elements they didn’t like. But this is a good deal for the American People. The vast majority of the tax cuts in this plan will help the Middle Class, including a new cut in Payroll taxes that will save the average family about $1,000. And as this plan is debat...

Obama Urges Congress To Pass Tax Deal
President Barack Obama answers questions on his Compromise on Tax Cuts, Unemployment Insurance and jobs on Tuesday at the White House. (Chuck Kennedy / White House) (NewsCore) - President Barack Obama used his weekly address Saturday to urge Congress to pass the tax cut deal he negotiated with Republicans ahead of a Jan. 1 deadline and amid opposition from some of his most stalwart supporters. "We hammered out a deal that reflects ideas from both sides. It wasn't easy, and it's by no means perfe...

With Obama, Clinton urges Dems to back tax deal
WASHINGTON (AP) - Bill Clinton implored Democrats to back the tax-cut deal that President Barack Obama negotiated with Republicans as the former president made a surprise appearance with Obama in the White House briefing room Friday—and later took over the podium. "I don't believe there is a better deal out there," Clinton told reporters who'd been summoned at a moment's notice to see the former chief executive back the current one. Clinton and Obama had just finished a private meeting in ...

Low Taxes Are the Problem, Not the Solution
Sen. Bernard Sanders speaks against Tax Cuts on the floor of the Senate on Friday. “Every Economist that I’ve talked to … acknowledges that this [tax] agreement would boost Economic Growth in the coming years and has the potential to create millions of jobs,” President Barack Obama said this week. But if low taxes are the solution, this must mean that high taxes are the problem. Yet the Bush Tax Cuts are already in effect; taxes are therefore low already, and the unemplo...

Klein: Time for tax reform?
That's the word out of the White House. It's also what the Deficit commission recommended, and the incoming chairman of the Ways and Means Committee is talking it up, too. But if you really want to see why we might have a Tax Reform fight next year, look at what we're doing to the tax code. The $858 billion deal Republicans and Democrats are kicking around extends the Bush Tax Rates -- which are already far beneath what's needed to fund the government we've chosen to have -- and adds a furthe...

Obama: Tax deal 'by no means perfect'
President Barack Obama at the White House in Washington, Dec. 8, 2010. UPI/Dennis Brack/POOL WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama Saturday urged Congress to adopt the Compromise tax plan he reached with Republicans, even though it is "by no means perfect." In his weekly radio and Internet address, the president said if Congress doesn't act on extending Tax Rates enacted early in the administration of former President George W. Bush, "tax rates will automatically go up for jus...

The Obama Tax Deal: Giving the Hostage Takers More Hostages
As readers of this blog know, I was originally willing to support the package that President Obama negotiated with the Republicans. While I am not happy about giving Tax Breaks to rich people, President Obama extracted more concessions from the Republicans than I had expected in the form of extending Unemployment Insurance benefits, an expanded earned income Tax Credit, and most importantly a substantial reduction in the Payroll Tax. However, after further thought and conversations with peopl...

Tax Cut Plan Draws Ire from Left and Right
(Credit: CBS) Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday night unveiled the Legislation that would put into place President Obama's tentative Tax Cut deal with Republicans. Reid scheduled the first "test vote" on the bill for Monday afternoon, even as Grassroots organizers on the left and the right pressure Congress to oppose the deal. "This bill is not perfect, but it provides the economic boost middle-class families and small businesses in Nevada and across America need," Reid said in a...

Which Party Owns the Payroll Tax Break?
As David Frum wrote this morning, the GOP needs to reposition itself as the party of the Payroll Tax cut to prevent President Obama from running on that (popular) issue in 2012. Greg Sargent has recently come into possession of a White House slide which underscores why time may be running out for the GOP on this issue. The slide is being circulated to convince Democrats unhappy with the Tax Cut Compromise (Obama may consider them “sanctimonious”) that they in fact got the better en...

Why Do Deficit Hawks Hate Social Security
Last week, Social Security advocates learned something they had long suspected. Arguments for cutting Social Security aren't really about economics or the Deficit. They're all about waging war on Social Services. In short, some very prominent policymakers are out to dismantle Social Security on ideological grounds. The most recent example of this view comes from Alan Simpson, a former Republican Senator from Wyoming who now serves as co-Chair of President Barack Obama's Federal Debt Commission. ...

Conrad says tax bill will pass, seeks changes to estate tax
Congress will approve Bipartisan tax Legislation brokered by the White House and Senate Republicans with few if any changes, lawmakers said Friday.  Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the incoming chairman of the House Budget Committee in the 112th Congress, and Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) agreed that the plan will go forward although Conrad is keen to see the House adjust the Estate Tax rate.  "I hope the Estate Tax provisions are changed, because they went too far on Estate Tax relie...

Charles Krauthammer Is the Fraud
Charles Krauthammer says that Obama has conned Republicans into agreeing to a second stimulus even bigger than the first. Democrats are too stupid to see this (and Republicans are even more stupid, presumably, since they are the Victims). Barack Obama won the great tax-cut showdown of 2010 - and House Democrats don't have a clue that he did. In the deal struck this week, the president negotiated the biggest stimulus in American history, larger than his $814 billion 2009 stimulus package. It wi...