Sen. McConnell's Tax Cut Slight of Hand for Middle Class Protects Wealthy

If the Republicans were good getting us into this global crisis, then they're really good at distracting us from their bad sense of economics. The GOP reaction to Barack Obama's economic speech is cynical blustering at its slickest.

Sen. Mitch McConnell's proposal for a middle class income tax cut from 25 percent to 10 is downright incredible. Not that I wouldn't mind having a little extra money on my paycheck, but it would still break the federal governments bank and ignore the current 15 percent tax bracket or lower it to well under ten percent, putting us further into debt.

It would also take everyones eyes off of RAISING taxes on the wealthy. It's slick, divisive and just what you would expect.




According to the Washington Post:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is urging the incoming Obama administration to stick to its campaign pledge and immediately increase taxes on the wealthiest Americans, a position that President-elect Barack Obama has wavered on since winning election.Pelosi told reporters she "couldn't be more clear" in opposing some Obama advisers' wish to wait for the tax cuts on the highest income earners to expire in two years, as they are set to do under current law. "Put me down as clearly as you possibly can as one who wants to have those tax cuts for the wealthiest in America repealed," she said.

Pelosi said the income tax cuts to the highest earning Americans -- which were
decreased from 39.6 to 35 percent as part of the 2001 Bush tax plan -- have been "the biggest contributor to the budget deficit," which now stands at $1.2 trillion for fiscal year 2009.

On the campaign trail, Obama touted an immediate repeal of the Bush tax cuts for top wage earners, while promising tax relief for the bottom 95 percent of Americans. He said he planned to use increased revenues from the repeal of those tax cuts to finance some of his ambitious agenda items, including a near-universal health care plan.