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Taxing Those Making $1 Million-Plus 5.6% Works For Obama
By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 6, 2011
Modified Oct 6, 2011
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By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 6, 2011
Modified Oct 6, 2011
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Top Democrats were upset that President Obama wanted to tax wealthy Americans, because as our own Senator Chuck Schumer put it, making $250,000 a year doesn't make you wealthy in New York. So now they are offering a new plan to tax the rich: A 5.6% tax on those making $1 million or more a year, which would raise about the $447 billion needed to fund Obama's American Jobs Act.
Schumer said yesterday, "It is hard to ask more of households that make $250,000 dollars or $300,000 a year. Many of [them] are not rich, and in large parts of the country, that kind of income does not get you a big home or lots of vacations or anything else that’s associated with wealth in America." Now, the bike-lane opponent said of the revised plan, "The addition of this proposal makes it very tough for Republicans to oppose the president's jobs package. Republicans will be hard-pressed to explain why they'd allow teachers and firefighters to be laid off rather than have millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share."
Well, House majority leader Rep. Eric Cantor scoffed at the plan, "Here we go again, continued insistence in Washington — raise taxes on job creators right now. That’s not what we need. Most people in America think it’s counterintuitive to raise taxes if you want economic growth." Yeah, why can't the Koch Brothers and General Electric just hire all the people protesting downtown?!
For his part, Obama says he's "comfortable" with the 5.6% concept, "I'm fine with the approach they're taking... Our economy really needs a jolt right now." It's unclear how much support there is for the proposal, though. It's unclear how much support there is in Congress for the jobs act, but Obama has been raising the rhetoric, "If Congress does nothing, then it’s not a matter of me running against them. I think the American people will run them out of town. I would love nothing more than to see Congress act so aggressively that I can’t campaign against them as a do-nothing Congress.”
Tagged
american jobs act
charles schumer
chuck schumer
economy
president obama
recession
senator schumer
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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