Obama urges public to press Congress on tax cuts

President Obama today entreated the American people to press Congress to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for all but the highest earners, insisting that public pressure could make all the difference in negotiations.

"When the American people speak loudly enough, lo and behold, Congress listens," Mr. Obama said from the White House, with middle-class Americans standing behind him. He noted that a typical middle class family of four would see its taxes rise by $2,200 if Congress doesn't extend the current tax rates for most Americans before the year is up.

"Tell members of Congress what a $2,000 tax hike would mean to you," the president said. "Call your members of Congress. Write them an e-mail. Post it on their Facebook walls. You can Tweet it using the hashtag #My2k."

The White House has used public campaigns like this before to lobby Congress during tough negotiations. In April, the White House urged Twitter users to employ the hashtag #dontdoublemyrate to send the message that they wanted student loan interest rates to stay low.

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Now, Mr. Obama is using the bully pulpit of the presidency to pressure Congress to extend the tax cuts for income under $250,000. That would leave the 2 percent of Americans who earn more than $250,000 still facing a tax hike when the Bush-era tax cuts expire at the end of the year.

Polls show that the public supports Mr. Obama's plan, which he campaigned on against Mitt Romney: 60 percent of Americans in a new Washington Post/ ABC News poll support raising taxes on incomes more than $250,000 a year.

Negotiations over the tax cuts are part of the so-called "fiscal cliff" negotiations under way between Congress and the White House. The "fiscal cliff" refers to a series of tax increases and spending cuts slated to go into effect on January 2, which could potentially send the U.S. into another recession. Along with the expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts, it includes the expiration of the payroll tax holiday that Mr. Obama instituted. Around $1.2 trillion in cuts to both defense and non-defense programs are also set to kick in on January 2 unless Washington acts.

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Republicans insist they will not agree to raise any tax rates. Some say they are willing to raise tax revenue by closing tax loopholes and deductions, as long as Democrats are willing to scale back spending in areas like Medicare and Medicaid.

"Our ultimate goal is an agreement that gets our long-term deficit under control in a way that is fair and balanced," Mr. Obama said today. "I believe that both parties can agree on a framework that does that in the coming weeks. But the place where we already have in theory at least complete agreement right now is on middle class taxes."

Mr. Obama is taking his message on the road this week: He is visiting a small business in Pennsylvania on Friday to drive home his point that protecting middle-class taxpayers and small business owners should be Washington's top priority.

Republicans have lambasted the president for using campaign-style tactics to pressure Congress on the issue, but Mr. Obama said today that "the voices of the American people have to be part of this debate."

He also insisted he is doing his part to work with Congress and influential parties: "I'm sitting down with CEOs, I'm sitting down with labor leaders," the president said. "I'm talking with leaders in Congress. I am able and willing and excited to go ahead and get this issue resolved in a bipartisan fashion."

Passing the middle class tax cut extension now, Mr. Obama said, "would give us more time next year to work together on a comprehensive plan to bring down our deficits."

Negotiations continue tomorrow, when Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and White House legislative chief Rob Nabors will be on Capitol Hill Thursday for meetings with congressional leadership.

Today, top Republicans met with Erskine Bowles, President Clinton's former chief of staff and the former co-chairman of Mr. Obama's debt commission.

Bowles said he agrees with Republicans that there should be "substantive real entitlement reform."

"That has to be as much of a part of the discussion as taxes have been," he said. "I'm really worried that we have a real possibility that we could go off the cliff, and I think that that would be catastrophic. But not to go over the cliff, we're going to have to compromise, we're going to have to have revenue, we have to have spending cuts."

[max5557]

So Obama urges the people. You know 2/3 of the country tried to vote you out, if not for the unions, queers, and swing states you wouldn't have a job. How about you get out, take Pelosi with you and have congress work for the people again. They work for me I didn't say they could have a raise or a day off. My American Right.

[TimeToEvolve]

The fact is that President Obama ran on raising taxes on the rich and he was re-elected. 60% of the American people are in favor of that. So all he has to do is let the tax cuts expire and he will have done what he said he would do. And everyone in the middle class will understand that it was the Republicons who made their taxes go up.

[TimeToEvolve]

A flat tax is the most regressive tax. It would actually make the fact that the less money you have the more you pay in taxes even worse. People who work at McDonalds and Wal Mart and have to supply their own health insurance can't afford 15%. Neither can the 1 of every 5 children in this God-forsaken country that live in poverty.

[MrLiterally]

How about a flat tax, if we want to be fair? Everyone pays in 15% or something.

[analyst1]

Tax structure is made of brackets for tax purposes. Higher the level of income the higher the tax rate. During a particular year if the income falls to a lower level bracket then the tax is at a low level for that year. Tax is justified by the income that you earn. Why should you pay a big chunk of lottery winning to the tax department? The answer is your income has increased substantially even though it is 'unearned income'

[analyst1]

Tax structure is made of brackets for tax purposes. Higher the level of income the higher the tax rate. During a particular year if the income falls to a lower level bracket then the tax is at a low level for that year. Tax is justified by the income that you earn. Why should you pay a big chunk of lottery winning to the tax department? The answer is your income has increased substantially even though it is 'unearned income'
And while we are on the subject of FAIR TAX lets talk about the GOP demand that Capital Gains Tax should be done away with. Done away, why? So that the waiter at a restaurant has to include tips earned to his income to arrive at tax to be paid on income plus tips. And so the tax levied on the waiter is fair as opposed to the income on stocks that made a profit?? Yep the waiter has to pay his share of taxes and so does the stock-holder and that is what fair is fair means.

[TimeToEvolve]

Obama bothers the Republicons for the same reason Clinton did. Half his brain has more common sense than the entire Party of Cons.

[TimeToEvolve]

We have had a worldwide Awakening about the slime of Wall Street and their apologists. I was quite worried about our future but now people are seeing what they are all about. How they crashed America, are fully responsible for the disaster in Europe and the accelerating devastation of Earth from man made climate change.

And it is time to vanquish the greedy creeps from our governments and make sure they never have any power over the people again.

[julesarcher1]

Yeah, that'll happen.

[MurdochSucks]

RBF51 says:
"Moooooooch!" said the democrats! You are owed by "whitey" "Moooch!" said the democras... Hoooooray for semi-literate American electorate that voted stupid and got stupidier!

_______________________________________

Americans got "stupidier?" Just a select few, apparently...

[TimeToEvolve]

I agree 1000% with Murdochsucks and I also agree that Murdoch sucks. Along with the rest of the greed driven half wit fake conservatives, fake Christian rich of the world.

[MurdochSucks]

LOL, yes, Murdoch really does SUCK! He'll get his in the end.

[MrLiterally]

Reality 101 for Libs:

1) If you tax the high wage earners, you do not impact those already sitting upon a mountain of wealth, but instead hammer those working hardest to pay off their own bills, carry others, or running the small businesses that hire lower wage earners. Result: wages or jobs get cut for lower wage earners, less tax revenue collected even though the rate was raised (i.e., bigger slice of a shrinking pie)

2) If you tax stock dividends more then investors flee the blue chip stocks and those crash, taking the rest of the market with it.

3) If you increase the capital gains tax, then the market sells off in December (to capitalize on the lower rate while it is still in effect), so same stock market crash, but a month earlier.

4) Some people just need to be allowed to splash that cold glass of water in their own faces just to see what happens.

2013 is going to be a very grim year.

[MurdochSucks]

Unfortunately, historical data has shown you to be incorrect. Tax increases on the top wage earners show very little impact on the economy. Tax decreases on the top wage earners, on the other hand, typically lead to recession. Something we are currently suffering through, again.

[madasabull]

Am I missing something here, have we appointed Obama as our spokesperson or leader? He tells us what HE is going to do if he is elected, then when he is elected, tells us that it is not up to him, and that WE have to do it if we want it! Nice one Obama, we fell for it yet again.

[bilrobi1]

Imagine asking for the people's input in a democracy.

[american47]

as I said: quit your belly aching and try to come up with ideas that can help out this country insead of bashing the President.

[american47]

Congresssional salaries and benefits need to be cut. I would never put an employee in charge of determing his own salary and benefits. We complain about the 47% but who contributed to that % by outsourcing? Who benefitted most by the tax cuts but did not create the jobs as was expected? Who is it that hires those you complain about because they are cheaper? Quit your bellyaching and try to come up with ideas that will actually help out this country.

[MurdochSucks]

It's pretty funny, too, that Congressional approval rating is almost single-digits. Can you imagine a private employer giving you an annual performance review of 12% and then allowing you to give yourself a raise and extra fringe benefits? What a nice thing to be elected as federal official!