Pelosi Seeks "Millionaire's Tax"

Politico: But House Speaker Says She Wants to Raise Income Levels Where Proposed Health Care Surcharge Takes Effect

(The Politico)  This story was written by Mike Allen.

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Trying to sell a historic health bill to a balky caucus, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told POLITICO in an interview that she wants to soften a proposed surcharge on the wealthy so that it applies only to families that make $1 million or more.

The change could help mollify the conservative Democrats who expect to have a tough time selling the package back home. Their support is the single biggest key to meeting the speaker's goal of having health care reform pass the House by the August recess.

The bill now moving through the House would raise taxes for individuals with annual adjusted gross incomes of $280,000, or families that make $350,000 or more.

"I'd like it to go higher than it is," Pelosi said Friday.

The speaker would like the trigger raised to $500,000 for individuals and $1 million for families, "so it's a millionaire's tax," she said. "When someone hears, '2,' they think, 'Oh, I could be there,' because they don't know the $280,000 is for one person.

"It sounds like you're in the neighborhood. So I just want to remove all doubt. You hear '$500,000 a year,' you think, 'My God, that's not me.'"

Pelosi also told POLITICO she will push to "drain" more savings from the medical industry - hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and health insurers - than they have given up under current health-reform agreements with the Senate and White House.

Asked whether she believes the industry players will wind up contributing more to the package, Pelosi replied: "I don't know. I know they can, to the extent that the special interests are willing to cooperate. ... They could do much better. ... Frankly, I think all the money [to pay for health reform] could be drained from the system, if they were willing to do that."

The speaker said she will try to wring more concessions, setting up a potential battle with health care players who torpedoed President Bill Clinton's health-reform efforts but have been eager participants in the negotiations this time around.

Pelosi said she is open to other changes - that she is taking an "agnostic" approach to getting a bill, rather than working from a "theology" of reform: "You have to just judge it for: Does it lower costs, improve quality?"

Pelosi now faces more pressure than she ever has in her career - obligated to repeatedly deliver tough votes for an ambitious and popular president, but anxious to minimize the midterm election losses that traditionally befall the party holding the White House.

The speaker professed bemusement at the persistent question she gets about whether it was better to be speaker with a Republican president or a Democratic president.

"Oh, please!" she replied. "Why do people ask that question? Do you have any idea? Like night and day. When people ask it, I think: Would you think that it would be easier to have a Republican president who doesn't share your values? No, no, no.

"Nothing is easy. It's challenging to get the job done and live up to the expectations and the hopes of the American people, as the president has taken them all to a new height. ... But ... it's like having a 1,000-ton anvil lifted off your shoulders.

"People would ask, 'Now, you're not going to be the No. 1.' And I say, 'This is what I've hoped, prayed, dreamed and worked for.' And it absolutely goes beyond my expectations of what it could be."

Some House members are concerned that they're being asked to take a tough vote that may be for nothing if the Senate doesn't follow through. Some Pelosi advisers had considered keeping the House in session into August so that leaders could be sure the Senate was going to vote before House members take therisk themselves.

But Pelosi is plunging ahead. "We're just staying on our own course, and we hope that the Senate will stay on a parallel course, to have this done by [early August]. Whatever it is, we will be ready. ... As I always say, we're going forward when we're ready. And I'm sure we'll be ready."

Pelosi said she has felt a certain "serenity" ever since she became speaker and says she's "ready for all of this." Ticking off the year's remarkable agenda, she praised the stamina of her members, chairs and leaders, calling the Democratic team a "partnership."

"I have the confidence when I go down a path that we are going down that path together," she said. "It is a heavy lift, sometimes. But it one based on respect for the members. So we'll take the time, have the conversations, do what needs to be done. ... It's such a tremendous honor to be speaker of the House. To be able to serve with Barack Obama is really a joy. He's a great leader ... with a vision, a strategic approach to it and the eloquence to take it to the American people."

Pelosi said White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, a former chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee who has tight relationships throughout the House, is "doing an excellent job."

"He's great, and I knew he would be," she said. "The only thing is, I certainly would still like to have him here. There's no question about that. But I'm so proud of him. I take some level of pride in his success, having appointed him to the DCCC, only in his second term, and as a member of the Ways and Means Committee."

POLITICO spoke with Pelosi on Friday afternoon in her suite of offices on the West Front of the Capitol, overlooking the National Mall. She spoke proudly of that morning's two committee votes on health care, starting in the wee hours with the Ways and Means Committee and continuing after breakfast with the Education and Labor Committee.

"It's such a big day for us," she said. "I don't' think anybody would have ever thought that would be happening on schedule, the way it is. So it's pretty exciting. It's historic."

Her challenge now is to keep making history, against ever harsher odds. Despite the onus on her to turn President Barack Obama's promises into legislation, Pelosi is relishing the pinnacle of a lifetime in and around politics.

Now, she's arguably the second most powerful person in government, yet obliged to court fickle members, vote by vote. Some friends said the nail-biter vote for Obama's climate-change plan was the most difficult thing she'd ever done. But she said health care would probably be "the most exciting."

"Every single person in America is an expert on his or her health care," she said. "The differences among members are regional, they're generational, they're ethnic - concerns that are really not necessarily political, partisan. We want this to work for the country. So we have to listen to everybody.

Whatever the cause, police across the region are taking credit for the drop.

"Everybody wants to beat us up when it goes up, so we'll take credit for it when it goes down," D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said.

She said police are able to target specific locations or types of crime and policing is so high-tech that investigators are analyzing crime minute-by-minute and have greater ability to attack crime before it happens.

In Prince George's, for example, the department's top commanders get mobile phone updates on crimes and 911 calls every 15 minutes.

In New York, when someone is killed, police send a mobile data center to a neighborhood, allowing police on the scene to listen to 911 calls and immediately search databases that list the names of everyone in a certain building who is on parole.

In the District, the department creates a weekly "Go-Go report," which details where and when home-grown bands are playing, because go-go concerts often bring together rival gangs, causing violence, Lanier said. There is also a weekly gang report that tells officers which gangs or crews are feuding that week.

Armed with that information, police can better predict where crimes might happen and take measures to prevent them.

The District is on track to have fewer killings than in any year since 1964, when the population was about 760,000 and Vietnam War protests were just beginning.

In the years since, the city has struggled at times with civil unrest, the arrival of crack cocaine and the rise of street gangs. In 1991, the District was known as the murder capital of the United States, recording 479 that year. This year, there have been 79.

Last summer, the city was struggling with so much violence in the Trinidad neighborhood that police set up military-style neighborhood roadblocks and stopped people from entering unless they had a "legitimate reason." The checkpoints were so restrictive that they were ultimately ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

This year, there have been several high-profile shootings in the District, including last week's late-afternoon killing of armed suspect Kellen Anthony White by the Capitol Police about a block from the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Also, a security officer, Stephen T. Johns, was killed last month during the lunch hour at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. An alleged white supremacist has been charged.

But Lanier said there has been a turnaround in violence this year. She pointed to a better relationship between the department and the community as a factor, saying it has helped get more violent repeat offenders off the streets. She said tips from the community have been flowing faster than ever, due in part to patrol officers knowing their beats and developing connections in the community.

Last year, the department paid about $500,000 in reward money for tips that led to arrests and convictions, double the amount in 2007. This year, detectives have closed about 70 percent of homicide cases.

"The community is giving us more information than ever," Lanier said. "They're used to seeing the same cop in the neighborhood every day. They feel comfortable. They have a connection to that officer. They know that officer isn't going to burn them."

Burning them, she said, would be to take information and not act on it, leaving sources to believe police are corrupt or lazy.

She also said she has torn down walls in the department so that homicide detectives talk more often with beat officers, sharing vital information.

Violent crime is also down in some of Washington's other large suburbs, including Montgomery and Fairfax counties.

Montgomery has recorded six homicides this year, putting it on track to have its lowest total since 1986.

In Prince George's, violence had been steadily rising since the 1990s, when the county started absorbing spillover crime from the District. But this year, crime is at a 20-year low, and homicides are down almost 17 percent.

Police Chief Roberto L. Hylton said that since he took over the department in September, there has been a more defined mission about how to attack crime.

He identified car thefts as one of the county's major problems and a "gateway" crime, meaning if criminals get away with stealing a car, they sometimes become emboldened and begin committing more daring acts. In 2004, about 18,500 cars were stolen in the county, more than in all of Virginia.

Since then, the department has focused on arresting car thieves and educating the public about protecting their cars, and the number of car thefts has shrunk by half.

"We have a very detailed and comprehensive strategy. We are triaging our community," Hylton said.

He said the homicide closure rate is about 70 percent, which has helped get many criminals off the streets.

"If you come into Prince George's County and you commit a murder, we're going to track you down and arrest you and lock you up," Hylton said.

Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Washington-based Police Executive Research Forum, said the drop in homicides this year is notable, especially considering the weather.

"This does come at an important time," he said. "We're midway through summer, and summer is when you see the most significant increase in street violence. Departments have had to be more strategic in terms of gangs and hot spots."

Wexler said that crime isn't down everywhere. Baltimore and Dallas are among some cities experiencing a higher number of killings compared with last year.

Gary LaFree, a criminology professor at the University of Maryland, said it has taken police decades to figure out how to effectively target crime.

"In the '60s, crime was like an act of God, like a tornado or earthquake," LaFree said. "Where policing has changed is that we've gotten the idea this is a problem we created and there are human solutions to it. Obviously, crime is not randomly distributed. It is connected to hot spots in cities and other areas."

LaFree and others agree that crime doesn't automatically go up when the economy is poor. Property crime is also trending down in many jurisdictions, including the District, Prince George's and Montgomery. The FBI reported last week that bank robberies across the country fell in the first quarter of the year, with 1,498 reported, compared with 1,604 in the first quarter of 2008.

Criminologists point to the Great Depression in the 1930s as a time of relatively low crime compared with the Roaring Twenties, when the country experienced more violence.

Lanier said that despite the good news, there's not much celebrating going on among police chiefs across the country.

"We're afraid to relax in any way and say crime is down," she said. "We tend to not talk about it much because we know how quick things can turn. What's successful today, tomorrow can turn on a dime."

Staff writers Maria Glod, Tom Jackman, Dan Morse and Josh White contributed to this report.

[sddemocrat]

My question is...What kind of insurance does Nancy Pelosi have??? President Obama??? Yes, they have Walter Reed to help with their medical needs. Why can't the rest of us have access to this type of medical care such as they??? I guess they want to share the wealth as long as they don't have to put forth any of their own.

[mary-miami]

There is a big difference between communism and socialism. Communism is bad, because the people have no rights whatsoever. Socialist Democracies, as in Europe or Scandinavian countries, have freedom of speech, press, human rights, free healthcare, university and allow for small business to open. As a result, their people tend to be healthier, more prosperous and happy. President Obama is a moderate Democrat. All he wants is to help the working class, and I respect him for that. If the President leads the nation out of this Depression, he will be a national hero.

[anti-global2]

The problem is taxing the wealthy will result in a pro longed depression. It is not just a matter of if you tax the rich they will not have as much money to invest, it is also a matter of if you tax the rich they will get pissed off and purposely not invest in an economy they feel is unfair to them. This is still America, so you cannot just swoop in and either take their money or force them to invest.
They need to come up with a solution that benifits people at all income levels equally.
tighter regulation on insurance companies would be a start. If you pay your premiums and then become ill, or injured the insurance company should be obligated to pay all of your medical bills, regardless of the effect on their profit margins.
I don't agree that doctors and hospitals should be non profit entities, but making insurance companies non-profit makes alot more sense, especially after the tax payers had to bail out AIG.

[Imadinnerjacket]

There already is a Millionaire tax...

The more money you make, the more taxes you pay..
its been like that for years and years and years.

ever notice your check when you work over time?... you pay more taxes
% wise.
the more you make, the more you pay.
we have 48 million people with out health care...
how many people are unemployed????
fix the job market, put people to work Barak... then you'll have more tax payers to fund your pet projects.
Simple thing is.. if everyone is working, and making a decent living, we don't mind paying taxes.. so before you go off and fix health care, or the ANYTHING else.. fix the job market...
Make banks loan the money you gave them, so people can build homes. PUT PEOPLE BACK TO WORK FIRST!!!

[maddog0802]

although you are obviously a Republican I actually agree with you on this one. Especially making the banks loan the money we gave them. I agree we need more jobs and the President is trying his best to create more jobs, like green sector jobs that we need anyway. Let's hope the economy turns the corner this year and more of our people can get back to work. We will survive we are the USA. Still the greatest nation on Earth.

[Imadinnerjacket]

I'm sorry, but if you must raise taxes, EVERYONE should shoulder the burden. I don't care if you're 16 or 65...
you shouldn't just attack the rich and make them pay for everyone else.
Add more fuel taxes, add more taxes to ripple wine, add sales tax to food. If you must raise taxes, everyone should pay now just single out people with the most money. tax welfare, and social security, tax child support, tax things that everybody uses, if you want support for any tax hike, you better make it where EVERYONE shoulders the burden.
Think about it, if I own a rental property, and you rise my property tax... I'm going to pass that increase to my tenant anyway. So, just tax everyone more to start with. Even the welfare recipient has to pay their fair share.

[moonbeam91]

I do NOT want the gov't telling me what to do with my health care! Furthermore should I/my sons ever earn a bunch of dollars I don't want to give it away. Yes the necessary taxes but not what a bunch of commies tell me to pay! I refuse to pay for people who come here for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the system i.e.: emergency room care & then brag about it. Many years ago 60Minutes ran a segment where they followed a Mexican woman who flew to the US (Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami,Fl.) to give birth - 17 births! Guess who paid for it - you & me. Moreover when questioned she claimed that of course here she was getting 'the best care'. She had the money to fly here then pay. Also there was the Venezuelan rich guy who came here for our care but refused to pay!!! At the time JMH was $37,000,000.00 in the red. & most of it was tracked to people taking advantage of our emergency rooms who were not citizens or legal residents paying into the system. And what about those who come here with the purpose of sticking doctors with malpractice lawsuits, winning them then bragging of their dastardly deed. Of course doctors fees, meds, etc go up. We are paying for people who want to live of our kindness. Well I'm not willing to pay for these people. I'll pay for me thank you very much!

[pepperwood2]

Pelosi said she has felt a certain "serenity" ever since she became speaker and says she's "ready for all of this." Ticking off the year's remarkable agenda, she praised the stamina of her members, chairs and leaders, calling the Democratic team a "partnership."

Change that word "partnership" to a "gang of outlaws" and you'll have it right. Have to remember the years remarkable agenda started out with passing the largest payoff pay raises for Congress under the cover of darkness. Sounds like she's planning to conjure up another Congressional Pay Raise for all the stamina & payoffs from the health industry they've been getting. Pretty slick trick. Just look at the status of her home state. Caliphonia an economy on life support.

[babooph]

The propaganda "the rich give jobs to workers"[Do you want to be a lawnman,maid or poolboy?]-they are rich because they KEEP their $$$$$!!!!The other tale is we will drive them away WHERE TO!!!Europe will tax them at a much higher rate-how long do you think they will stare out at all that sand in the middle East?

[proudmilvet]

EnriquieGonzales, Your Grammer is as Pathetic as you are!! So are your ideas! Just keep on Listening to Rush Limbaugh. You Both sound Like you have the same Mindset. Totally UN-Educated!!!

[proudmilvet]

Rush Limbaugh is against any kind of health care reform. Rush Limbaugh singed an 8 year Radio contract for $400 Million Dollars. Rush Limbaugh will never have to worry about affording his health care. Most ordinary working people DO have to worry about affording their health care. Rush Limbaugh only cares about Rush Limbaugh. Yet so many Republicans follow him like they are Robots. Amazing & Sad.

[actornaught]

"...contract for $400 Million Dollars..."

That's just what he says. You know how good that "information" is...

[dixxson]

Hey (KLUCKKK)
I'm already "RICH".
In money and Brains, compared to you!
Just my observation, every MORON on this Board, against Pelosi
Is More likely than not "POORER" THAN DIRT".
The same way they were when they fought the RICH MAN'S CIVIL WAR".
They still don't have enough "BRAINS", to not" FIGHT AGAINST THEMSELVES!

[GSmythe]

Did anyone proofread this article?
What I'm reading jumps from health care reform to crime numbers with no transition to explain the connection.

[dixxson]

The Rich have had it their way since the dawn of time.
And they will continue to have it their way, "They're "Rich!
But morally and Honestly because of the world's Poor & Hungry!
You Really can't Tax Them enough!
The current way, Republican way is to give them everything, then hope something will TRICKLE DOWN THEIR LEGS!
The sorriest example is when I think of STEPHAN MARBURY, ALLEN IVERSON, LEBRON JAMES AND COMPANY!
If one were to take the money from the "INK" only, not including the cost of TATTOOING. How many starving and war torn families could be Helped!
If they say that's not my problem, they don't need to say that the TATOOS, DRESS STYLES, and other MANNERISMS already say it!
This is the same attitude that created the
I STOLE MINE, NOW YOU STEAL YOURS, EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF,
DOG EAT DOG, "TRICKLE DOWN CORPORATE FRAUD", ULTRA FAT, "SUPER THIEVES".
You Can't Tax Them Enough".

[Questionews]

Stupid move.
The rich are for the most part are business owners of one kind or another. These guys produce goods & services consumed by the population. Do you think for one second that the extra taxes being proposed on these guys will not be passed on to the people that purchase their products or services?? Down the line the extra taxes being levied against them will be paid by you, the consumer. So in the end, what Pelosi is doing is driving up the costs of what consumers purchase. After this tax goes through these rich guys will still have the same question vexing them at the end of every year: "Should I get a new BMW or get a new Mercedes?"
And if they get real nasty with them, they will shelter their wealth & that wealth will not be circulating in the economy. Or they will just move out of the US. I don't think the rich are sweating this too much, but you should!

[maddog0802]

puhleeze, spare me the 'poor little rich man' crap. we should not offend the rich or they will "shelter their wealth"? what do you think 'tax shelter' means? I guess you still beleive in all that failed trickle-down GOP drivel. The rich have ALWAYS sheltered their wealth, it's that and greed that got them where they are. Gordon Gecko: "greed works"...yeah, like AIG's greed, Bank of America's greed, yeah that worked out real well for our economy now didn't it?!?

[Stop_the_crying]

Sounds good to me. Who better to tax than those that have raped the system for years. Who better to tax than those that can afford it. When we were flush, Willys term, the red states brought fourth the big ugly monster of government running the health care system. So be it. We could have had it paid for. Now we try to do it again and we can't raise taxes in a recession. Those gready Doctors and Hospitals and Insurance companys are getting rich. Tax them so we can have health care. Lets bring down the hughmungus expenses they charge. Let good old capitalizism drive down the expenses. If you charge to much then we will go elsewhere. Lets get real about the worth of one persons labor.

[tautomer]

Notice that Pelosi never proposes that the people who will actually benefit pay for what they consume. She always seems to want other people to pay for services consumed by people who vote for her. LOL

[govwatch2]

Doesn't she know that millionaires only pay taxes voluntarily, especially the higher earners. Just look at Goldman Sachs. It earned 2.2 billion and paid zero taxes.

[khafara]

Six of every ten bankruptcy filings is due to medical bills -- and most of these people had medical insurance:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/05/earlyshow/health/main5064981.shtml

"Early Show national correspondent Hattie Kauffman reports the study says getting sick is a factor in 62 percent of personal bankruptcies -- an increase from just eight percent in 1981. And among those who filed for bankruptcy, 75 percent reported having some type of medical insurance. But The Washington Post says people in bankruptcy with insurance were nearly $18,000 in the red. And those without insurance had an average of almost $27,000 in medical debt."


There is a cure, and it's current House bill HR 3200. Robert Reich describes why: From http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/07/16/tax_the_wealthy/ :
According to the most recent data (for 2007), the best-off 1 percent of American households take home about 20 percent of total income -- the highest percentage since 1928. Yes, I know: Critics will charge that these are the very people who invest, innovate and hire, and thereby keep the economy going. So raising their taxes will burden the economy and thereby hurt everyone, including those who are supposed to be helped.

But there's no reason to suppose that taking a tiny sliver of the incomes of the top 1 percent will reduce all that much of their ardor to invest, innovate and hire in the future. Yet if this tiny sliver means affordable healthcare for a far larger number of Americans, who will be able to get regular checkups and thereby stay healthy and productive, the positive effect on the American economy is likely to be far greater.

[drsuz]

Pelosi Seeks "Millionaire's Tax"

Yep and we will make sure the IRS knocks on hers, Frank's, Reid's, Kennedy's and Obama's door first to personally collect every single penny...

[khafara]

They'll do better than your racist heroes Limbaugh and Michael (Savage) Weiner. Meanwhile, have a taste of reality: http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2009/07/03/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/doc4a4da3dae3b1b502855688.txt

[tautomer]

Trouble is those folks derive the bulk of their income under the table. I would doubt Pelosi or Reid declare more than about 15 cents on every dollar the collect.

[actornaught]

by tautomer July 20, 2009 6:18 PM EDT

Source? Or just yappin' from uranus?

[cpqdk07191969]

Pelosi will add a loophole for millionaires who own their own private jets.

The bigger the jet, the bigger the tax break.

[drsuz]

She doesn't have a Jet..She has the USAF at her disposal as well as the globe trotting Obama clan.

[thomas19441948]

Raise the minimum wage, over tax the wealthy, raise taxes for the working man. When no body is working because all the jobs are gone, who will pay taxes then???
Take all the profits from the doctors and hospitals, then see what quality of health care you will be getting.
Let the illegals draw money from the social security system that they never paid into and have access to free health care.

Makes you wonder who is running this country!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!