Geithner: Keeping Bush Tax Cuts "Irresponsible"
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Tuesday it would be "deeply irresponsible" for the Obama administration to support a wholesale extension of Bush era tax cuts, including breaks for the wealthy.
Geithner said in a nationally broadcast interview that President Barack Obama strongly believes those reductions should be retained for the "95 percent" of taxpayers with individual incomes under $200,000 a year and families below $250,000.
For the highest-income Americans, the administration would let the tax cuts put in place by President Bush in 2001 (which were set to expire this year) end on schedule.
The Center for American Progress, using data from the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Tax, estimates that keeping the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans could add $680 billion to the nation's debt over the next ten years.
Republicans have argued that all the Bush tax cuts should be extended or made permanent.
Geithner disagreed with accusations the administration has been hostile to Wall Street and the business community.
"The business community always wants their taxes lowered," Geithner said, calling that understandable.
He said he didn't know if Congress would act on the issue of the tax cut extension before the midterm elections this November, but that "it is the responsibility" of lawmakers to ensure that the issue doesn't fall victim to Capitol Hill gridlock.
Asked about former Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan's statement that he hadn't seen such animosity between Washington and Wall Street in decades, Geithner said Mr. Obama had a deep obligation "to fix what was broken. There was nobody here or across the country that would argue that our system worked."
Will Democrats Extend All the Bush Tax Cuts?
On CBS' "Early Show" this morning, Republican strategist Kevin Madden suggested that it could be a winning element of the GOP's campaign this fall: "Make it a choice of whether or not we want to raise taxes at a time where the economy is sluggish. Do we really want to send more money to Washington? Do we really want to grow the size of government? If we're going to stimulate the economy, then we have to give people the incentive to create jobs. And when you're raising taxes, that doesn't do that.
"So it's a very easy argument to simplify for a lot of voters in the midterm elections," Madden said.
Democratic strategist Tanya Acker, however, argued that keeping current tax rates for the wealthy is untenable.
"I think that it's an issue of math," Acker said. "My feeling on the Bush tax cuts at the outset was that we couldn't afford them then - no president in the history of United States of America has ever cut taxes in the middle of a war - and it seems that the folks on the GOP side seem only to be able to do math when they're talking about balancing budgets on the backs of working people. We simply can't afford these tax cuts right now. It's as simple as that."
© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Geithner said in a nationally broadcast interview that President Barack Obama strongly believes those reductions should be retained for the "95 percent" of taxpayers with individual incomes under $200,000 a year and families below $250,000.
For the highest-income Americans, the administration would let the tax cuts put in place by President Bush in 2001 (which were set to expire this year) end on schedule.
The Center for American Progress, using data from the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Tax, estimates that keeping the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans could add $680 billion to the nation's debt over the next ten years.
Republicans have argued that all the Bush tax cuts should be extended or made permanent.
Geithner disagreed with accusations the administration has been hostile to Wall Street and the business community.
"The business community always wants their taxes lowered," Geithner said, calling that understandable.
He said he didn't know if Congress would act on the issue of the tax cut extension before the midterm elections this November, but that "it is the responsibility" of lawmakers to ensure that the issue doesn't fall victim to Capitol Hill gridlock.
Asked about former Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan's statement that he hadn't seen such animosity between Washington and Wall Street in decades, Geithner said Mr. Obama had a deep obligation "to fix what was broken. There was nobody here or across the country that would argue that our system worked."
Will Democrats Extend All the Bush Tax Cuts?
On CBS' "Early Show" this morning, Republican strategist Kevin Madden suggested that it could be a winning element of the GOP's campaign this fall: "Make it a choice of whether or not we want to raise taxes at a time where the economy is sluggish. Do we really want to send more money to Washington? Do we really want to grow the size of government? If we're going to stimulate the economy, then we have to give people the incentive to create jobs. And when you're raising taxes, that doesn't do that.
"So it's a very easy argument to simplify for a lot of voters in the midterm elections," Madden said.
Democratic strategist Tanya Acker, however, argued that keeping current tax rates for the wealthy is untenable.
"I think that it's an issue of math," Acker said. "My feeling on the Bush tax cuts at the outset was that we couldn't afford them then - no president in the history of United States of America has ever cut taxes in the middle of a war - and it seems that the folks on the GOP side seem only to be able to do math when they're talking about balancing budgets on the backs of working people. We simply can't afford these tax cuts right now. It's as simple as that."
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If you look at the oil trade in the past year, the range has been between $70 to $85. Above $85 is dangerous for the shysters and may open up congressional hearings. Below $70 is a threat to themother earthers. Thru all this, WS shysters are laughing. Given their 20 times leverage (5 percent margin requirements) at the ICE and Nymex casinos, they are making out like bandits. Add to this, the similar gouging they do with other commodities ( base metals, rice, corn whet, you name it). The enemy is WS. Putin and amahdenijad have to do nothing. Amahdenijad must be the most pleased. He comes to NYC, insults the americans, and gets rewarded by WSshysters. Irony of ironies, the den of these thieves is just a block away from where thousands of Americans were martyred by those sympathetic to the likes af amahdenijad ( who benefits the most from the escalating gouging). Yet, the likes of the tea party allow themselves to be a tool for the gouging these shysters conitnue to perpetuate.
Withcongress adjourned, they have no fear.
The shysters in WS have raised the price of oil from $68(when bp was liquidating at the height of the spill crisis) to $81 yesterday. This is a tax of $12 per barrel or a drain to discretionary income of $216 million a day or $80 billion year.
It costs less than $10 per barrel to lift oil from the deepest oceans. This includes royalties of 30 percent in most countries. In the USA the American public are patsies. At most the shysters pay 16 percent royalties. Cost of production I. The gulf is less than $8 per barrel. In Saudi it is more like $3 per barrel. WS is laughing. From The day congress adjourned for the elections, they have rwewarded themselves with an increase of $10 per barrel. They have no fear nor feelings for anyone at this point. Bernanke and Obama are paries to this gouging trade. The tea party are fools. They are being laughed at by these shysters. Oil at $30 per barrel is very profitable for the oil companies. Do not get me wrong, they are not responsible for the gouging. WS shysters on the ICE and Nymex casinos are responsible together with the Feds and obama's regulators. The cost to discretionary income is at least $350 billion a year. If you believe in a multiplier effect, this is a hit of at least a trillion to the economy every year.
Leaving tax cuts in place does nothing to the deficit. Continuing to increase spending does.
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The wealthy owe their society a disproportional amount for their success. Contrary to what the Captains of Industry will tell you, they are not self sufficient; they require an army of employees to build their empire, their homes and wipe their bums.
This tax cheat Geithner is just doing his master's bidding. President Obama wants to expand the federal government, and he does not care that it is at the expense of businesses and individual taxpayers. It is his Progressive dream to have a huge empowered centralized government. I personally don't want to see the United States go the way of Cuba or Venezuela - or even Europe.
The Dems can't just waste and waste, and waste, and not have it come home to roost!