Senate Republicans Take a Stand Against Tax Hikes

Senate Republicans appear to be resolute in their stand against any tax hikes for Americans who make more than $250,000 per year.

"President Barack Obama's plan to raise taxes on wealthier people while preserving cuts for everyone else appears increasingly likely to founder before Election Day.

Senate GOP leaders declared on Monday that Republicans are, to a person, opposed to legislation that would extend only middle-class tax relief — which Obama has repeatedly promised to deliver — if Democrats follow through on plans to let tax rates rise for the wealthiest Americans. The GOP senators forcefully made their case one day after House Republican leader John Boehner suggested he might vote for Obama's plan if that ends up the only option.

Both Republicans and Democrats are using the looming expiration of Bush-era tax cuts as a defining battle in elections to determine control of Congress.

It would take numerous Democratic defectors to pass the Republicans' version — extending all the Bush tax cuts — or the issue could be left for a postelection congressional session if Republicans block the measure with a filibuster. Obama last week declined to say whether he would veto a bill that preserved the tax breaks for the wealthy.

On Sunday, Boehner said he would support renewing tax cuts for the middle class but not the wealthy if that was his only choice. Though Boehner was clear that he supports extending the full range of tax cuts, the White House jumped on his remarks as a possible change of heart."

There's simply no reason to raise taxes on anyone in the midst of a recession. Frankly, even if we weren't in the midst of a recession, the government's haul of each person's income and property in the form of taxes is already high enough and wouldn't warrant a further increase.

It's also interesting to note the media's portrayal of this issue as being about the "wealthy".

Sure, a sizable portion of those who make over $250,000 per year can probably be rightly characterized as "wealthy". But surely there are plenty of those who make that much who aren't "wealthy" in terms of the amount of assets they own less their own personal liabilities, due to a high-cost lifestyle, having just entered that income bracket for the first time, etc.

Anyway, what's wrong with treating Americans the same regardless of their income amount, by applying the same (low) percentage of tax on everyone's income?

Failing to do that suggests we are embracing at least one of Karl Marx's famous slogans, "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs".