Senate Dem leader: We’re taking the middle class hostage
Let it be noted that the first “hostage taker” reference in this year’s debate over extending the current income-tax rates should be applied to Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, who made clear in a speech Monday at the Brookings Institution that she and other Democrats will make the middle class pay if they can’t raise taxes on “the rich.”
Murray is the fifth-ranking Senate Democrat, so I take her remarks seriously.
Here are the first two “key excerpts” from the speech as listed on a press release from Murray’s office (these and the entire speech are available here):
… if Republicans won’t work with us on a balanced approach, we are not going to get a deal. Because I feel very strongly that we simply cannot allow middle class families and the most vulnerable Americans to bear this burden alone.
and
So if we can’t get a good deal, a balanced deal that calls on the wealthy to pay their fair share, then I will absolutely continue this debate into 2013 rather than lock in a long-term deal this year that throws middle class families under the bus. And I think my party, and the American people, will support that.
Got that? Murray and her party don’t want the middle class to get thrown under the bus alone, but they are perfectly willing to throw the middle class under the bus so long as “the wealthy” are down there, too. That, in their view, is better than the status quo.
Before sticking to that position, Murray might want to brush up on recent evidence about what the American people will support (note in particular the breakdowns for groups such as 18-to-29-year-olds, Latinos and those earning less than $50,000 a year).
– By Kyle Wingfield
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161 comments Add your comment
md
July 18th, 2012
5:47 pm
“If the Republicans choose that course I suspect they shall pay dearly…as do they…”
Depends on how the argument is framed…….the dems might not fair too well if it becomes “the dems are refusing to extend the cuts for everybody so they are in favor of raising taxes”
Which is worse, raising just the “rich” or raising everybodys? People in general tend to worry about their own wallet. If the dems hold out then it will be the dems that raised taxes.
Perception is a tricky thing………..
md
July 18th, 2012
5:48 pm
“I wish it was that simple, md. Somehow I don’t think the IRS is going to be giving me any breaks.”
One would think that true of DOJ as well……..but they got their marching orders. I see no reason the IRS can’t get similar orders………
sirwinston
July 18th, 2012
5:50 pm
The middle class has been held hostage for as long as I have known anything about being “middle-class” which is a step from being upper class. Now, I am not in that arena and don’t want to be either. But the real truth is (those of us) who want to be stamped in any of those names. It don’t make us any better, it don’t make us free from paying taxes; it don’t even know us by name. What it does do is make us pay more to support the rich. Who care’s about our nice cars, homes, and all of the material things we have in to day’s life….people just need to live and support their families. I don’t care who you are, what you have, or where you live how big your house is….you are nothing but a human being like the rest of us. What we all need to do is helping one and other because in the end, one day, you might need help and remember this, people don’t forget! Let us erase the middle class and upper class because we know on the other side of that door, you are a step away from being poor.
JD
July 18th, 2012
6:00 pm
The Republicans were gonna kill us anyway…
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward--Again)
July 18th, 2012
6:04 pm
What is “balanced” about increasing taxes on the only folks who are paying them?
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
July 18th, 2012
6:08 pm
People think that because I am an African-American woman I am supposed to vote for Obama, she said. Well, I have been an African-American woman for a long time, and I’m not voting for him. 23 million Americans are out of work and incomes are falling. I’m working hard, Obama isn’t. He doesn’t know what hard work is. Her husband suffers from ALS, and she is her family’s sole support. I need Mitt Romney, she said. Hope and change? I’m hoping for a change.”
That’s what I’m talking about.
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
July 18th, 2012
6:09 pm
Do all of you on here that want the Obama Tax Cut Extension to expire realize what it is going to do to the economy? If the middle class has to give up $5-600 more dollars of their income, retail sales are going to plummet yet again. Even if you only raise taxes on the “rich”, you are going to tank the economy.
The top 5% pay 64% of all federal income tax now. That means 95% of Americans only pay 36% of the income taxes. This fairness push does little to eliminate the debt/deficit, but is just about to kill the golden goose.
TruthBe
July 18th, 2012
6:16 pm
We need a complete overhaul of the tax code. We need to get rid of the IRS also. But Obama isn’t the right president for this because Obama doesn’t believe in capitalism or free markets. Obama is a true communist and has always been one. He just fooled most of you. We need a flat tax across the board with no increases allowed by congress or the states. Example 10% gross on your entire income.
That way no cheating or tax breaks needed. It would be a fair and simple way to run the country. Stop ALL wasteful spending, foreign aid, foreign wars, subsidies, government grants or handouts, affirmative actions, welfare, food stamps, overseas bases, corruption by the Senators, Congress, and the Liar-in Charge Obama. Make it simple stupid easy period……… If you want it then pay for it yourself. Fire all the career corrupt politicians (democrat and republican) and stop all their pensions and healthcare. make them work like the rest of us. Get rid of obamacare.
md
July 18th, 2012
6:16 pm
“What is “balanced” about increasing taxes on the only folks who are paying them?”
Well…..somebody has to pay since the left keeps spending what we don’t have……and since that is the group that has it, by default they should pay.
Pretty sad that this country has lowered it’s overall character by dictating who does and doesn’t pay based solely on “because they have it”…….
The ultimate removal of choices and consequences from the national conversation………
saywhat?
July 18th, 2012
6:18 pm
People think because I am a middle aged white male, that I am supposed to vote for Romney . I have been a white male for a long time, and I’m not voting for him. Incomes were falling long before Obama came into office, and we were losing jobs, not gaining jobs before Obama came into office. Now we are gaining jobs. I’m working hard, have always worked hard, but Romney isn’t and never has. He doesn’t know what hard work is. Firing people, taking their pension fund money as profits for yourself and then stashing the money into swiss bank accounts does NOT qualify as “hard work”, no matter how many hours a day you do it. I need Mitt Romney like a hole in the head. THATS what I”M talking about.
JDW
July 18th, 2012
6:23 pm
@md…”Perception is a tricky thing………..”
Indeed! However, I think and polls seem to bear out, that the majority will blame the Republicans if there is a comprimise offer on the table…and they will be right. You can only act like a spoiled child for so long.
saywhat?
July 18th, 2012
6:25 pm
“Pretty sad that this country has lowered it’s overall character by dictating who does and doesn’t pay based solely on “because they have it”…….”
____________________________________________________________
You are right. It makes so much more sense and moral courage to demand that people with the least amount of money bear a larger financial burden to run the government.
I find it far sadder that this country has lowered its overall character by dictating who does and doesn’t receive assistance based solely on “well, I don’t need it, so nobody else should get it”.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
July 18th, 2012
6:31 pm
Outsourced!
The Amonix solar manufacturing plant in North Las Vegas, heavily financed under an Obama administration energy initiative, has closed its 214,000-square-foot facility 14 months after it opened.
Maybe Bain will come and rescue it?
md
July 18th, 2012
6:32 pm
“You can only act like a spoiled child for so long.”
When the shoe was on the other foot, and the gop was trying to reform Fannie/Freddie with the dnc obstructing all the way, the crap hit the fan. Folks don’t look at the details, they look at who was in control……….and currently, that’s the dems.
Ray
July 18th, 2012
6:35 pm
All this gaming playing is the result of the the pledge Grover Norquist pushes on all GOP hopefuls.
The Bush tax cuts will expire, and anything after that point can be declared a new tax cut. OKAY. Don’t know who is really being fooled.
md
July 18th, 2012
6:38 pm
“You are right. It makes so much more sense and moral courage to demand that people with the least amount of money bear a larger financial burden to run the government.
I find it far sadder that this country has lowered its overall character by dictating who does and doesn’t receive assistance based solely on “well, I don’t need it, so nobody else should get it”.”
And there’s that big broad brush some like to use when painting…..Walmart does sell smaller ones.
When 50% of the population is paying no income tax, and 50% of the population is not in poverty, someone has no skin in the game……………basic math.
Ga applies a minimum tax on corporations…….as an example, a real estate agent that has incorporated is no longer doing business as an agent but wants to keep the corp open for later use, Ga charges a flat $10……….this is an example of “skin in the game”.
All you blowhards that say all the “poor” can’t pay anything are full of baloney…….
Love me some Reagan
July 18th, 2012
6:39 pm
Mitt Romney continued his attack on President Obama for recent remarks suggesting public investments help build businesses Wednesday, then all but admitted he agreed with Obama’s underlying point.
Romney, speaking in Ohio, said Obama’s speech last week “reveals what he thinks about our country, about our people, about free enterprise, about freedom, about individual initiative.”
“I just want to say it exactly as he said it,” Romney said. “Speaking about small business and businesses of all kind, he said this: ‘If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.’”
Romney conveniently ignored the sentences immediately before and after Obama’s quote, which made clear the president’s line referred to building public infrastructure like roads, bridges and the Internet that businesses utilize to their benefit. But Romney didn’t stop there: As he tried to twist the knife on Obama, he essentially made the president’s argument for him.
After exhorting business owners to stand up and be recognized, Romney said:
I know that you recognize a lot of people help you in a business. Perhaps the banks, the investors. There’s no question your mom and dad, your school teachers, the people that provide roads, the fire, the police. A lot of people help. But let me ask you this, did you build your business? If you did, raise your hand. Take that, Mr. President.
md
July 18th, 2012
6:45 pm
Love me…..the difference that you seem to be missing, is Obama seems to imply that it is the benevolent gov’t that provides all those things as the gov’t built it all as a collective. The part you are missing is that businesses first gave gov’t the money to do what it did…….and those businesses were run by individuals as well…………
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
July 18th, 2012
6:48 pm
The nitwits don’t care if they wreck the economy, as long as they get to stick it to the folks who pay the bills…I mean, the evil rich.
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
July 18th, 2012
7:17 pm
For the First Time, Canadians Now Richer Than Americans
The average Canadian household is worth about $40,000 more than their American counterparts
By MEG HANDLEY
————————————–
Obozo’s thinking that he would have preferred it was Mexico, but to him it’s progress.
Obozo hates America. And if you work for a living, he hates YOU.
@@
July 18th, 2012
7:25 pm
tump…tump…tump
is this thing still on?
saywhat?
July 18th, 2012
7:33 pm
“When 50% of the population is paying no income tax, and 50% of the population is not in poverty, someone has no skin in the game……………basic math.”
__________________________________________________________
I would bet that 50% of the population don’t pay capital gains taxes either. So what? Income taxes aren’t special. A tax is a tax. Money is money regardless of its source. If a larger percent of one’s tax burden comes from sales taxes, or the payroll tax, its still a contribution to the running of government. The overall tax burden as a percentage of NONDISPOSABLE income remains higher on the working poor and lower middle class. Trying to get more from them, while at the same time trying to cut services to the very same people, further DECREASING their DISPOSABLE income, all so we can afford to cut taxes and INCREASE the disposable incomes of high income people is an illogical, and depraved line of thinking.
Rather than increase taxes on people who make the least amount of money, why not devise ways to encourage the oh so worshipped “job creators” to actually pay people what they are worth, i.e. give them a fair share of the profits associated with their increased productivity of the past 40 years? That will yield far more “skin in the game” through taxes paid than trying to squeeze blood from a turnip.
MarkV
July 18th, 2012
7:34 pm
The President was absolutely correct in what he said about a business using infrastructure it has not built, and the Republicans keep lying about what he said.
md
July 18th, 2012
7:39 pm
“The President was absolutely correct in what he said about a business using infrastructure it has not built”
And once again mark…it was businesses that built that infrastructure…………..
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
July 18th, 2012
7:40 pm
saywhat: The overall tax burden as a percentage of NONDISPOSABLE income remains higher on the working poor and lower middle class.
——————————
False. I’ve posted the numbers here before.
The fact is that the higher one’s income, the higher percentage in total federal taxes one pays.
Deal with it.
Moderate Line
July 18th, 2012
7:42 pm
Got that? Murray and her party don’t want the middle class to get thrown under the bus alone, but they are perfectly willing to throw the middle class under the bus so long as “the wealthy” are down there, too. That, in their view, is better than the status quo.
++++
And the Republicans are willing to through the middle class under the bus if the rich do not maintain their tax cuts. I think you have to be a partisan to buy your argument.
md
July 18th, 2012
7:43 pm
“If a larger percent of one’s tax burden comes from sales taxes, or the payroll tax, its still a contribution to the running of government.”
And once again, everybody pays those too at one time or another……….
The point you seem to be missing is the effect choices has on the entire equation…….we keep hearing about “fair share”, but how exactly is it fair for one to choose the simple life using all that is afforded everyone yet ask others that choose to make a little more to pay for it??
Just saying..
July 18th, 2012
7:45 pm
Barry/I Report/Tib/Dusty/@@:
Aren’t ya proud to welcome TruthBe to your ranks?
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
July 18th, 2012
7:48 pm
And you, Just saying, are kindred spirits with the likes of Trashman and Gm?
What a proud day for you!
Sheila
July 18th, 2012
7:48 pm
Dems will do ANYTHING to raise taxes. It’s all the know.
saywhat?
July 18th, 2012
7:48 pm
“The fact is that the higher one’s income, the higher percentage in total federal taxes one pays.”
______________________________________
Gee, that’s certainly swell, but it has absolutely nothing to do with tax burden as a percentage of NONDISPOSABLE income. Please enlighten me as to what income level one should have to attain in order to be deserving of a modest disposable income, without Republicans wanting to tax it all away from you so the rich can have more tax cuts.
Just saying..
July 18th, 2012
7:50 pm
Bets on who’ll be shown the door first?
saywhat?
July 18th, 2012
7:50 pm
that should be “percentage of DISPOSABLE income”
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
July 18th, 2012
7:51 pm
ssshhhhhhhhh, nobody tell Kyle….
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
July 18th, 2012
7:52 pm
Dems don’t care if they throw their own voters under the bus. They know that their parasite base doesn’t pay income taxes in the first place, and will be just thrilled knowing that people who are better than they are going to be paying more.
Just saying..
July 18th, 2012
7:52 pm
ssshhhhhhhhh, nobody tell Kyle….
Now THAT’s funny!
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
July 18th, 2012
7:54 pm
What disposable income? The slothful spend all their income on necessities (and some for booze and drugs, of course).
saywhat?
July 18th, 2012
7:55 pm
Just saying..
July 18th, 2012
7:50 pm
Bets on who’ll be shown the door first?
__________________________________________
I’m guessing maybe the one who’s parents, grandparents and great grandparents appear to have all been VERY closely related.
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
July 18th, 2012
7:59 pm
50% don’t pay any income taxes. The meager amount they pay in payroll taxes will be dwarfed by what they take out in Social Security and Medicare benefits. Bottom line, they’re not paying their fair share.
saywhat?
July 18th, 2012
8:01 pm
Lil’ Barry Bailout – Vote American
July 18th, 2012
7:54 pm
What disposable income? The slothful spend all their income on necessities (and some for booze and drugs, of course).
_________________________________________________
That would explain ALOT of your posts. Thanks for enlightening me.
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
July 18th, 2012
8:04 pm
My pleasure!
@@
July 18th, 2012
8:13 pm
saywhat:
TruthBe? Appears to be part libertarian, part liberal:
STOP all foreign aid, foreign wars…
AND fiscally conservative: Stop ALL wasteful spending, subsidies
We need a flat tax across the board
I’m on board with the flat tax and subsidies thingy.
TruthBe is a mixed breed. I’m okay with that too.
A unique individual, to be sure.
saywhat?
July 18th, 2012
8:15 pm
@@, what makes you think I was referring to truthbe?
@@
July 18th, 2012
8:16 pm
My apologies. My 8:13 should be addressed to Just saying…
One of you needs to change your name. “Just saying…”
“saywhat”. Reads like you’re talking to each other.
@@
July 18th, 2012
8:17 pm
A minute too late, saywhat?
md
July 18th, 2012
8:20 pm
Who’s on third? No, Who’s on second……….
MarkV
July 18th, 2012
8:21 pm
md @7:39 pm
Not any particular business, which is what the President was talking about, and not only business.
Kyle Wingfield
July 18th, 2012
8:22 pm
All right, folks, that’s all for tonight. Comments are in moderation until tomorrow morning.
Ray
July 18th, 2012
8:22 pm
Dusty,
You are not well. If you care about the party you find a way to make your points and yet moderate your hatred. This election will be won by those able to attract those in the middle. You are scaring off good people with your harsh antics.
@@
July 18th, 2012
8:22 pm
saywhat? and Just saying… show up like a tag team in wrestling.