Thread: Obama says he'll tax the rich, roll back Bush cuts and aid middle class

Let the games begin!

Obama says he'll tax the rich, roll back Bush cuts and aid middle class

BY KENNETH R. BAZINET
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

Sunday, November 9th 2008, 12:54 AM

CHICAGO - For the rich, the party is over - as promised.

Despite speculation to the contrary, President-elect Barack Obama will act on his campaign promise and roll back the Bush administration's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, an Obama senior adviser told The Daily News.

The Obama camp rejected the overnight analysis by some pundits who speculated the language at his first news conference Friday suggested the President-elect was backing away from his tax plans.



"No change to the tax plan - at all," the aide said.

Obama plans to raise taxes on the wealthy by asking the Democratic-controlled Congress to allow President Bush's tax cuts to expire at the end of 2010. When they expire, it could pump in about $72 billion a year toward balancing the budget, according to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

The President-elect also will move quickly with his promised middle-class tax cut, even before the taxes on the rich expire, top Obama and congressional aides confirmed Saturday.



"In the campaign, Barack Obama proposed tax cuts for middle-class families as part of an overall plan that is a pro-growth, pro-jobs net tax cut," Obama senior adviser Stephanie Cutter told The News. "His views on how to get the economy growing have not changed."

And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) plans to get the permanent middle-class tax cuts passed and in Obama's hands in early 2009, Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly confirmed.

Obama promised yesterday in a weekly radio address "to hit the ground running" to tackle the nation's economic woes. In the interim, he is urging President Bush to extend unemployment benefits, increase food stamps and approve a construction jobs bill to stimulate the economy.



Meanwhile, Obama Saturday spoke to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and to Polish President Lech Kaczynski.

A Kremlin statement said the two leaders believe an "early bilateral meeting" should be arranged.

A Bush administration plan for setting up a missile shield in Poland has been a sore point with the Kremlin and has served as another dent in Russia's battered relationship with the U.S.

Obama foreign policy adviser Denis McDonough said yesterday that Obama had "a good conversation" with Kaczynski about the American-Polish alliance but that Obama had made no commitment on the missile shield plan.

"His position is as it was throughout the campaign: that he supports deploying a missile defense system when the technology is proved to be workable," McDonough said.

kbazinet@nydailynews.com

Originally Posted by ALBOB

Because about 70% of voting Americans bought it as the greatest new thing since sliced bread?

I have not seen polling data stating 70% of Americans bought it as the greatest thing since sliced bread.

I don't think the tax issue was a factor in the election but I haven't seen the data.

There are many more problems facing the US and they are very big problems.

Much more important than even discussing taxes.

The US economy is on pair of train tracks that will crash into a mountain.

Does anybody know what I'm referring to.