Wealthiest Americans To Keep Bush Tax Cuts Under Compromise
El Pasoan Evan Karam says to him, it just makes business sense to extend the Bush-era tax cuts to everybody.
Karam’s family runs Kb Realty, a local real estate development firm.
“The wealthy are the ones that really create the jobs,” he told ABC-7.
That’s been the same argument coming from many Republicans on Capitol Hill.
Brushing past Democratic opposition, President Barack Obama announced agreement with Republicans Monday night on a plan to extend expiring income tax cuts for all Americans, renew jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed and grant a one-year reduction in Social Security taxes.
The emerging agreement also includes tax breaks for businesses that the president said would contribute to the economy’s recovery from the worst recession in eight decades.
Obama’s announcement marked a dramatic reversal of his long-held insistence, originally laid out in his 2008 campaign, that tax cuts should only be extended at incomes up to $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples.
He explained his about-face by saying that he still opposed the move and noted the agreement called for a temporary, two-year extension of cuts at all income levels, not the permanent renewal that Republicans have long sought.
For months, Democrats have repeatedly raised objections to including the upper-income in any plan to extend tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 when George W. Bush was president.
The Democratic-controlled House recently passed legislation to let the cuts lapse on incomes over $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples.
On Saturday, Republicans blocked an attempt by Senate Democrats to do the same.
If Monday’s compromise holds, the average U.S. household with an income of $49,777 will continue to keep its tax cut of $2,142.
The average household income in El Paso is $33,103 with a tax cut equaling about $1,608 for a married couple with two children.
According to 2006 census figures, only 1.44% of El Paso households earn more than $200,000 a year.
