Politics

Romney slams Obama tax plan

Neil Munro White House Correspondent
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Gov. Mitt Romney’s campaign preemptively slammed President Barack Obama on Monday for demanding another increase in federal taxes.

Obama is expected to use a media-grabbing Rose Garden speech July 9 to urge Congress to boost income taxes on people earning more than $250,000 a year.

Obama will likely frame the demand as a tax-cut for people earning less than $250,000, but his proposal would exclude higher-earners from another extension of the 2003 tax reform enacted by President George W. Bush.

Bush’s tax reform reduced tax rates across-the-board, and supporters argue it provided relatively more benefits to middle-class families than to the wealthiest taxpayers.

Obama position “will mean a tax increase for millions of families, job creators, and small businesses… it just proves again that the President doesn’t have a clue how to get America working again and help the middle class,” said a statement from Romney’s deputy spokesman, Andrea Saul.

“This is no surprise… the President has no plans for the economy, and his only solution is to raise taxes,” said Saul.

For example, said the statement, Obama’s health-care law boosts taxes by $500 billion. The law was upheld by a June 28 Supreme Court decision after Chief Justice John Roberts interpreted a critical section as a tax increase.

“Almost half a million fewer Americans are working today than the day Barack Obama took office, and we’ve just come through the worst job creation quarter in two years… [Romney] has a plan to permanently lower marginal rates, help middle-class Americans save and invest, and jumpstart economic growth and job creation” said the Romney statement.

Obama’s tax plan is likely designed to boost turnout by his base, which includes government workers, ethnic and sexual minorities, progressives and single women. Many members of his base pay little or no income taxes, but gain from taxpayer-funded federal programs.

Polls show Obama’s support has sagged amid record unemployment, national debt and federal deficits.

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