WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said there is “no reason to wait” to keep the Bush-era tax cuts in place for families with incomes under $250,000 per year, since there will be “plenty” of other policies to argue with Congress about in his next term.
“Let’s keep taxes low for 98 percent of Americans, and we can argue about the other 2 percent. Let’s keep taxes low for the 97 percent of small business owners, and we can argue about the other 3 percent. If Congress sends me a clean bill extending the tax cuts on the first $250,000 of every family’s income, I will sign it right away. … There’s no reason to wait,” Obama said at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington on Friday.
“We’re saying nobody’s income taxes go up on the first $250,000 of their income. So even somebody who makes more than $250,000 is still getting a tax break on their first $250.000. You understand? Even somebody who’s worth $200 million — on that first $250,000 they’re still paying lower taxes.” (RELATED: Pelosi: If you’re making ‘over $250,000, you don’t get the pie sweetened for you’ [VIDEO])
“It’s the right thing to do,” Obama continued. “It’s the smart thing to do. It would be good for the economy, and most importantly, it would be good for your families. So we’re going to have plenty to argue about in the next three months, and probably in the next five years. This shouldn’t be one of those things we argue about.”
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a one-year extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for every income bracket this week.