Budget Committee Dems Give Seal of Approval for Raising Taxes During a Recession

FYI, a version of the release below went out to the following districts: Tim Bishop (NY-01); Allen Boyd (FL-02); Gerry Connolly (VA-11); Rick Larsen (WA-02); John Spratt (SC-05); Niki Tsongas (MA-05); and John Yarmuth (KY-03).

Gerry Connolly Gives Seal of Approval for Raising Taxes During a Recession

Connolly Opposes Measure Telling His Party Not to Raise Taxes to Fund Government Healthcare Takeover

Washington- Gerry Connolly just signed off on his party’s plans to continue driving the economy into the ground when he voted against a provision in the House Budget Committee instructing his party bosses not to raise taxes during a recession in order to fund their government healthcare takeover (see vote here). Though President Obama has repeatedly pledged not to raise taxes on the middle class, the bill being pushed by Connolly’s party bosses is stuffed full of tax hikes that will affect Americans of all stripes:

“JCT [Joint Committee on Taxation] put out this handy PDF estimating the effects of the new tax rules included in the Senate health-care bill. The document shows how many different sources the Senate bill would draw on to pay for increasing the number of Americans with health insurance.

“We won’t repeat the whole list, but here’s how much revenue some of the provisions are estimated to generate over the next decade:

·         Tax on high-end health insurance plans: $149.1 billion

·         Capping flexible spending accounts at $2,500: $14.6 billion

·         Fees for drug makers: $22.2 billion

·         Fees for medical device makers: $19.3 billion

·         Fees for health insurance companies: $60.4 billion

·         Higher floor for deducting medical expenses: $15.2 billion

·         Higher payroll tax for top earners: $53.8 billion

·         Tax on cosmetic surgery: $5.8 billion” (Jacob Goldstein, “Listing the New Taxes in the Senate Health-Care Bill,” Wall Street Journal, 11/19/09)

“While American families are buried under mountains of debt from the Democrats’ runaway spending agenda, Gerry Connolly just green-lighted billions of dollars in tax hikes during a recession,” said NRCC Communications Director Ken Spain. “Taxpayers are looking for a change in course from the Democrats’ big-government spending addiction, but the healthcare takeover being rammed through Congress is just more of the same – higher taxes and more spending that stand in the way of economic recovery.”

How much longer will Gerry Connolly’s government spending spree continue before he realizes that Northern Virginia families simply can’t afford his party’s healthcare takeover agenda?

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