Hurt blasts Perriello on tax cuts issue

With the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts set to expire this year, 5th District Republican challenger Robert Hurt blasted freshman Democrat Rep. Tom Perriello on Wednesday for supporting the eventual expiration of those tax cuts.

President Barack Obama wants to extend the tax cuts for the middle class, but let the cuts expire for those making more than $200,000 a year — or more than $250,000 for couples.

The Washington Post reported that during an event Wednesday, Perriello and fellow Virginia freshman Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-11th District, disagreed about extending the tax cuts for the wealthy. Connolly supports extending the cuts, while Perriello said otherwise, citing deficit concerns.

“I think there’s an argument for at least temporarily extending the working-class and middle-class tax cuts, for the same logic of the stimulus,” The Post quoted Perriello as saying. “I think at the higher end, the logic is not there, particularly given that we have a medium- and long-term very serious deficit concern. I think reasonable people can disagree on this.”

Hurt’s campaign jumped on Perriello’s comments Wednesday afternoon, attacking him for “call(ing) for middle-class tax hike.”

“If Rep. Perriello thinks we should just extend the middle-class tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 only ‘temporarily,’” Hurt’s campaign manager, Sean Harrison, said a news release, “what year would be best to let them expire and thus force the middle class to pay more in income taxes? 2012? 2013? 2014? 2015?”

Perriello’s press secretary, Jessica Barba, said in an e-mail to the Danville Register & Bee that Perriello supported letting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire, putting that revenue toward deficit reduction. Perriello supports extending the tax cuts for the middle class now, Barba said, “because of the fragile state of the economy.”

“Tom has consistently supported tax relief for the middle class,” she said, “not only by clearly stating his support for extending middle-class tax cuts but also by voting for the largest middle-class tax cut in American history, which has benefited 98 percent of Virginia families.”

Barba was referring to the “Making Work Pay” legislation, introduced in April 2009 as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which reduced federal income taxes for the middle class.

According to 2006-08 Census data, 2.3 percent of 5th District residents make more than $200,000 in income and benefits annually. In Danville, 1.9 percent makes that much — or 370 people. And in Pittsylvania County, less than 1 percent — or 238 people — make more than $200,000.

Hurt, who faced much criticism for his 2004 vote in the Virginia General Assembly in favor of a $1.4 billion tax increase, has said he pledges to permanently extend the Bush tax cuts across the board, including for the wealthy.

According to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, extending the cuts would add more than $1.4 trillion to the deficit in the next 10 years. Perriello’s campaign manager, Lise Clavel, criticized Hurt for protecting tax breaks for the wealthy that would add nearly $700 billion to the deficit, but Harrison shot back.

“The man who voted for a trillion dollars in new debt is now all of the sudden worried about the deficit?” Harrison said. “That’s nothing more than a smoke screen.”

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