Will House Dems Double Back and Call for More Job-Destroying Tax Hikes?

September 19, 2011

FYI, a similar version of this release below went out to the following districts: Jason Altmire (PA-04), John Barrow (GA-12), Sanford Bishop (GA-02), Tim Bishop (NY-01), Leonard Boswell (IA-03), Bruce Braley (IA-01), Lois Capps (CA-23), Dennis Cardoza (CA-18), Russ Carnahan (MO-03), Kathy Castor (FL-11), Ben Chandler (KY-06), David Cicilline (RI-01), Gerry Connolly (VA-11), Jim Cooper (TN-05), Jim Costa (CA-20), Jerry Costello (IL-12), Mark Critz (PA-12), Henry Cuellar (TX-28), Peter DeFazio (OR-04), Raul Grijalva (AZ-07), Brian Higgins (NY-27), Jim Himes (CT-04), Ruben Hinojosa (TX-15), Kathy Hochul (NY-26), Tim Holden (PA-17), Rush Holt (NJ-12), Steve Israel (NY-02), Bill Keating (MA-10), Ron Kind (WI-03), Larry Kissell (NC-08), Rick Larsen (WA-02), David Loebsack (IA-02), Jim Matheson (UT-02), Carolyn McCarthy (NY-04), Mike McIntyre (NC-07), Jerry McNerney (CA-11), Michael Michaud (ME-02), Brad Miller (NC-13), Bill Owens (NY-23), Frank Pallone (NJ-06), Ed Perlmutter (CO-07), Gary Peters (MI-09), Collin Peterson (MN-07), Chellie Pingree (ME-01), David Price (NC-04), Nick Rahall (WV-03), Loretta Sanchez (CA-47), Kurt Schrader (OR-05), Heath Shuler (NC-11), Adam Smith (WA-09), Betty Sutton (OH-13), John Tierney (MA-06), Niki Tsongas (MA-05), Pete Visclosky (IN-01), Tim Walz (MN-01), John Yarmuth (KY-03)

Will Kissell Double Back and Call for More Job-Destroying Tax Hikes?
President Obama Proposes Job-Crushing Tax Hikes Today Despite Speaking Out Against Them in 2009

Washington — North Carolina Democrat Larry Kissell will have to again decide on whether to support another plan from President Obama to raise taxes during a bad economy to pay for more failed stimulus spending. Now that President Obama has revealed the Democrats’ proposal today to pay for their second round of wasteful stimulus after the first plan’s failure, it should be noted that the President himself spoke out against raising taxes during a bad economy in 2009, and the situation has only gotten worse since. Will Kissell join President Obama’s plan to raise taxes during a bad economy to pay for even more wasteful stimulus spending?

“If Larry Kissell joins President Obama in calling for higher taxes during a bad economy, he will only make it worse for middle-class families in North Carolina who are looking for economic growth and job-creation,” said NRCC Communications Director Paul Lindsay. “President Obama himself said raising taxes during a bad economy will destroy jobs and stifle growth, but that is exactly what Kissell and his Democrat colleagues want to do to pay for even more of their failed stimulus spending.”

In August 2009, when the economy was actually in a better state than it is today, President Obama explained why raising any taxes would make matters worse:

“…[T]he last thing you want to do is raise taxes in the middle of a recession because that would just suck up – take more demand out of the economy and put business further in a hole.” (Stephen F. Hayes, “Obama vs. Obama,” The Weekly Standard‘s Blog, 7/11/11)

And hikes like these have only found bipartisan opposition, like when the Democrat-run Senate overwhelmingly opposed a similar proposal last year:

“Senate lawmakers then defeated a separate attempt by a vote of 53-37 to raise the threshold for middle-class tax cuts to $1 million and then extend that tax level permanently.” (Corey Boles, “Obama Signals Openness to a Tax-Cut Deal,” The Wall Street Journal, 12/6/10)

Larry Kissell’s Democrat leaders and President Obama seem intent on ignoring their own advice and raising taxes even higher during a bad economy, which will only make matters worse for middle-class families in North Carolina looking for jobs. If Kissell joins President Obama’s calls to hike taxes in order to pay for more failed stimulus, he would be taking up an idea even the Democrat-controlled Senate rejected last year.

Will House Dems Double Back and Call for More Job-Destroying Tax Hikes? http://ow.ly/6ym7K #madeinwdc

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