Source: Lori Montgomery / The Washington Post
Even as they hammer Democrats for running up record budget deficits, Senate Republicans are rolling out a plan to permanently extend an array of expiring tax breaks that would deprive the Treasury of more than $4 trillion over the next decade, nearly doubling projected deficits over that period unless dramatic spending cuts are made.
The measure, introduced by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) this week, would permanently extend the George W. Bush-era income tax cuts that benefit virtually every U.S. taxpayer, rein in the alternative minimum tax and limit the estate tax to estates worth more than $5 million for individuals or $10 million for couples.
Aides to McConnell said they have yet to receive a cost estimate for the measure. But the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently forecast that a similar, slightly more expensive package that includes a full repeal of the estate tax would force the nation to borrow an additional $3.9 trillion over the next decade and increase interest payments on the national debt by $950 billion. That’s more than four times the projected deficit impact of President Obama’s health-care overhaul and stimulus package combined.
“We have a spending problem. We spend too much. We don’t have a taxing problem. We don’t tax too little,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday. “And if we want to begin to get ourselves out of this economic trough that we’re in, the only way to do that is to grow the private sector.”
To read this article in its entirety visit The Washington Post.
Sphere: Related Content
Related Posts
Source: Tami Luhby / CNN Money
New York - Toddlers in Yonkers, N.Y., may no longer be able to attend pre-K. ...
READ MORE
Source: Charles Riley / CNN Money
President Obama will march out of the White House on Monday morning and make his ...
READ MORE
Source: Tami Luhby / CNN Money
New York - There will be lots more state workers joining the unemployment line this ...
READ MORE
Source: Tami Luhby / CNN Money
The Golden State and its new governor, Jerry Brown, are facing a $25 billion shortfall ...
READ MORE
Source: AP / CBS News
Republican leaders, ever more confident of their chances of winning control of the House and ...
READ MORE
Roland Martin and the Washington Watch roundtable debate if the stimulus package work and where are the jobs.
WATCH: Did The ...
READ MORE
Source: AP / CBS News
Vowing to find new ways to stimulate the sputtering economy, President Obama will call for ...
READ MORE
Source: Tami Luhby / CNN Money
Cash-strapped states are one signature away from getting $26 billion in federal funds to shore ...
READ MORE
Source: Lori Montgomery and Brady Dennis / The Washington Post
The Senate effectively rejected a slimmed-down package of jobless ...
READ MORE
Source: David Cho, Brady Dennis and Scott Wilson / The Washington Post
The battle over reshaping the country's financial regulation escalated ...
READ MORE
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Budget Hits New York Schools
President Obama To Address Business Lobby
Governors Put State Jobs On The Chopping block
California Budget: $25 Billion Dilemma For Gov. Jerry
GOP Eyes $100B In Post-Election Spending Cuts
Did The Stimulus Work And Where Are The
Obama To Launch New $50B Jobs Initiative
House Gives Needy States $26 Billion For Medicaid,
Jobs Bill Blocked in Senate
Obama calls together congressional leaders in push for
