Washington, D.C.– U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor today regarding the President’s plan to impose even higher taxes on small businesses:
“Earlier this week, Senate Democrat leaders made clear to the American people where their priorities lie. And in case you’re wondering, the middle class came in pretty low on the list.
“At a moment when more Americans are signing up for disability than finding jobs, Democrats said they think it’s a good idea to drive the country off what economists are calling America’s fiscal cliff this coming January.
“You might call it Thelma and Louise economics– right off the cliff..
“But whatever you want to call it, Democrats are evidently so determined to raise taxes on American job creators that if we don’t let them do it, they’d actually welcome an economic calamity that could rock not only the American economy, but the global economy too.
“Needless to say, that isn’t a program for jobs or economic growth. It’s an ideological crusade.
“Following the President’s lead, Democrats are declaring ideological warfare. And the banner they’re marching under is emblazoned with a single word: fairness.
“Here’s the problem, ‘fairness’ turns out to be a lot like hope and change. You don’t know what it means until it’s put into practice. But one thing history, common sense, and basic economics tell us is that it doesn’t mean what Democrats say it does. Because when they say tax the rich, the middle class isn’t far behind.
“Just ask yourself: when was the last time a government program stuck to its original mission?
“Federal income taxes initially were only supposed to apply to those with taxable incomes of $500,000, equal to about $11.3 million in today’s dollars. And even then, the top rate was only 7 percent. Today, the federal income tax starts to pinch as soon as you earn a dollar more than $9,750.
“The Social Security tax started out at 2 percent. What’s more, Americans were told it would never rise above 6 percent. Yet today the Social Security tax stands at 12.4 percent, and all other things being equal it would likely have to rise above 20 percent to keep the program solvent.
“The Alternative Minimum Tax was designed to hit 155 households in 1969. Today, it threatens to hit nearly 30 million households at the end of this year.
“Obamacare was only supposed to tax ‘the rich.’ Yet now it turns out the very core of the bill includes a tax on the middle class. In my view, that particular deception turned out to be the difference between the law passing and not passing. And since it passed by a single vote, every single Democrat senator who supported it is responsible for not only the law itself — but the middle class tax hike at the heart of it.
“But the bottom line here is that a law we were told didn’t hit the middle class, does. Big time. And the same goes for the President’s latest proposal to raise taxes on those earning more than $200,000 a year. It may be aimed at the top two percent now, but just like every other program that’s supposedly aimed at the few, very quickly this tax increase will apply to the many. Even the senior Senator from New York has said this tax hike will hit a lot of people who aren’t ‘rich.’
“After all, the revenue from the Democrats’ tax increase will only cover 6 percent of next year’s projected budget deficit, So who’s expected to cover the rest? The middle class. That’s the fine print under every Democrat proposal: they say they’re coming after the rich, but the middle class is always next. And America’s small businesses are already on the line.
“That’s one reason Republicans are so adamantly opposed to these proposals.
“Yes, it’s a terrible idea to raise taxes in the middle of an economic downturn. Yes, government is already too big. Yes, Democrats have absolutely no more intention of using this new revenue for deficit reduction than they have in the past. Yes, the President’s latest proposal wouldn’t even raise enough money to fund the government for a week. And yes, we have no reason whatsoever to believe that the President wouldn’t continue his crony capitalist ways, spending that money on the pet projects of his political allies. But the larger point is this: not only is all of this terrible economics. It’s completely unfair.
“The American people shouldn’t be on the defense when it comes to keeping what they’ve earned. The President may think that those who’ve succeeded in life haven’t done so on their own. But anybody who’s ever turned a dream into a reality knows he’s wrong. They know the sacrifices they’ve made for their success. The hours of work. The time away from family. The constant worry about whether they’ll succeed. And those who have made it know that what’s really unfair is being told they have to now hand over even more to a President who’s done nothing to show he knows how to spend it.
“So Democrats may think it’s good politics to play Russian Roulette with the economy. They may think it helps their radical ideological goals for the country to go off the fiscal cliff at the end of the year. They may look down on any enterprise that isn’t controlled by the government. But nobody should even attempt to pretend it’s a good idea for the economy or for jobs or for middle class Americans.
“Because it isn’t. And that’s why Republicans think we should solve these problems now. That’s what I’ve been calling for all week, and it’s what I and my colleagues will continue to call for — until Senate Democrats realize we weren’t sent here to play politics. We were sent here to serve.”