Murray, Rossi clash on tax-cut renewal
Among the thorniest debates facing Congress when it returns to work next month is whether to extend the Bush-era tax cuts. It’s a dispute that’s echoed in Washington state’s U.S. Senate race between Democratic incumbent Sen. Patty Murray and Republican challenger Dino Rossi.
Among the thorniest debates facing Congress when it returns to work next month is whether to extend the Bush-era tax cuts.
It’s a dispute that’s echoed in Washington state’s competitive U.S. Senate race between Democratic incumbent Sen. Patty Murray and Republican challenger Dino Rossi.
Both candidates largely follow their party’s lead on the issue: Rossi wants all the tax cuts to remain in place for everyone. Murray says wealthy Americans can afford to pay higher taxes on their incomes and investments to help shrink the federal budget deficit.
If Congress does nothing, the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts will expire at the end of the year, returning rates to their higher 1990s levels. That’s a scenario that Rossi has played up on the campaign trail.
He’s pushed Murray to support permanent extension of all the tax cuts “to stop the largest tax increase in U.S. history,” saying working families “can’t afford to send more of their hard-earned money to Washington, D.C., to prop up the federal government’s overspending.”
The reality may not be so dramatic. For most Americans, federal income taxes wouldn’t change under what Democrats propose.
Murray said she favors President Obama’s plan to permanently extend lower tax rates for all but the wealthiest 2 to 3 percent of taxpayers — couples making more than $250,000 ($200,000 for individuals). The president has also proposed keeping in place higher tax deductions for dependent children, child-care tax credits and other tax savings largely aimed at the middle class.
The top income-tax rate would return to 39.6 percent under the president’s plan, up from the current 35 percent.
In Washington state, the higher income-tax rates would apply to about 74,000 families, the top 2.9 percent of households, according to Census Bureau estimates.
While tax increases are never popular, the federal government’s total taxes-and-other-revenue haul as a share of the U.S. economy is now at its lowest point since 1950, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.
Murray voted against the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, calling them irresponsible gifts to the wealthiest Americans. Given the current federal budget deficits, Murray said it makes even less sense to retain lower taxes for the highest-income earners.
“That’s the trickle-down theory of the past. As we know, it hasn’t worked out very well,” Murray said, pointing to the budget surplus of the Clinton years turning into huge budget deficits. For complete article click here.
-August 30, 2010
Jim Brunner
Seattle Times political reporter
