Republicans Failed The Middle Class Again. No Payroll Tax Cuts For You

For the majority of people reading this post be prepared. Starting in January of 2012, your family will pay $1000.00 more a year because of what happened in Washington yesterday. Yesterday, the American people watched in amazement as two separate plans designed to help the middle class got defeated in the Senate.

Plan 1 was proposed by the Democrats. It required an extension of the payroll tax cuts that working families currently benefit from, but which is set to expire on December 31st. The plan was defeated by Republicans who objected to the way Democrats wanted to pay for the tax cuts – by slightly increasing the taxes on people making over 1 million dollars. Republican’s reasoning for defeating the plan was a claim that people making over $1 million were job creators, and they didn’t want to raise taxes on these people.

With the Democratic plan defeated, Republicans got a chance to offer their own plan to extend the payroll tax cuts. But the way they wanted to pay for the cuts was to continue a pay freeze on federal workers until 2015, and to eventually eliminate 10% of the federal work force.

With the economic benefits for the working middle class to have these payroll tax cuts extended past December 31st, the Republican plan was voted on and that too went down in defeat. The Republican proposal wasn’t defeated by Democrats, but by the very people who introduced the plan… Republicans!

The President, who has pushed Congress to approve the payroll tax cut extension called the vote “unacceptable,” and asked Republicans to “stop playing politics” with the American people.

Tonight, Senate Republicans chose to raise taxes on nearly 160 million hardworking Americans because they refused to ask a few hundred thousand millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share. They voted against a bill that would have not only extended the $1,000 tax cut for a typical family, but expanded that tax cut to put an extra $1,500 in their pockets next year, and given nearly six million small business owners new incentives to expand and hire. That is unacceptable. It makes absolutely no sense to raise taxes on the middle class at a time when so many are still trying to get back on their feet.

Now is not the time to put the economy and the security of the middle class at risk. Now is the time to rebuild an economy where hard work and responsibility pay off, and everybody has a chance to succeed. Now is the time to put country before party and work together on behalf of the American people. And I will continue to urge Congress to stop playing politics with the security of millions of American families and small business owners and get this done.

And the American people watch in amazement, as the Republicans in Congress continue to put the middle class on the chopping block, while they infinitely protect the top 1%, even when the 1% are asking, no, begging to pay more in taxes.

The American people currently pay 4.2% in payroll taxes. Because of Republican’s actions yesterday, the taxes will go up to 6.2% in January, which will cost the average family another $1000.00 a year.