Looking to ease the sting of tax day, President Barack Obama on Wednesday touted his tax cuts for 95 percent of Americans — but Republicans warned of a massive tax bill yet to come.
“We’ve passed tax cuts that will help our economy grow,” Obama said at an event in the Eisenhower Office Building. “We’ve made a clear promise that families that earn less than $250,000 a year will not see their taxes increase by a single dime.”
As last-minute tax filers scrambled to meet the annual deadline, Obama promised to fulfill a campaign pledge to simplify the nation’s “monstrous” tax code.
“It’s going to take time to undo the damage of years of carve-outs and loopholes,” Obama said. “But I want every American to know we will rewrite the tax codes … and we will make it quicker, easier and less expensive for you to file a return, so that April 15 is not a date that is approached with dread each year.”
Republicans, dismayed by Obama’s massive federal spending programs, used the day to highlight warnings about tax increases looming to pay for it all.
“America doesn’t have an $11 trillion debt because Washington taxes too little,” House Republican Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia said. “It is because Washington spends too much.” A group of conservative leaders, including Grover Norquist, Edwin Meese and Wendy Wright, used the tax day deadline to raise the alarm that Obama’s stepped-up federal spending “will cripple American taxpayers” when the bill comes due.
“The liberals in Congress have proven enablers of the president’s spending program, passing hugely wasteful programs like stimulus and bailouts,” the group’s communique said. “There is no justification for the countless billions that citizens will have to pony up this tax season to fund liberalism’s reckless abuse of the federal treasury.”
The group estimates the per capita share of the national debt for each adult and child in America is $184,000 — before factoring in Obama’s stimulus bill and proposed federal budget.
Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus program included modest payroll tax cuts that went into effect April 1. Also included were tax credits for individuals and families, and an $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers.
“For too long, we’ve seen taxes used as a wedge to scare people into supporting policies that actually increased the burden on working people instead of helping them,” Obama said. “That has to change, and that’s the work we’ve begun.”
