meanwhile in other news...
Tax cuts have become the panacea of conservative economic thinking, but curiously, the AP reports Republicans are now lining up to raise taxes on nearly half of all Americans. In his radio address this weekend, President Obama called for an extension to the payroll tax holiday he signed into law last year, which benefits every working American, lowering the 6.2 percent tax that funds Social Security to 4.2 percent. The tax cut will expire in January, and many of the same Republican lawmakers who fought tooth and nail to preserve the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy are now coming out against an extension of the payroll tax holiday.
Why? Social Security payroll taxes mainly benefit middle- and working-class Americans, as the tax only applies to the first $106,800 of a worker’s wages. Thus, no matter how much money someone makes, they will see a maximum benefit of $2,136 from the holiday — a pittance compared to the savings for the wealthy from the Bush income tax cuts. Republicans claim these cuts for lower-income earners will do less to stimulate the economy than cuts for the wealthy or employers:
“It’s always a net positive to let taxpayers keep more of what they earn,” says Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), “but not all tax relief is created equal for the purposes of helping to get the economy moving again.”
Hensarling, the House’ fourth-ranking Republican, is right — some tax cuts do more than others to “get the economy moving again.” He just has it backwards about which cuts do that. Tax cuts for wealthy, such as those in the Bush tax cuts, are the single “least effective way to spur the economy and reduce unemployment,” according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, because wealthy Americans were more likely to save their money than spend it.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/08/22/300832/republicans-to-oppose-tax-cut-for-working-people/Nor is this the only instance of republicans wanting higher taxes on those not wealthy. or as they like to call us, the moocher class.
Some may see this as counter intuitive but I think this falls right in line with the way the GOP thinks.
Even they understand though will never admit that taxes pay for stuff we need, including the super rich.
But the super rich don't want to pay these things the themselves. So better to squeeze the poor then impair the ability of the super rich to get as much money as they can.
Not to mention, it hurts Obama which motivates the GOP the way a bell motivated Pavlov's dog.