–Senate Majority Leader Says Middle Class Tax Cuts Remain Top Goal
–Sen. Reid: No ‘Definite’ Plans On Tax Cuts Until House Acts
–Sen. Reid: Hints At Link Between Tax Cut, UI Extension
By John Shaw
WASHINGTON (MNI) – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday
that Senate Democrats are awaiting a House vote on a middle class tax
cut bill before they determine their strategy on tax cuts.
In comments after a Senate Democratic party luncheon, Reid said
that “the first concern” of Democrats is to “protect the middle class.”
When pressed to explain the Senate Democratic view on taxes, Reid
said that he doesn’t “have anything definite” on the issue.
“We’re just going to have to wait and see,” what the House does on
the tax cut issue, Reid said, adding that all revenue bills have to
begin in the House.
The House is now voting on a $1.5 trillion tax cut package that
extends the middle class portions of the Bush era tax cuts and includes
an adjustment to the alternative minimum tax.
The House bill would make permanent the tax cuts on income under
$200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for married couples.
It would also include lower tax rates for capital gains and
dividends and eliminate the marriage penalty and expand the child
credit. The package would extend through 2011 an expired adjustment to
the AMT that shields thousands of taxpayers from the AMT.
Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation has estimated the package
would cost $1.5 trillion over a decade, with $1.3 trillion due to the
extension of the middle class tax cuts.
On another matter, Reid said he is in talks with congressional
leaders on a long-term spending bill that funds the federal government
“into next year.”
The Senate is expected to follow the House and pass a short-term
stop-gap spending bill Thursday that funds the government until Dec. 18
** Market News International Washington Bureau: (202) 371-2121 **
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