Issue Position: Fair Taxation

I strongly believe that Congress needs to make fiscal responsibility a priority. I support rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in federal spending in order to bring down the deficit, but we also need to raise adequate revenues in order to pay for the priorities we have as a nation. Those priorities include safe food and water, defense and homeland security, education and health care, and infrastructure investments that help build economic growth and opportunity for all. As we evaluate our nation's needs and look to see how more revenue can be raised, I think we should first ask more from those who can afford to pay more. The middle class and those who aspire to it have already been sacrificing for years, while less and less has been asked from millionaires and billionaires and highly-profitable corporations that ship American jobs overseas.

I support President Obama's call to allow the Bush tax cuts for income above $250,000 a year to expire on December 31, 2012, while extending tax cuts for middle-class and low-income families. And I believe that we should raise additional revenues by reforming the corporate tax code and ending tax breaks for off-shoring jobs and profits.

Legislation I've Introduced

Fairness in Taxation Act -- I reintroduced the Fairness in Taxation Act which creates new, higher tax brackets for millionaires and billionaires starting at 45% for income over $1 million and going up to 49% for income over $1 billion. Those rates would also apply to capital gains and dividends for income over $1 million. This legislation would raise more than $800 billion over 10 years and would help address our fiscal challenges while protecting our important priorities

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