CNN "American Morning" - Transcript

Interview

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CHETRY: Well, after weeks of anticipation, President Obama finally scheduled to unveil his plans for Afghanistan in a primetime speech tomorrow. He's expected to call for an additional 34,000 U.S. troops. But some congressional Democrats are already voicing concern, not only about the mission there, but also the costs, and are proposing a war tax.

Joining me now -- Connecticut Congressman John Larson. He co- authored legislation for a war tax.

Thanks for being with us this morning, Congressman.

REP. JOHN LARSON (D), CONNECTICUT: Kiran, happy to be with you.

CHETRY: So, your bill would begin this war tax in 2011. It would impose a 1 percent surtax on anyone with taxable income.

LARSON: Right.

CEHTRY: And this would increase gradually up the income scale, as high as 5 percent for the highest income households.

Tell us exactly what this money would be used for. How would this work?

LARSON: Well, you know, at the top of your program, you were talking about the whole issue of health care. And clearly, we have struggled mightily to make sure that we're paying for health care. We already know that we have an excess of $1 trillion in costs for Iraq and Afghanistan that are unpaid for.

And so, what this is is a shared sacrifice act and what we call upon is a 1 percent surtax that will be imposed starting -- as you pointed out -- after the -- in December of 2010, going forward. And that the president can adjust this rate based on income for people earning in excess of $150,000 -- to pay for the cost of the war, if that war cost should continue to grow. Currently, the cost is, in Afghanistan, it's about $68 billion.

If we're going to pay for health care on an ongoing basis, if we're concerned about our future and the need for a shared sacrifice, then this is just simply a common sense approach. The only people we're asking to sacrifice in this war effort have been the men and women who serve our armed services and do so valiantly. They deserve the same kind of commitment here at home from citizens.

CHETRY: Well, let me ask you about this: Republican congressman that we spoke to in the last hour, Tom Price, called this proposal, quote, "cynical and irresponsible." He said, if you cut spending in non-defense areas, in non-defense discretionary spending, that you could actually cover the costs. This war has been called the top priority.

So, if you start taxing things that are, you know, top priorities -- I mean, where does it end?

LARSON: During the Second World War, we had issued savings bonds. People went out and actually collected valuables so that they could distribute. There was a notion of a shared sacrifice. There's been no shared sacrifice since the Bush administration. We think that this is the right step forward, in both making sure that Americans are participating in this and that we're not leaving this enormous debt on our children. Joseph Stiglitz said --

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CHETRY: -- he agrees with you in some aspects of this, about the shared sacrifice. He calls it a missed opportunity, though, saying that this should have happened before. We're eight years into this war right now, Carl Levin saying that in the middle of a recession, I don't think you're going to be able to successfully or fairly add a tax burden to middle income people. What about the many who are struggling right now and barely hanging on, working part-time --

LARSON: Well, that's why the legislation has a waiver. And that the president has great flexibility and he can make the assessment that these are not -- this is not the time to levee the tax. It can be levied down the road.

But the idea going forward is that this war must be paid for. And also the bill would go on to exempt anyone in our military who is currently serving or any one of our fallen members of the military would be exempt from this tax.

But Kiran, as you look out and project as we're going forward -- Joseph Stiglitz has said that the Iraq war alone is estimated to cost around $3 trillion. These are initiatives that the American people -- we owe it to level to our troops and to the American people what the cost of these wars and then pay for them just like we do everything else.

CHETRY: Well, we don't pay for everything else, that's the problem. That's why we're in a $12 trillion deficit. And, you know, looking forward...

LARSON: You are right, we didn't pay for the Bush tax cuts. We didn't pay for this war. We didn't pay for the bailout of Wall Street and look at the problems that we found ourselves in. So...

CHETRY: Right. There are a lot of people, though, Americans are saying, look, I already pay federal taxes. I mean, when you add in the taxes that I pay to the federal government, to my local and state governments, I'm not even bringing home half my paycheck. Aren't they already giving the government money technically to protect us, to fight wars? Wouldn't this be a double tax?

LARSON: They are. But just like in World War II, people stepped up to the plate because they saw the importance of this. And I think both from the standpoint of a shared sacrifice and also from wanting to uncouple their children and grandchildren from this enormous burden that we're accumulating here. Yes, I think the policies of handing out tax cuts to the nation's wealthiest 1% were harmful and contributed mightily to this deficit, as did not paying for the Iraq war and the Afghanistan war over this process. At some point, that has to change. And this legislation hopes to do that.

CHETRY: Has the White House given you any indication as to whether or not they are supporting you on this effort?

LARSON: Well, they have not. They haven't had an opportunity to speak with the White House. But Chairman Obey, Chairman Murtha, a number of members of the house, Chairman Rangle, myself and others all agree, I think anyone that's a fiscal conservative looks at this and says, you know, it's long overdue that we step up and pay for these initiatives and both level with our troops, make sure we provide them with our support that they need. And then also, level with the American people on the cost of this war.

CHETRY: Congressman John Larson, great to talk to you this morning. Thank you.

LARSON: Good to talk with you.

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