Middle Class Tax Relief Act of 2010

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I want to disagree sharply with the point that our colleague, Mr. Brady, just made; America needs to have this conversation. We need to have a conversation as to how we got ourselves into the mess that we find ourselves in today, and part of that conversation is the discussion and debate over whether to extend tax cuts for the wealthiest among us. That is the difference of opinion that we are debating right now.

Now, our friends on the other side are going to tell us that this has a big impact on small business, despite what the IRS says. And I have even offered a proposal that would address the 3 percent issue, moving down the road. But let's listen to one small business owner, Beri Fox, the president of Marble King, the last remaining American manufacturer of marbles. She thinks we have lost our marbles. When asked whether the way to economic recovery was tax cuts for the wealthy, Ms. Fox simply replied, ``Absolutely not.''

America has paid the price for theology, the theology that tax cuts pay for themselves. They inherited a near perfect economy 10 years ago: record job growth; deficits eliminated; the debt being paid down, and Alan Greenspan warned us we were paying down the debt too quickly. This argument today is about fairness--fairness and what type of tax system we want to create.

The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center analyzed the Bush proposal at different income levels. They found that next year, for someone earning more than $1 million, he or she can look forward to an average tax cut of $128,832 if we extend these tax cuts for the wealthy. They found next year someone making $7 million can look forward to a $400,000 tax cut if we leave the Bush proposals in place.

This is a question of how we treat the working families of America. This is a question of not cementing into law a tax system with skewed benefits. I urge support for this middle class tax cut.

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