David Favors Extending Middle Class Tax Cuts

Press Release

David Whitaker, candidate for the US House of Representatives in the Third District of Arkansas, called today for the Obama administration and congressional leaders to extend tax cuts for middle-class Americans and roll back those for the very wealthy.

"It's time for us to get our priorities straight, and the economic focus back on the middle class," Whitaker said. "We've got to reign in our budget and make sure that small businesses and the people that drive job creation are the focus, not millionaires.

The original legislation passed nearly ten years ago under President Bush provided that these tax cuts, instituted during a time of record budgetary surpluses, would automatically expire this year unless extended, so that legislators could revisit the fiscal prudence of their continued existence.

"It's obvious that with record deficits, we have to make hard decisions. I fully support retaining the tax cuts for middle-class Americas, but when it comes to tax breaks for the rich, we've got to say enough is enough," Whitaker said.

Whitaker favors a proposal to extend tax rate reductions beyond this year for the middle income brackets, where the vast majority of Arkansans fall, while allowing only the highest earning category to revert to its former rate. Extending this tax cut for the wealthy beyond 2010 would unnecessarily jeopardize the welfare of future generations of Americans, and further constrain the federal treasury from meeting its existing obligations.

"Less than two percent of Arkansas households will be affected by this change, and it's time that we prioritize middle-class families and small-business owners." Whitaker continued, "In my Congressional office, we're always going to put working families first. Contrast that with my opponent, who will go to bat every day for his millionaire friends that write his campaign checks."

"My opponent seems to think that all small business owners rich. More than 98% of all small business-owners fall into tax brackets that would keep their tax breaks under this plan. We're on their side - our opponent is on the side of the very rich.," Whitaker explained.

Allowing the highest income tax bracket to revert to the pre-2000 levels, when this nation enjoyed its largest expansion and job growth in decades, would still result in the lowest marginal tax rate for the highest earning Americans since 1993.

"Reducing this tax cut for the wealthiest Americans means they might not get to buy a second home or take a third vacation. For middle-class Americans, these tax breaks mean the difference between making the mortgage payment or picking up a second or third job," Whitaker said.

"I know who I'm going to work for in Washington.

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