CEA Chair Austan Goolsbee Explains the Tax Cut Fight

Good afternoon,

Ten years ago, Congress passed broad income tax cuts. But in a cynical accounting trick designed to mask their long-term impact, they scheduled these cuts to expire next January.  Now we are approaching that cliff, and millions of Americans are facing thousands of dollars in higher taxes on January 1.

That's why President Obama is fighting to extend the tax breaks for middle class Americans. 

Under the President's plan, the tax cuts would be permanently extended on incomes up to $250,000, which includes 98 percent of American taxpayers. This is fair, just and crucial for our economy. 

Middle class Americans saw their incomes shrink during the last decade, and have borne the brunt of the recession. They need the relief, and America needs a strong, thriving middle class.  Because middle class families are most likely to spend this money quickly, these tax cuts give our economy a much needed shot in the arm.

Seems like a no-brainer, right?  Not to the Republican leaders in Congress.

They're holding these tax cuts for the middle class hostage, demanding that we also lift the cap and extend the breaks to millionaires and billionaires.

Austan Goolsbee, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, explains what’s going on in this video:

The Congressional Republican tax cut plan would add an additional $700 billion to the deficit over the next ten years and give America’s wealthiest people an average tax break of $100,000. To top it all off -- the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has found that giving a huge tax break to the wealthiest Americans is one of the least effective ways to stimulate our economy. 

Adding hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit while doing very little to grow our economy, put people back to work or strengthen America’s middle class is exactly the kind of economic policy that got us into this mess in the first place. 

We simply cannot afford to go back to their failed policies. It’s time for Congressional Republicans to stop playing politics with tax cuts for the middle class. 

Sincerely,

David Axelrod

Senior Advisor to the President

White House White Board: CEA Chair Austan Goolsbee Explains the Tax Cut Fight

Today we're trying out something new -- White House White Board, in which one of our key players on the White House team will cut through the political back-and-forth you hear every day and break down an issue affecting American families into simple, understandable terms.  Today, Austan Goolsbee, the new Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers here at the White House, tackles the tax cut fight and what it means that Congressional Republicans are "holding middle class tax cuts hostage" as the President has said: