The Hill: “Using comments by former President Bill Clinton as a political gift, Republican leaders stepped up their calls for at least a one-year extension of the George W. Bush-era tax rates. One by one, senior congressional Republicans stepped before the cameras on Wednesday morning to trumpet Clinton’s momentary support for extending the full slate of current tax rates, in contrast to President Obama’s push to keep income rates in place only for the middle class. . . . Republicans jumped on the comments immediately and made Clinton’s remarks the focus of their morning press briefing. The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell (Ky.), made a rare walk across the Capitol to join House Republicans and echo their message. He noted that the economic growth rate is lower than it was in late 2010, when Obama agreed to a deal that extended the Bush tax rates, including those for the wealthy, for two years.”

Clinton told CNBC, “I think what it means is they will have to extend… have to put everything off until early next year. That’s probably the best thing to do right now… I don’t have any problem with extending all of it now.” The Wall Street Journal noted last night, “Former Democratic President Bill Clinton suggested Tuesday that Congress temporarily extend all the Bush-era tax cuts, undercutting President Barack Obama’s position that the rates on upper-income Americans should rise at year’s end. It was the second example in recent days of Mr. Clinton taking a position at odds with that of Mr. Obama . . . .”

But President Clinton isn’t alone among Democrats in making the case that we shouldn’t raise taxes at the end of the year. According to the WSJ, “Lawrence Summers said Wednesday that Congress should temporarily extend Bush-era tax cuts, making him the second person with ties to the White House who is undercutting President Barack Obama’s position that the rates on upper-income Americans should rise at year’s end. ‘The real risk to this economy is on the side of slow down…and that means we’ve got to make sure that we don’t take gasoline out of the tank at the end of this year,’ he said on MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’ program. ‘That’s gotta be the top priority.’”

The WSJ adds, “Mr. Summers’s comments will likely further complicate Mr. Obama’s efforts to ensure the tax cuts expire at year’s end… and his comments will likely carry more weight because of his economic credentials.” Of course, it’s worth recalling that Summers was once a top economic advisor to President Obama and before that was Treasury Secretary for President Clinton

And yet according to a tweet from Reuters, Obama is still saying the tax hikes scheduled for New Years Day 2013 should go forward.

Related:

Rasmussen Reports: 28% Say U.S. Economy Getting Better, Lowest Since January

Comments

comments