The Bush tax cuts, enacted in 2001 and 2003, will expire as of Dec. 31, 2010, while the nation is facing one of the worst recessions since the Great Depression; consumer spending, and high unemployment are causing the downturn of the economy and slowing its recovery.
Americans are not spending like they used to; their investment are sinking, home values have languished, they are losing wealth, they also feel that their jobs are not safe either. They are tightening their belts and are keeping their money on the sidelines due to uncertainty of the future, and mostly whether or not they will soon face higher taxes.
The government report mentioned that; the economy grew at just a 2.4 percent rate in the April-June quarter, much slower than the 3.7 percent rate for the first quarter, that’s not good; the wealthy must resume to bigger spending to speed up the recovery of the economy (they account for 14% of total spending), and by raising taxes, we would be moving backward, instead of moving forward, we don’t want to lose momentum believe me.
President Barack Obama and many congressional Democrats want to extend the lower rates for individuals with combine earnings of $250,000 or less, but not for those earning more.
I personally think that we should extend the Bush tax cuts at least for another year, because the economy is too fragile right now, now is not the time to raise taxes.
I strongly feel that we are one nation in a severe global recession, and can’t blame and penalize the upper middle class and the wealthy for the Bush presidency past failures, I don’t think it would be appropriate to raise taxes for at least another year, because the expiration of these tax cuts would cause a massive tax rate increase, and would hurt all of us, our goal right now should be to maintain confidence among the consumers.
Increasing taxes would not only create uncertainty, it would also slow our economy recovery, shake the confidence of the small business, and cost more millions of American jobs.
President Barack Obama feels the urgency of letting the tax cuts expire, in order to start reducing the deficit.
I understand that those tax cuts are hurting the government’s tax revenue and adding on the deficit big time, the budget deficit will reach a record of over $1.47 trillion this year and rising (10 % of the gross domestic product GDP), meaning that; the government is borrowing 41 cents of every dollar it spends, .this is sad news, this is where we landed, from billion of dollars in surplus from the Clinton’s administration, to a disgrace inheritance trillion dollars deficit, but raising taxes under this current crisis is not appropriate for at least another year, the economy is too weak, we should continue to cut spending.
See; with the expiration of these tax cuts, Americans will see a tax increase on their income and investments, the ones who fall in the;
35% bracket will see an increase to 39.6%,
33% bracket will see an increase to 36%
28% bracket will see an increase to 31%
25% bracket will see an increase to 28%
10% and 15% brackets will increase or condense to 15%
Capital gains tax will increase from 15% to 20%
The tax on dividends will increase from 15% to 39.6%
If not renewed, the automatic tax increase will begin on Jan. 1, 2011, and will have catastrophic consequences on this already fragile economy, Mr. President, now is not the time to raise taxes.
Americans are terribly hurting out of this horrible financial crisis; with the unemployment remaining at 9.5%, sluggish labor markets, slow job rate growth, global economic turmoil, decline in consumers spending, tight credit markets, home sales deteriorating due to high inventory of unsold housing.
A lot of Americans have just simply given up looking for work too, the weak economy has led more people to retire early, more people filed for Social Security in 2009 (2.74 million) than any year in history, and there was a marked increase in the number receiving reduced benefits because they filed ahead of their full retirement age.
The increase came as the full Social Security retirement age rose last year from 65 to 66.
Raising taxes will also force investors to sell their stocks and bonds to lock in profits at lower rates, further reducing the recovery of our economy. Raising taxes in this economic crisis is not appropriate for now.
Based on those facts, the economy most likely won’t improve anytime soon; I am asking the President of the United States and the U S Congress to renew the tax cuts for at least another year, and also extend the $8000 first time federal home-buyers tax credit expiring in September to re-launch the housing market.
We can’t be too quick in fixing this financial mess, and no matter how hard it may seem, we need to make the sacrifices necessary to keep cutting spending, and continue investing in clean energy, to me this should be the plan for now, until the economy recovers.
Folks, make no mistakes, The President and his administration have put in place a deficit’s commission, working aggressively toward cutting Government spending, deficit reduction and rebalancing of the budget
The President is also working on reversing the recession through economic recovery and the speed up of jobs growth.
I want to see more "Made in the USA" domestic products worldwide A S A P..
C.Nicolas.