Geithner: Bush’s Tax Cuts For Rich Didn’t Work
EmailABC’s Matt Jaffe reports from DC:
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner today appeared before Congress for the third time in three days, continuing to defend the Obama administration’s budget proposal in the face of stern Republican opposition. "The president’s budget tries to spend, tax, and borrow our way into prosperity," said Rep. Paul Ryan, ranking member of the House Budget Committee, in his opening statement. "It’s an economic recipe that simply just doesn’t work."
But Geithner responded that it was the Bush administration’s approach of the past eight years that didn’t work. "The most wealthy, most fortunate, richest 1% of Americans received 75% of the gains in income across the overall economy over the last six to eight years," he said. "This restores some basic fairness to the American economy in a fiscally responsible way that will leave our economy stronger for the future."
Just hours before President Obama’s healthcare forum at the White House, Geithner this morning made the case on Capitol Hill for widespread healthcare reform. "In a country with these resources, it’s just hard to understand why we can’t deliver better healthcare more broadly spread to all Americans, regardless of how fortunate they are in life," he said. "We spend almost twice what the typical mature economy spends on healthcare and despite that, we don’t provide materially better results in terms of life expectancy and we have large parts of our economy that don’t benefit from quality care," he noted.
The Treasury chief today also defended the carbon emissions cab-and-trade proposals in the plan, saying the policy would raise hundreds of billions of dollars and help the country achieve energy independence. "It is critically important for our country that we begin the process now of changing the incentives Americans face for how they use energy," he said. "It’s important to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, it is critical for climate change."
But Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-WY, was far from convinced, echoing a chorus of Republican dissent. "You’re scaring the wits out of the American people," she told Geithner. Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, was another GOP member none too impressed with the administration’s proposed measures. "Are you or are you not proposing to double the national debt in eight years under your budget?", he asked Geithner. "Congressman, what we are proposing to do is to fix the crisis we inherited," Geithner responded. "And to make our economy more productive in the future and to do so in a way that’s fiscally responsible and brings our deficits down to the levels where we stabilize the overall level of debt to GDP, so if…" "Mr. Secretary," Hensarling interrupted. "It’s clear that you do not wish to answer the question."
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Yeah Geithner does not like tax cuts, yet he did not pay his fair share of the taxes he owed, just like four other members of the Obama cabinet. They did not pay until they were caught. Proceeds to the IRS incrased during the Bush years because businesses could hire and expand and create more sales which created more tax revenue for uncle sam. It is NOT complicated. Communist China does NOT tax capital gains. Who would ever think that we would turn Socialist and the Chinese would become Capitalistic?
Posted by: lucifer jizwad | March 5, 2009, 3:58 pm 3:58 pm
Let’s see before Barry got the nomination the DOW was 14000. Now that Barry is POTUS the DOW is 6600. Hmm it George Bush’s fault. It’s been dropping ever since he got the nomination. Maybe it’s Barry everyone is scared of here.
Posted by: OBAMANATION | March 5, 2009, 4:04 pm 4:04 pm
Yet…
The Obama Daily Tracking Poll
Down 300 points….
Posted by: Justin | March 5, 2009, 4:09 pm 4:09 pm
Geithner: Bush’s Tax Cuts For Rich Didn’t Work because I didn’t pay them, ha, ha!
Posted by: Huh | March 5, 2009, 4:20 pm 4:20 pm
geithner is a joke
the bigger joke is obama as potus
Posted by: Realilty | March 5, 2009, 4:35 pm 4:35 pm
Republicans speak only for them selves. Obama’s tax polcies do not scare me in the least!! I think Obama is doing the right thing and the only oppostion is from the wealthy who have prospered unfairly for 8 years under Bush. Time to pay like the rest of us and quit whinning as it is so unseamly!
Posted by: eyeonyou | March 5, 2009, 4:45 pm 4:45 pm
Tax cuts dont do any good because when the wealthy get that money they just take the profits and invest it in the financial markets. Under Bush’s tax cuts there was a decrease in wages after correction for inflation, despite those cuts. The wealthy pocketed that extra money from the tax cuts and invested in in financials, and never passed it on to workers or lower prices. Instead they invested in stocks or Bernie Madoff and now all that wealth is gone, disappeared with a downturn of the economy. I trust tax cuts to benefit the wealthy, I certainly do not trust CEOs lining their own pockets for years to help me out.
Posted by: Ordermonger | March 5, 2009, 4:46 pm 4:46 pm
If the wealthy actually wanted to pay less taxes how about they start policing themselves too and make sure they are all actually paying them, instead of hiding their money in Swiss banks like USB. Apparently USB has 47,000 accounts that they will not hand out information on that US business and citizens have been hiding money in to avoid taxes. Maybe if everyone actually paid what they were supposed to tax increases wouldn’t be needed.
Posted by: Ordermonger | March 5, 2009, 4:50 pm 4:50 pm
And if Bush Jr. had ever really made a tough decision in his Presidency he would have already raised taxes to pay for the Iraq war, like his Dad did. If taxation to pay for wars was mandatory we would never have gone there in the first place, wasting money and the lives of our troops for a war that was started under false pretenses.
Posted by: Ordermonger | March 5, 2009, 4:53 pm 4:53 pm
Timmy Boy,
Try coming up with sometihng to HELP. That is why eveyone “overlooked” the fact you deliberately cheated on your taxes!
Also, If you dont have any solutions this time, just resign! Shut your mouth and stop driving the markets and the economy into the stone age!
Posted by: Mike_C | March 5, 2009, 5:09 pm 5:09 pm
The Treasury chief today also defended the carbon emissions cab-and-trade proposals in the plan, saying the policy would raise hundreds of billions of dollars and help the country achieve energy independence. “It is critically important for our country that we begin the process now of changing the incentives Americans face for how they use energy,” he said. “It’s important to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, it is critical for climate change.”
Yet another brilliant idea for the current times!!!
We keep hearing about crisis, crisis, crisis…and these fools think this is the time to start “influencing” the way we all think about energy! Gotta save the planet from global warming…oops…now we call it climate change because no one was buying the term global warming anymore!
Posted by: Mike_C | March 5, 2009, 5:14 pm 5:14 pm
Wow, I’m starting to understand why NoBo likes Tim Geithner so much that he was willing to ignore the failure to pay his taxes.
Birds of a Feather.
This Wunderchild is proof that you don’t need have wisdom to get a degree or two from prestigious bastions of higher learning here in the good old USA.
He can’t really believe all that rubbish about the need to reduce CO2 can he?
Posted by: Noz | March 5, 2009, 7:44 pm 7:44 pm
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told an audience on Friday “never waste a good crisis,” as she highlighted the opportunity of rebuilding economies in a greener, less energy intensive model.
Seems Geithner is preaching from the same pulpit. I’ve now heard the “don’t waste a good crisis” from Clinton, Emmanuel and Geithner though he hasn’t said it exactly the same way. This administration MUST continue to say CRISIS so that they can continue to promote their socialist agenda and force leftist legislation through. Be afraid.
Posted by: Trey | March 6, 2009, 9:12 am 9:12 am
Where does the Constitution state that the government is responsible for “basic fairness to the American economy”, Healthcare, etc. Also, the cab-and-trade proposals will “raise hundreds of billions of dollars”. This is a tax increase that will mainly be paid by the infamous 95% that he told he would NEVER raise their taxes.
Posted by: Roninva | March 6, 2009, 10:05 am 10:05 am
# lower 50% pays 2.99 % of income taxes collected
# top 1% pays 39.89% of income taxes collected (AGI > $388.806)
# top 10% pays 70.79% of income taxes collected (AGI > $108,904)
# lower 50% pays average tax rate of 3%
# top 1% pays average tax rate of 22.79%
# top 10% pays average tax rate of 18.86%
# top 1% earned 22.06% of cumulative AGI (but paid 39.89% of income taxes)
# top 10% earned 47.32% of cumulative AGI (but paid 70.79% of income taxes)
# 41% of the US population will be outside the federal income tax system, essentially free-loading on on other half
* 43.4 million tax returns, representing 91 million individuals will have zero or negative tax liability (out of 136 million tax returns)
* 15 million more households file no tax returns at all
* this is by far the highest these numbers have ever been, as a percentage, going back to 1950 (when it was 28%)
* the “Bush tax cuts” caused this number to jump form 26% to 32% to 41%
# The top-earning 25 percent of taxpayers (AGI over $64,702) earned 68.2 percent of the nation’s income, but they paid more than four out of every five dollars collected by the federal income tax (86.3 percent).
# The top 1 percent of taxpayers (AGI over $388,806) earned approximately 22.1 percent of the nation’s income (as defined by AGI), yet paid 39.9 percent of all federal income taxes. That means the top 1 percent of tax returns paid about the same amount of federal individual income taxes as the bottom 95 percent of tax returns.
Posted by: Mike | March 6, 2009, 10:08 am 10:08 am
In the face of these numbers, I find it hard to believe that anyone thinks somehow the rich are not paying their “fair share”. And to think that anyone would support taking still more from the very people who provide jobs and capital makes even less sense to me.
The notion of “spreading the wealth” is one Marx would be pleased to hear about. It was Marx, after all, who popularized the notion of “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” Combined with “because they can afford it” and a skewed notion of “fair share” leads to a bad place.
Here’s a thought exercise. Everyone has someone they know who earns less than they do. Some friend who is always unemployed or underemployed and never has any money. You know that it’s because they’ve made bad choices in their life. Now, what do you think if I told you it wasn’t fair that you have more, and I’m going to take half of your income and hand it to that guy. If you think that’s unfair, welcome to my point of view. If you think that’s fair and think it’s a good idea, why haven’t you handed him your money voluntarily yet?
Posted by: Mike | March 6, 2009, 10:10 am 10:10 am
Turbo Tax Cheat Timmy has really lost his marbles. I am beginning to think the administration wants to make us all equally poor and totally dependant on the big O. Have these guys been hanging with Hugo? This crap and charade nonsense just tops it off. Let’s jack everyones taxes, it’s for their own good! They need to dispense with the games and just confiscate everything so we can start the revolution.
Posted by: BobNatlanta | March 6, 2009, 10:14 am 10:14 am
Thanks for those numbers, Ron. They’re the numbers that the libs don’t want anyone to see, as they make their “fair share” mantra seem pretty ridiculous. Considering that the majority of millionaires in congress are Democrats, it makes one wonder why they doggedly pursue such an agenda against the wealthy in this country. Guilt, perhaps? Or perhaps, as with healthcare and retirement plans, their “reforms” really won’t affect them at all, so who cares as long at it helps keep them in control? Scary stuff ahead.
Posted by: kdavismd | March 6, 2009, 10:55 am 10:55 am
The Bush tax cuts reduced unemployment from 6.7 per cent in 2002 to 4.5 per cent in 2007, after the Dems’ “stimulus ” plan failed to jump start the economy in 2001. This was far lower than the low of 5.3 per cent achieved during the Clinton years, when the Republican majority in Congress was able to cut spending and in 1997 cut the capital gains tax rate.
Bush inherited a recession, as GDP was negative in the last quarter of 2000 and in the first quarter of 2001. After his tax cuts GDP rebounded to 3-4 per cent growth.
Posted by: John | March 6, 2009, 11:27 am 11:27 am
I guess this Demwit tax cheat didn’t pay his taxes because they weren’t fair .
Posted by: radical1a | March 6, 2009, 1:43 pm 1:43 pm
We have un-prosecuted criminals (tax cheats) doing criminal acts against our Constitution.
That sure is change I believe in.
Posted by: Barry Hans | March 6, 2009, 6:39 pm 6:39 pm
John Galt for President
If you have not read “ATLAS SHRUGGED” do so, if you have read it again.
Posted by: Jay in va | March 6, 2009, 9:48 pm 9:48 pm
Why must we always argue about what is a “fair” tax burden ? Let’s all understand what wealth is…wealth money) is a store of value of ones effort or work. Under what logic does anybody have a right to seize my wealth …which is my labor…my life? What kind of society are we becoming when others feel entitled to another’s life ? Where is John Gault?
Posted by: Stephen Babcock | March 7, 2009, 9:19 am 9:19 am
I have been voting since 1972 and despite many promises I have never benefitted from a Democrat middle class tax cut. When they give they always take away elsewhere like the Cap and Trade that will cause energy prices to Soar soon. Obama is clearly using this crisis to press his leftist agenda. Geithner still hasn’t hired one of his 17 assistants and Obama holds a healthcare conference. Why? . He doesn’t even have a Surgeon General yet and holds healthcare conferences.
Posted by: Dennis D | March 7, 2009, 5:07 pm 5:07 pm
Tax cut mainly benefit the rich because the rich are the main ones paying all of the taxes. If I paid for everyones dinner and the waiter found out that I over paid would the waiter divide the overcharge among all of my guests or give the entire amount to me? This is why the rich get the most out fo tax cut. This is why it is fair. Anyways if giving tax cuts to the rich makes the recession end, are you so worried about fairness that that is more important than eating. I say let them have trier own money back for a change if it will make my life better too.
Obama says that he cares about us but what he leaves out is that he cares more about his policies and idiology. This is how he is able to sleep at night. Everything this guy says has to be viewedthru the eyes of a lawyer.
Raising energy prices with cap and trade is a way to tax everyone without calling it a tax. This and other tricks will far out strip his pathetic tax cut of 10 dollars a week to 95% of us lemmings.
Posted by: Frank Griffin | March 8, 2009, 1:32 am 1:32 am
Using the tax code to change the way the founders wanted our country is not constitutional. The tax code is to raise revenue, not force the American people to live differently than they want to.
As to universal health care, it is unconstitutional. The 4th, 5th, 9th and 10th amendments prohibit universal health care in America. Then again, this administration has shredded the Constitution more in 3 months than the previous one did in 8 years.
Posted by: Libertarian | March 9, 2009, 8:46 am 8:46 am