On the recordDecember 2, 2010
Working Americans believe that the Tax Code favors the rich and the influential. And guess what? They're right. Last year, the average millionaire in America got about $100,000 back from the Bush tax cuts, while the average middle class family in this country received one-half of 1 percent of that. Not half of that, one-half of 1 percent of that. It is time that this country began to tax fairly and invest wisely. Republicans are holding these tax cuts for the middle class hostage, demanding an extra tax cut of $700 billion worth of bailout for millionaires and billionaires, all of which Republicans would not pay for, which means that once again we would have to go to China and a lot of other countries to borrow since right now the country is running a deficit. These are the same tax cuts that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle say will create jobs, and we need to rev up the economy for that reason and keep these wealthy tax cuts. Well, guess what? These are the same tax cuts we have had in place for the last 10 years. And what have these tax cuts of $100,000 a year given to wealthy folks? What have they given us? Fifteen million Americans are unemployed. The worst recession--it's not a depression-- that we have faced since the 1930s. So we have seen what the results are of these tax cuts for the wealthy for the last 10 years, and now they say we need to do it again to improve the economy. It is time that this country acted sanely.
