Xavier Becerra: “Right now, the capital gains that we have in law right now costs this country between now and the next 5 years about $94…”

“Right now, the capital gains that we have in law right now costs this country between now and the next 5 years about $94 billion. We are already paying $94 billion for that. That, if you think about it, amounts to about $362 for every man, woman, and child in this Nation, $362 that each American has to somehow make up for either through other taxes, personal income taxes or cuts in programs like Social Security, Medicare, Head Start, job training. Somehow we have to make up that $94 billion over 5 years. It does not just come freely. Either that or you increase the size of the deficit. So we have to take all of those things into consideration. Then you look at the minimum wage, and it is interesting, over the weekend on some of the TV talk shows, we heard a number of Republicans say that they opposed raising the minimum wage. They thought it was a job killer. They did not want to see it happen. But then all of a sudden you ask them, well, what happens if you get the capital gains tax cuts in exchange? All of a sudden they change their tune.”