Don Nickles: “Not at this point. Some people say that is a big benefit for the wealthy. I say why in the world should the Government…”

“Not at this point. Some people say that is a big benefit for the wealthy. I say why in the world should the Government take half? I don't think they should. Maybe some people believe they should. I disagree. What we have assumed in the budget is we are going to continue present law; that we are not going to have a tax increase. Some people don't want that to be in there. We assume we are going to continue present law, where we have several provisions that are due to expire at the end of this year. Some of those, frankly, are targeted toward low- or middle-income people. They would expand the child tax credit. As I mentioned, if we do not extend it, the child tax credit will go from $1,000 to $700. There is a $1,000 tax credit today. If we do not extend it, as assumed in the budget, it goes to $700. So they will lose. If they have 4 kids, they are going to have to pay $1,200 more in taxes next year than they pay this year. What about the marriage tax penalty? We assume we are going to extend the marriage penalty relief we put in last year's bill. That is very significant for middle-income tax relief. I heard my good friend Senator Conrad talk about the middle-income class does not get anything. That is not accurate, in my opinion. The middle-income class people do very well. If you have a taxable income of $58,000, your tax bracket is 15 percent. We want to keep it at 15 percent.”