Republicans: No Compromise On Bush Tax Cuts

Remember when Obama responded to Republicans questioning his stimulus plans with, “I won”?
Consider this the new Republican House majority’s “I won” moment.

WASHINGTON – Republican leaders in the House and the Senate said Sunday that there would be no compromise with Democrats on whether to extend Bush-era tax cuts for the nation’s wealthiest taxpayers.

President Barack Obama has said he wants to extend the tax cuts for taxpayers with a combined annual income of less than $250,000, but that the cuts should be eliminated for people making more than that. He has suggested there might be room for compromise in discussions with Republicans on other tax issues.

But Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., who is expected to become majority leader in the House when the new Congress is sworn in next year, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on Sunday news programs that they would insist on extending tax cuts for the wealthy. McConnell said higher taxes on upper-income earners would harm small businesses.
“We can’t negotiate it this morning, but our view is don’t raise taxes on small business,” McConnell said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Cantor said Republicans plan to make spending cuts a priority when they take control of the House in January.

“We’re going to embark on a regular diet of spending-cut bills being brought to the floor weekly,” he said.

This is, I think, exactly the tone Republicans need to strike though they need to stop using the class warfare rhetoric of Democrats. Instead of saying that they’re not going to raise taxes on this or that demographic, they need to say that they’re not going to take any more away from the private sector. No more taxes on the economy we all live and work in.

Rather, they’re going to downsize the government that economy has to support.