Middle Class, Schmiddle Class Part III

On Wednesday, December 12th, Peter Roskam again voted to hold hostage the Democratic plan to relieve middle class taxpayers of liability for the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), a tax which was instituted years ago to prevent the wealthiest individuals from escaping paying any taxes by setting a minimum tax that must be paid by individuals with incomes above a threshold. Because the tax was not designed to account for inflation, an addition 23 million individuals of relatively modest incomes will be affected in the coming tax season with an average of $2000 in additional tax liability, unless the Democrats in Congress are able to apply a fix.

Peter Roskam and his Republican colleagues, acting in tandem with George Bush, are presently attempting to obstruct the Democratic efforts to provide this needed relief to middle class taxpayers. The Republicans are obstructing this relief, not so much because they want to increase taxes on the middle class, but because, to them, the needs of the middle class are largely irrelevant. Republicans are focused on giving tax-breaks to the wealthiest individuals and to big business, and if to do so, they have to hold the middle class tax cut hostage, that is just fine with them.

The Democrats in Congress had proposed a fiscally responsible plan to temporarily fix the AMT without causing a massive loss of revenue to the federal government, revenue needed to pay for Bush’s massively expensive war against Iraq. The Democratic proposal would provide tax relief to 23 million middle class Americans by closing a loophole that presently allows wealthy hedge fund managers to escape taxation on some of their income by holding it offshore. Seems pretty fair you’d think. Closing a tax loophole for a few thousand to help 23 million from having to pay more than their fair share.

But Peter Roskam doesn’t think so. He and President Bush are holding up tax relief to those 23 million middle class taxpayers, insisting on a fiscally irresponsible alternative that provides no offset for the lost revenue, a loss that might total $50 billion, at the same time they are spending $275 million every day to continue the occupation of Iraq and planning to do so indefinitely. Why? Because their agenda is to help folks like those wealthy hedge fund managers escape paying their fair share of taxes; to continue to create conditions that make the rich richer and the rest of us poorer.

Bush and Roskam’s plan to concentrate more wealth in the hands of the richest Americans is working. The only hope for relief for average Americans struggling to keep up with the risng costs of housing and health care and college tuition is for us to elect Democratic and third party candidates who are willing to fight for the interests of average Americans, not just for the privileged few.