DeLauro: Support Continued Tax Relief for Middle Class Families

GOP Plan Would Raise Taxes on 25 Million People, Cut Taxes for Wealthiest 2%

WASHINGTON, DC—Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) today voiced her support for continuing middle class tax cuts and her opposition to Republican legislation that would extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, while raising taxes on working low income and middle class families.

“The Majority’s tax plan would raise taxes on 25 million working families with incomes below $250,000 by an average of $1,000 in order to give another tax break to the rich,” DeLauro said. “In order to pay for an over $160,000 tax break for millionaires, the plan slashes the Child Tax Cut by an average of $854 for nearly nine million families, pushing two million children back into poverty. And it weakens the Earned Income Tax Credit, which kept 8.3 million people out of poverty last year. This is despite the fact that poverty rates are heading towards the highest levels in nearly half a century.

“We all know there is a better way forward. The Senate has passed a plan, supported by the President, which cuts taxes for 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small businesses in this country. Rather than holding tax relief for the vast majority of American families and small businesses hostage for more tax cuts for the wealthiest two percent, let’s take up that bill.

“This Reverse Robin Hood tax plan has to stop. We should be supporting continued tax relief for the middle class.”

If Congress fails to extend the middle class tax cuts currently in place, 114 million families nationwide will see their taxes increase by an average of $1,600, including 1.4 million families in Connecticut. Under the Democratic proposal—which has already passed the Senate—all American families will receive a tax cuts on income up to $250,000.