Why Democrats cross the aisle for a tax bill

MSNBC ^ | Dec. 12, 2005 | Tom Curry

[george76]

Pelosi condemns "immoral" measure, but a few on her team see sense in it...

President Bush and House GOP leaders scored a big victory last week as 225 Republicans and nine Democrats joined forces to pass a bill extending the 15 percent tax rate on capital gains and dividends that Congress enacted two years ago.

Three Republicans voted against the bill, as did 193 Democrats.

The nine Democrats who voted "yes," bucked House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, who denounced the bill as “immoral" because the “tax cuts” would go “mostly for America's wealthiest.”

So why did the nine Democrats break ranks to vote for the GOP tax bill?

The aisle crossers

All but one of the nine Democrats come from districts carried by President Bush in 2004.

Eight come from Southern or border states, where Republicans are dominant.

And the one non-Southerner, Rep. Melissa Bean, is a first-termer who represents a Republican-leaning district west of Chicago.

Bean won her seat last year by toppling 35-year incumbent Rep. Phil Crane, who GOP strategists say had fallen out of touch with his district.

The non-partisan Cook Political Report rates Bean's 2006 re-election race a toss-up.

[george76]

Poor people benefit from tax cuts. Check out how the economy has grown ...

[GoBucks2002]

That's a difficult concept for some people to grasp. More immediately, Bean's district has some high-income Dems as well.

[RabidBartender]

Democrats in red districts benefit from tax cuts too.

[george76]

If Pelosi feels quilty, then she should give up her personal wealth.

[appleharvey]

Nancy Pelosi, who denounced the bill as “immoral" because the “tax cuts” would go “mostly for America's wealthiest.”

It's immoral for someone to keep more of their money that they busted their ass for? Why is right wrong, and wrong right with these strange creepy people?

[RabidBartender]

I cannot tell the difference between Nancy Pelosi's 'guilty' face and her 'happy' face.

What I really hope the President does in the State of the Union Address next month is to point at the economy and the effect tax cuts have had on it.

[Don Corleone]

That's a difficult concept for some people to grasp. More immediately, Bean's district has some high-income Dems as well.

Like OPRAH!

[SaxxonWoods]

Now that over 60% of Americans own stock, it's hard to make the case that low taxes on capital gains works only for the rich.

Also, most of Congress realizes that the DOW would drop sharply if the capital gains tax rate was raised. Investment real estate would also be affected. The talking heads would know just who to blame, and Congress doesn't need that problem. Even stockholders who only own stocks in IRAs, SEPs and 401ks would be harmed by the decline.

Now, if we could just get it zeroed, the economy would go gangbusters, and more companies would jump on the dividend offering bandwagon.

[Youngman442002]

Its truly amazing how ignorant some liberals are...on todays Squawkbox show...on MSNBC...the in-house economist...Steve Bliesman(sp)..a journialism graduate from Columbia University...LOL.....said with the tax cuts of two years ago...that tax revenues had DROPPED....absolutly wrong...and he knows it...but he believes it so much..it has to be...that he has to lie about it...its the Democrats way...its amazing how the facts just get in the way...

[right right]

2003 IRS figures
TOP..............Pays
1%...............34.3%
5%...............54.4%
10%..............65.8%
25%..............83.9%
all the rest pay 16.1%

These figures show the top 1% pays more now than ever before. Go to the IRS site to verify.

[thackney]

[Ron in Acreage]

Notice how democrats will only vote for a tax cut for political reasons, and not because it's the right thing to do. They honestly believe all our money belongs to them, and it's only through their generosity that allows us to keep some. Pure communists at their heart and soul.

[george76]

It is also amazing the the DUmmies will also rarely (never?) acknowledge that tax RATE cuts means many new jobs.

Tax RATE cuts also mean tax revenue increases.

If some successful person/family can buy a new home, boat, car, or just stuff...that means jobs for the folks that build homes, boats, cars, stuff...

and jobs for those who sell the house, boat, car, stuff and jobs for those who service the stuff after the sale.

Of course, those DUmmies in the media and in the Universities rarely, if ever, understand or report basic economic principles.

Maybe they are truly financially and economically illiterate.

[Incitatus]

The democrats are a bunch of hypocrites on this issues.

That said, I would rather see more roll-backs on middle to lower income [i]income taxes[/i]. That's where Americans are hurting right now. The very wealthy can jump through a whole galaxy of loop-holes (especially if they own companies), which the middle and lower classes can't access. That's not to say the wealthy are being unfair; it's human nature to want to keep as much of what you earn as possible for the benefit of you and yours. However, tax cuts have to take into account that there is a bare minimum of family expenses in a given year (mortgage, transport, food, schooling etc) that takes up a greater percentage of a family's income as you go down through the economic classes.

The top 5% have been cut some pretty decent slack in the last 5 years; I think it's time to give the middle class more than a $600 cut (hell that was probably sucked up during the gas price hike). Obviously more Americans are investing these days, and that's good; but look at the figures and you'll see that the amount that middleclass American families can afford to spare (after expenses) and invest, and you'll see it is a pittance compared to the top 5 or 1%. It doesn't matter how roaring the economy appears to be in terms of business investment, if your middleclass is struggling to put it's kids through good schools then something is wrong. And I'm seeing a lot of middleclass familes under a lot of stress.