Middle Class Tax Cut Set To Expire Under New Budget

Lost in all the talk about taxing the “rich” (a definition of the word that sets income at $250,000 is way off, but that’s another subject) is the fact that in the new budget request from President Obama, a tax break on middle class families that he once pushed to make permanent will now be allowed to expire.

The $3.8 trillion budget request rolled out by the White House on Monday would renew the Making Work Pay tax credit for fiscal 2011, but then would have it sunset.
That’s a switch from last year, when Obama’s budget called for making the tax credit permanent. The cut costs the federal government about $63 billion in annual revenue while putting up to $400 in the pockets of workers making less than $95,000. It was approved for the first time in last year’s $787 billion stimulus package.

Is allowing a tax break to expire the same thing as raising taxes? Yes. Yes it is. I get that this is a drop in the bucket, but if the President believes this is a necessary step on the road to fiscal responsibility, be up front about it. Stop hiding behind bogus claims of only taxing “the rich”.