President Obama on Monday announced plans to fund his proposed $447 billion jobs creation bill by raising taxes on wealthier Americans. The administration said Congress should pay for the jobs plan by imposing new limits on itemized deductions for charitable contributions and other deductions that can be taken by individuals who earn more than $200,000 a year and families earning more than $250,000. Elimination of those deductions would bring in an additional $405 billion in revenue, White House aides said.
Other sources of revenue to pay for the jobs package, according to the payment method announced by the Obama administration include, $41 billion from closing loopholes for oil and gas companies; $18 billion from requiring fund managers to pay higher taxes on certain income; and $3 billion from changing the tax treatment of corporate jets.
“This is the bill the Congress needs to pass,” the President said at a Rose Garden ceremony to promote the bill before formally sending it to Congress, while urging the public to pressure Congress to quickly approve the package.
The cost of the jobs plan would be in addition to the $1.5 trillion in spending cuts or new revenue that a bipartisan congressional “supercommittee” is charged with finding to reduce the country’s ever-increasing deficit.
The GOP response to the president’s plan of tax cuts and infrastructure spending was measured in light of recent polls showing plummeting approval ratings for Congress. Republican leaders said they were eager to work with the president but were deeply concerned that his proposal would hurt economic growth. Although Republicans have said there is promise in the president’s proposal to cut payroll taxes for small businesses and employees, they have rejected other portions of the package, including new spending on road projects, teacher salaries, and school construction. They said they support, as does the president, advancing free trade agreements with Korea, Colombia, and Panama.
