Monday, March 26, 2012

House liberal budget has trillions more in taxes, stimulus than Obama plan

Liberal House Democrats on Monday unveiled a 2013 budget that increases taxes by $4.7 trillion more than President Obama proposed in his own budget last month.

The Congressional Progressive Caucus said the taxes are necessary to fund $2.9 trillion in new stimulus spending to “put Americans back to work” and “rebuild the middle classes” while reducing the deficit. This new spending includes canceling the cuts in last August’s debt-ceiling deal between Congress and the White House.

The CPC budget will be offered as an amendment this week to the House GOP budget for 2013, which contains $2 trillion less in revenue than Obama has proposed over 10 years.
Liberals get $897 billion in tax revenue from imposing an energy tax on carbon fuels, and $849 billion from taxing Wall Street trades. Another $319 comes from a millionaires surtax. The CPC budget also ends Bush-era tax rates for the wealthy.

The budget creates new job corps programs and sets up an infrastructure bank to create jobs.

It remains to be seen how many Democrats will vote for what is essentially a liberal wish list. Democratic leadership is planning to put forth a budget that more closely tracks Obama’s proposal.

Last year, only 77 Democrats voted for the progressive budget alternative. Late last week, leading progressives said they were prepared to support the leadership's budget alternative.

The GOP budget, authored by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), cuts spending by $5.3 trillion compared to Obama’s budget. All told, the Ryan plan has $6.8 trillion less in revenue and $6.6 trillion less in spending than the Progressive budget.

The liberal budget adds $1.3 trillion in spending over 10 years compared to the Obama proposal. This includes deeper cuts to funds used to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Because of increased revenue, the liberal budget contains smaller deficits than either Obama’s budget or the Ryan plan. Whereas Obama adds $6.4 trillion in deficits over 10 years and the Ryan plan adds $3.1 trillion, the CPC budget adds $3 trillion.

The CPC budget does not have cuts to Medicare benefits, something the GOP has proposed. It does propose to reform Social Security by eliminating the cap on payroll taxes, meaning income above $108,000 would also be taxed for Social Security.

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