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12/22/2024 02:54:35 pm

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Republicans: Obama's Plans to Tax Highest Earners A 'Non-Starter'

Republicans on Sunday said President Barack Obama's plan to increase taxes on the country's highest wage earners in order to benefit the middle class was a "non-starter."

The planned tax hike, laid out by the White House on Saturday, will be part of his State of the Union address on Tuesday.

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Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida has quoted the notion "In order for some people to do better, someone has to do worse" pointing out that it is not true as he related it to the tax increase plane of the president. The senator said that raising the taxes on people who are successful is not going to make the people who are struggling to me more successful resulting to them being counter-productive.

Also included in his plans about tax, the president also plans to increase the investment tax rate, eliminating the tax break on inheritances, giving tax credit to families that are working and expanding the child care tax credit. According to an estimate, if these plans push through, there will be a tax hike of at least US$320 billion in the coming ten years. Obama also plans to impose a financial fee on the largest financial firms in the country.

Despite the criticisms from the Republicans, the president's plans are said to increase the capital gains and the dividends rates of couple who are making more than$500,000 annually to 28 percent and he pointed out that during his presidency, the top capital gains have increased from 15 percent to 23.8 percent.

As for Republican Jason Chaffetz of Utah, the plan is a non-starter and that the nation is not just one tax increase away as it needs more than that for people to be generally successful. Obama, however, is being supported by Democrats such as Chris van Hollen of Maryland and Sander Levin of Michigan.

Aside from the tax plans, Rubio also talked about the plans of Obama regarding the two years free college tuition in community colleges. Rubio, a potential candidate for the 2016 presidential elections, said that Obama wants to pour more money into a system that is already broken as people who want to have a middle-class job need to go to a better school instead of just community colleges. 

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