Congress extends Middle Class tax cuts

Congress on Thursday voted to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for the Middle Class, but some members of Congress say the move didn’t go far enough toward helping small businesses.

“This measure will help ensure that seniors can make ends meet in this challenging economic environment,” U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Ga., said in a statement. “Unfortunately, this measure does not go far enough.

“Given the current state of our fragile economic recovery, now is not the time to raise taxes on any American,” Bishop said. “Businesses large and small are still having difficulty creating new jobs, training their workers, and growing for the future. I remain deeply concerned that raising taxes on those businesses would further impede job creation and punish success at a time when we should be encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit.”

While Bishop voted in favor of the measure, U.S. Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ga., didn’t, saying “a vote for this bill is a vote to raise taxes on millions of American families and small business owners.” The measure passed Congress by a 234-188 margin.

“Democrat leaders argue that we have to raise taxes to reduce the deficit, but this is absolutely false,” Graves said in a speech on the House floor. “The burden to reduce the deficit should be on Congress, and not on the backs of the hardworking Americans. It is our job to make the tough spending cuts and restore fiscal discipline, not to make millions of American families and businesses the scapegoat for our debt.

“Keep this in mind: no tax increase has ever created one job,” Graves added. “If America’s private sector is going to create the jobs that we desperately need, Congress must stop the threat of new taxes, get out of the way, and let employers have some certainty for once.”