(Original Post)
Updated: Wednesday, 23 May 2012, 8:18 PM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 23 May 2012, 8:18 PM EDT
(NewsCore) - Is House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi abandoning President Barack Obama in his effort to raise taxes on households making more than $250,000? It sure sounded that way Wednesday.
In a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, Pelosi called on Republicans to pass a permanent extension of Bush-era tax levels for the middle class. The only group Pelosi singled out for a tax increase was people earning $1 million or more.
"We must ask the very wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share," she wrote in her letter. "Democrats believe that tax cuts for those earning over a million dollars a year should expire and that we should use the resulting revenues to pay down the deficit."
What about families making more than $250,000, whom Obama has consistently targeted for higher taxes? They would get an extension of current tax rates under her proposal.
A White House spokeswoman, Amy Brundage, sought to raise pressure on Republicans, while sticking with the administration's $250,000 threshold.
"The president has been clear that Congress must extend the tax rates for all families making less than $250,000 a year and let the rates for the very wealthiest expire at the end of the year," Brundage said. "The question now is whether Republicans in Congress will vote to give millions of middle-class families the confidence that they won't see their taxes go up at the end of the year, or whether they will continue to hold the middle class hostage so they can extend big tax cuts for the very wealthiest Americans that our nation can't afford."
Meanwhile, a liberal activist group, Citizens for Tax Justice, criticized Pelosi's proposal, saying it would raise far less revenue than the Obama plan, and also would represent a windfall for many households earning $1 million, because they would get the benefit of tax-rate relief on their income up to $1 million.
"This town may never agree on who is middle-class, but surely we can agree it doesn't include anyone who makes over a million dollars a year," said Robert McIntyre, director of Citizens for Tax Justice.
Democrats suggested the purpose of Pelosi's letter was to seek common ground with Republicans, and avoid another end-of-the-year cliffhanger on taxes. But the real goal appeared to be highlighting the GOP's refusal to allow tax levels to go up for anyone, even the wealthiest Americans.
Underscoring the point, a Democratic source said, "If Republicans refuse to move on this proposal, it is clear they are standing with millionaires and endangering the economic security of the middle class."
Predictably, Republicans rejected Pelosi's proposal. Republicans, who have been gearing up for a House vote on extending the current tax levels for all earners, cast the move as a Democratic concession, and a major split with the White House.