Home  »  Economy  »  Geithner: Allowing Bush Tax Cuts To Expire Is “Responsible Thing To Do”

Geithner: Allowing Bush Tax Cuts To Expire Is “Responsible Thing To Do”



Jul 25, 2010 2 Comments ›› Pat Dollard

20091029-223849-pic-646322802_s640x462

WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said that allowing tax cuts for the wealthy to expire would be “the responsible thing to do.”

This is the last year for the tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush. Republicans generally have favored extending all of them. While Democrats are divided on the issue, President Obama has favored allowing the expiration of cuts he says have applied to the wealthiest people.

“It’s responsible to let the tax cuts expire that just go to 2 percent to 3 percent of Americans, the highest earning Americans,” Mr. Geithner told ABC’s “This Week” in an interview broadcast Sunday.

Doing so would show the world that the United States is “willing as a country now to start to make some progress” reducing long-term budget deficits, he said.

Mr. Geithner said he does not think higher taxes for those high earners will hurt economic growth.

He also said he “absolutely” believes Congress will act on taxes before the election. That’s a touchy issue for Democrats, some of whom may not be eager to address a hot-button issue such as taxes so close to Election Day.

Speaking on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,”Mr. Geithner says he supports allowing the top capital gains tax rate to revert to 20 percent. It’s 15 percent now.

He also addressed the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage buyers whose bailout has cost taxpayers $145 billion so far. The financial overhaul didn’t address their future. The Obama administration has said it wants to wait until next year to determine their future.

“I think we’re not going to preserve Fannie and Freddie in anything like the current form,” Mr. Geithner said on “Meet the Press.” ”We’re going to have to bring fundamental change to that market.”


  • Tyler520

    The only people who support this idea are the rich politicians and bottom-feeding parasites who don’t pay any taxes to begin with.

    Fact: if and when the Bush tax cuts expire, people in the bottom 10% tax bracket will automatically be bumped up into the 20th percentile.

    Fact: 70% of the richest people in the country are liberals and Democrats

    Fact: 70% of the poorest people in the country are liberals and Democrats

    This precedent has already been demonstrated in Communist countries, in which there are only 2 classes of people: the wealthy, powerful elitists, and the poor, laboring servile class.

    so much for their philosophy of equality and redistribution of wealth.

    These people need to be purged

  • Sentinel at the Gate

    “It’s responsible to let the tax cuts expire that just go to 2 percent to 3 percent of Americans”

    And evidently it’s also considered responsible of the Communists to saddle the American taxpayer with Trillion dollar deficits every year these cretins are in control of the government.

    I’m firmly convinced everyone in DC is mentally deranged to think massive taxation will save the nation and the economy, when all the evidence in the world is to the contrary.

    There will be a Day of Atonement soon Little Timmie.