Recovering from Tax Day

Statement

Dear Friend,

Many of us just completed our annual taxes, and are saying to ourselves -- how is the federal government remotely in debt! Unfortunately, we won't be able to count on any relief in the near future. And Harry Reid and President Obama weren't wasting any time pushing their latest tax increase plan -- the "Buffet tax increase proposal."

This was just a new name on the same stale tax increase proposal, a plan that even the White House admits won't help reduce our historic deficit. And, in case you forgot, it was President Obama who said in 2009 that we shouldn't raise taxes during a recession. The economy is not nearly as strong as it should be, so should we really be raising taxes -- on anyone? Well fortunately we defeated their proposal last night in the Senate.

The president recently stated that the Buffet tax increase will "stabilize our debt and deficits for the next decade." But in another contradiction the White House said, "No one ever suggested that implementing Buffett Rule would contribute in large measure to reducing the deficit."

Raising taxes now, when even the White House says it won't help reduce the deficit, would have been a mistake. And it certainly wasn't going to help create jobs. The Buffet tax increase is simply the president's old tactic of more class warfare, pitting one class against another. Instead, I want a complete tax reform overhaul, to flatten the code and make it fairer.

Although a reasonable tax reform effort is unlikely with the current Senate leadership and current administration, the good news is that folks in Louisiana and around the country see right through the president's rhetoric, and we defeated this attempt.

Sincerely,

David Vitter
United States Senator

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