End The Bush Tax Cuts For Richest 2%

SUMMARY: President Obama is calling on Congress to end the Bush tax cuts for the richest 2% and extend them for the middle class. We must focus on what's fair and that means ending the Bush tax cuts for the richest 2%.

CORE MESSAGE

End the Bush tax cuts for the richest 2%. It's time they pay their fair share.

Connect: Our tax system is rigged in favor of the wealthy and big corporations. It's time the tax code was fair to everyone who works hard and plays by the rules.

Values: Americans applaud financial success but when the rich get special tax breaks they don't need, the middle class has to make up the difference - and that's not right.

Define: The richest people in our country have received the biggest tax breaks, but Republicans in Congress want to give them even more -- while cutting middle-class priorities like education and Medicare.

Contrast: The President's plan would finally end the wasteful Bush tax cuts that only the richest 2% can get, but Republicans are trying to protect them by holding tax cuts for everyone else hostage.

Bottom line: It's not right for politicians to stack the deck in favor of their wealthy donors and stick the rest of us with the tab. Americans who do well in America ought to do well by America. It's time they pay their fair share.

Words to use: Bush tax cuts for the richest 2% [instead of "$250,000"];
Special breaks and loopholes

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ATTACKS AND RESPONSES

ATTACK: "We need to lower everyone's tax rates."
RESPONSE:

Let's be clear exactly what Republicans in Congress are trying to do: protect the Bush tax cuts for the richest 2%, not anybody else. They've already voted over 10 times in the last year and half to massively raise taxes on the middle class.
Now Republicans are even holding tax cuts for everyone else -- what we agree on -- hostage to what we disagree on.
The wealthiest people in our country have received the biggest tax breaks and it's time they pay their fair share.

ATTACK: "We need to cut wasteful and out-of-control government spending instead of raising taxes."
RESPONSE:

Actually, giant Bush tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations are a major cause of the budget deficit. What's really wasteful are giant tax breaks for CEOs, hedge fund billionaires, and corporations that ship jobs overseas.
We need to close these budget-busting loopholes and stop these wasteful tax breaks.
The wealthiest people in our country have received the biggest tax breaks, and it's time they pay their share.

ATTACK: "The wealthy are job creators -- raising their taxes will hurt our economy and cost jobs."
RESPONSE:

That's ridiculous: if giving rich people more tax breaks created jobs, we'd already be swimming in jobs.
American families are concerned about jobs, what those jobs pay, and making ends meet -- but Republican politicians are more concerned about giving the richest 2% even more special tax breaks.
These politicians have signed a pledge promising that they will never vote to make the wealthy and big corporations pay a penny more in taxes, even by closing loopholes that reward them for shipping American jobs overseas.

ATTACK: "Raising taxes on the wealthy is class warfare."
RESPONSE:

It's not right that the rich and big corporations get special breaks and loopholes the rest of us don't get. It's about time they started living by the same rules as the rest of us.
As Warren Buffett says, the only class warfare in America is being waged by his class, and they're winning.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Only 2% of American households make more than $250,000 a year -- that's over $20,000 per month.
While a middle-class person making $50,000 a year gets a tax break of only about $1,000 from the Bush tax cuts, a millionaire making over $1 million gets at least $150,000.
Washington Republicans are trying to force through their plan to lock in those Bush tax cuts for the richest 2% and give them more tax cuts on top of them -- giving wealthy people making more than $1 million a year a tax cut of nearly $300,000, but raising taxes on millions of working Americans who make between $50K-100K by up to $4,500.
Mitt Romney's tax plan would even raise taxes on 18 million working families to pay for more wasteful tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires.
Nearly 1,500 people who made more than $1 million paid no federal income taxes in 2009.
America's 400 richest families have seen their effective federal income tax rate drop by more than half over the last 50 years, from about 40% to less than 20%.
In fact, many millionaires and billionaires -- approximately 55,000 -- are paying lower taxes than millions of middle-class Americans.

We develop messaging by aggregating, analyzing and distilling polling, tested messaging, and expert recommendations, and monitoring the media to identify what is and isn't working. See here for some of the experts and organizations we draw on.