GOP Address: Sen. Orrin Hatch Says Raising Taxes Is ‘Not a Solution’
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Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg via Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — Raising taxes on businesses is the wrong solution while in the middle of economic crisis, according to Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah who delivers this week’s Republican address.
Sen. Hatch warns Americans about the impending tax hike set to hit “middle-class families, job creators and seniors” if the president and Congress don’t act soon.
“The uncertainty caused by this tax crisis — or Taxmageddon — is contributing to America’s lackluster economic recovery,” he says in the address. “That’s not a Republican talking point; that’s based on what job creators across the country are saying.”
Like his Republican colleagues in Washington, Hatch contends that if Congress passes the Democratic plan not to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for families with incomes higher than $250,000, business owners would have trouble generating jobs in the U.S.
“This isn’t the time for political games and vilifying job creators. The President and his Washington allies need to stop holding America’s economy hostage in order to raise taxes on those trying to lead our economic recovery,” says Hatch, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Finance Committee.
But President Obama and congressional Democrats say that the GOP plan put forward by Hatch that would extend tax cuts for the wealthy represents “top-down economics” that would gut education and training, while raising taxes for middle-class households.
Still, “Raising taxes [on American business owners] as our economy continues to struggle is not a solution, and the majority of Americans and businesses understand that,” says Hatch.
Tax reform “should mean lower tax rates to promote more hiring, investment and a stronger economy,” he says.
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