Obama ‘comfortable’ with tax on millionaires

A close-up several United States 100-dollar bills © AFP/File Paul J. Richards

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama on Thursday said he was “comfortable” with a plan by Senate Democrats to pay for his $447 billion jobs bill with a 5.6 percent surcharge on millionaires.

Obama had proposed cutting itemized deductions for individuals earning $200,000 and families taking home $250,000 to ensure that the legislation does not inflate the already large deficit.

But Senate Democratic leaders, seeking to unite their caucus amid divisions over the plan, proposed that a better way to pay for the plan would be an extra charge on people earning one million dollars per year.

“We’ve always said that we would be open to a variety of ways to pay for it,” Obama said during a White House news conference.

“The approach that the Senate is taking I’m comfortable with, in order to deal with the jobs bill.
“I’m fine with the approach that they’re taking.”

© AFP — Published at Activist Post with license