Friend --
In case you missed it -- yesterday Congress voted on a bill that gave them two simple choices:
A) Let President Obama's payroll tax cut expire, raising a typical family's taxes by more than $1,000 next year, or
B) Extend and expand the tax cut, helping 160 million people and letting that same family keep $1,500. Click here to find out what it does for you.
The payroll tax cut would be paid for by requiring millionaires and billionaires to pay a little more. But some in Congress think millionaires and billionaires should get to keep paying the already-low rate they get, thanks to the Bush tax cuts.
This one isn't complicated. And for a party whose leaders and candidates have pledged not to support any tax hike ever, taking money out of the pockets of middle-class families should have been unacceptable.
But almost every Republican in the Senate went with option A -- blocking President Obama's proposal, and refusing to make the wealthiest among us contribute their fair share to help struggling families and strengthen the economy.
So it's clear that when they say no tax hikes, they really mean millionaires and billionaires shouldn't pay more, ever -- even if that means your taxes go up.
We're not letting this one go until Congress reverses course and does the right thing. And one way to spread the word is to make sure you know exactly how the Obama tax cuts affect you and your family.
We've created a new Obama tax cut calculator -- use it to find out how much money Republicans in Congress want to take from you, then share it with everyone you know so they can find out, too.
In these last few weeks alone, we've seen Congress fail to act over and over again. First by refusing to keep teachers, firefighters, and cops on the job and to hire more of them, and now by refusing to protect a middle-class tax cut that makes a real difference for millions of American families.
And the Republican presidential candidates are in lock step with the GOP leaders in Congress on this. Just last week, Mitt Romney said he's "not looking to put money in people's pockets" and backed his Congressional counterparts.
Try the calculator to see what's at stake for your paycheck, and please share it with anyone you think needs to see it:
http://my.barackobama.com/Tax-Calculator
Thanks,
James
James Kvaal
Policy Director
Obama for America