President Obama wants Congress to vote on his jobs bill. Only problem is, it’ll never pass the Republican House, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) doesn’t even have his entire caucus on board in the Senate. In their latest attempt to get their colleagues on board, Democratic leaders are proposing a familiar measure — the millionaire’s tax:
Seeking to consolidate party support for President Obama’s jobs bill, Senate Democrats are considering a proposal to impose a five percent surtax on millionaires as one way of paying for the legislation, according to two party aides.
As currently written, Obama wants the joint Super Committee to increase its deficit reduction target by enough to pay for the whole jobs bill. That way its cost could be offset by spending cuts and revenue measures and other reforms that have bipartisan support. But failing that, Obama’s bill would trigger a series of new taxes on wealthy Americans, including oil and gas companies, hedge fund managers and others.
But Democrats aren’t particularly pleased with the current plan to pay for the bill, especially those who represent oil-producing states, so they appear to have rallied around something they can all agree on.
More here.
Democrats have already proposed such a tax a number of times in the past, always to no avail. I wrote about the history of the millionaire’s tax here.
More on the folly of taxing millionaires here, from Veronique de Rugy.