Republicans Unhappy With White House Pitch for Tax Hikes to Pay for Jobs Plan
Republicans soured on parts of White House’s plan to create jobs Monday after the president’s budget director proposed paying for the $447 billion jobs bill with a string of tax increases that Republicans have long opposed.
White House Budget Director Jack Lew gave an overview Monday of how the president plans to keep his jobs bill deficit-neutral, as the administration sent the bill over to Congress. The proposals range from a limit on itemized deductions for high-income earners to provisions that would raise taxes on oil and gas companies as well as corporate jet owners.
House Speaker John Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck, noting the president has pushed these proposals before, suggested the president was getting off on the wrong foot.
“It would be fair to say this tax increase on job creators is the kind of proposal both parties have opposed in the past. We remain eager to work together on ways to support job growth, but this proposal doesn’t appear to have been offered in that bipartisan spirit,” he said in a statement.
House Republican Leader Eric Cantor’s office sent out an email after the briefing titled: “Beware of the Tax Man.”
The White House explanation also comes amid concern that the bill could make the job of the newly formed deficit “super committee” harder.
Lew said the proposals would more than pay for the bill, though the committee is free to find different ways to pay for it.