Dems want tax increase on millionaires

AP/Houston Chronicle:

House Democrats are proposing a tax surcharge on millionaires to pay for a big increase in education benefits for veterans of the war in Iraq, lawmakers said Tuesday.

The plan, if accepted by rank-and-file Democrats, would clear the way for a vote Thursday on a long-stalled war funding bill that would pay for military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan into next spring.

Conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats blocked a vote last week over Democratic leaders' attempts to add an additional $51.8 billion over the next decade for veterans education to the $183.8 billion war funding tab. They insisted on finding a way to pay for the new benefit without simply adding to the deficit.

"What we're talking about is a one-half percent income tax surcharge on incomes above

$1 million," said Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., a leader of the Blue Dog group. "So someone who earns $2 million a year would pay $5,000. ... They're not going to miss it."

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That is just not true. That $5000 could have gone into the economy to buy a piece of furniture or hire a part time employee. Taking money away from millionaires is not free. It is stealing it from the economy in general. What the Democrats are trying to do is cover the pork they have put into a war appropriations bill. The country would be better off if they would just remove the pork and pass the bill.