There’s been a lot of talk about the American public’s rate of taxation, much of it from the perspective that we are currently overtaxed and that raising taxes would place onerous burdens on our individual liberty and collective prosperity. The following is a quick list of sitting legislators that want your taxes to go up this year, broken down by legislative body.
House of Representatives
Aderholt, Robert [R]
Akin, W. [R]
Alexander, Rodney [D]
Bachus, Spencer [R]
Bartlett, Roscoe [R]
Barton, Joe [R]
Biggert, Judy [R]
Bilirakis, Michael [R]
Bishop, Rob [R]
Blackburn, Marsha [R]
Blunt, Roy [R]
Bonner, Jo [R]
Bono Mack, Mary [R]
Boozman, John [R]
Brady, Kevin [R]
Brown, Henry [R]
Brown-Waite, Virginia [R]
Burgess, Michael [R]
Burton, Dan [R]
Buyer, Stephen [R]
Calvert, Ken [R]
Camp, David [R]
Cantor, Eric [R]
Capito, Shelley [R]
Carter, John [R]
Castle, Michael [R]
Coble, Howard [R]
Cole, Tom [R]
Crenshaw, Ander [R]
Culberson, John [R]
Cunningham, Randall [R]
DeMint, Jim [R] (currently in the Senate)
Diaz-Balart, Lincoln [R]
Diaz-Balart, Mario [R]
Dreier, David [R]
Duncan, John [R]
Ehlers, Vernon [R]
Flake, Jeff [R]
Forbes, J. [R]
Franks, Trent [R]
Frelinghuysen, Rodney [R]
Gallegly, Elton [R]
Gerlach, Jim [R]
Goodlatte, Robert [R]
Granger, Kay [R]
Graves, Samuel [R]
Hall, Ralph [D]
Hastings, Doc [R]
Hensarling, Jeb [R]
Herger, Walter [R]
Hoekstra, Peter [R]
Hunter, Duncan [R]
Issa, Darrell [R]
Johnson, Samuel [R]
Johnson, Timothy [R]
Jones, Walter [R]
Kennedy, Mark [R]
King, Peter [R]
King, Steve [R]
Kingston, Jack [R]
Kirk, Mark [R]
Kline, John [R]
Latham, Thomas [R]
LaTourette, Steven [R]
Lewis, Jerry [R]
Linder, John [R]
LoBiondo, Frank [R]
Lucas, Frank [R]
Manzullo, Donald [R]
Marshall, James [D]
Matheson, Jim [D]
McCotter, Thaddeus [R]
McKeon, Howard [R]
Mica, John [R]
Miller, Candice [R]
Miller, Gary [R]
Miller, Jeff [R]
Moran, Jerry [R]
Murphy, Tim [R]
Myrick, Sue [R]
Nunes, Devin [R]
Paul, Ronald [R]
Pence, Mike [R]
Petri, Thomas [R]
Pitts, Joseph [R]
Platts, Todd [R]
Putnam, Adam [R]
Radanovich, George [R]
Rehberg, Dennis [R]
Rogers, Harold [R]
Rogers, Michael [R]
Rogers, Michael [R]
Rohrabacher, Dana [R]
Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana [R]
Royce, Edward [R]
Ryan, Paul [R]
Ryun, Jim [R]
Scott, David [D]
Sensenbrenner, F. [R]
Sessions, Peter [R]
Shadegg, John [R]
Shimkus, John [R]
Shuster, William [R]
Simpson, Michael [R]
Smith, Christopher [R]
Smith, Lamar [R]
Souder, Mark [R]
Stearns, Clifford [R]
Sullivan, John [R]
Terry, Lee [R]
Thornberry, William [R]
Tiahrt, Todd [R]
Tiberi, Patrick [R]
Turner, Michael [R]
Upton, Frederick [R]
Vitter, David [R] (currently in the Senate)
Walden, Greg [R]
Wamp, Zach [R]
Whitfield, Edward [R]
Wolf, Frank [R]
Young, C. W. [R]
Young, Donald [R]
Senate
Alexander, Lamar [R]
Bayh, Evan [D]
Bennett, Robert [R]
Bond, Christopher [R]
Brownback, Samuel [R]
Bunning, Jim [R]
Chambliss, Saxby [R]
Cochran, Thad [R]
Collins, Susan [R]
Cornyn, John [R]
Crapo, Michael [R]
DeWine, Michael [R]
Ensign, John [R]
Enzi, Michael [R]
Graham, Lindsey [R]
Grassley, Charles [R]
Gregg, Judd [R]
Hatch, Orrin [R]
Hutchison, Kay [R]
Inhofe, James [R]
Kyl, Jon [R]
Lugar, Richard [R]
McConnell, Mitch [R]
Murkowski, Lisa [R]
Nelson, Ben [D]
Roberts, Pat [R]
Sessions, Jefferson [R]
Shelby, Richard [R]
Specter, Arlen [R]
Voinovich, George [R]
This is, of course, a listing of “yea” votes for the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, the act of congress that set the current federal tax rates and included a sunset clause that would cause the rates to revert to Clinton-era rates this year (source info: 1, 2). Oddly, John Boehner (the minority leader in the House of Representatives) couldn’t be bothered to vote on the matter; he’s one of four House members recorded as “not voting” on the matter.
Just this morning I heard a news report claiming that the Democrats only had as little as 52 votes to pass a tax cut extension that excludes the top tax bracket. Looking back, the current tax rate passed with exactly 51 votes in the Senate, through a reconciliation bill rigged to prevent a filibuster. I’m rather in favor of the Democrats putting forward the filibuster-vulnerable tax cut package and see if the Republicans have the nuts to stand on the Senate Floor and block it with an election less that two months off.
putting sunset clause into legislation is not uncommon, so to say that these reps “want” your taxes to go up is little misleading. I interpeted it that they left it to be decided by the current congress based on the current situation. current situation sucks. if they don’t extend it, my taxes will probably go up $1,800 or so I’ve heard. nothing to cheer about.
I think we should raise taxes on Californians only.
I know where you’re coming from, there. California doesn’t subsidize you flyover people enough as it stands. I hope you’re enjoying the highways and levies, farm subsidies and tornado relief money we fling your way every year.
@meesha – thanks for spilling the beans on your adjusted taxable income, there. About $118,000 filing single or $147,000 filing joint? I see why you complain about Kansas City’s commuter tax so much. I don’t know how you get by on that pittance your boss is giving you.
I’ve heard different numbers on the radio and was too lazy to look them up. I wish I made that much ,not even close.
Ah. Well the 2003 tax cut lowered the rates by 2% above certain values. For people filing jointly, it applies to everything you earn past the first $56,800, for people filing singly it applies to everything you earn past the first $28,400. That dollar value is after you’ve applied any deductions for your mortgage, kid, etc. If you’ve got a copy of last year’s 1040 form handy, it would be the value listed as your “total taxable income” (line 43, I think).
This page has numbers closer to what I’ve heard on the radio
http://blogs.forbes.com/brianwingfield/2010/09/15/how-expiration-of-the-bush-era-tax-cuts-could-affect-you/
INCOME: $70,350
Household
Current tax liability: $2,300
After expiration of tax cuts: $4,900 (113% increase from current law)
Under Obama budget: $2,300 (no change from current law)
Plus child tax credit (I have 1) goes down to $500. I am sure you can dig up a page to support what you said, don’t bother. I don’t see how they can pass an increase in the election year.
The $2,300 value from Forbes already assumes married-with-two-children, but I’m a bit skeptical on those numbers. A $2,300 tax with two $1,000 child credits assumed means the total tax assumed was $4,300. A look at the 2009 tax table indicates that taxable income would have to have been about $34,200 for a married couple filing jointly. The 2003 tax cut didn’t affect that bracket, it went from 15% to 15%, whereas the next bracket up dropped from 27% to 25%.
The supporting website there would be http://irs.gov but I seriously don’t expect people to go there.
And they don’t have to pass an increase. They just need John Boehner to stand there and say his party refuses to renew the tax cuts unless they include everything including the $250,000+ bracket. If the Republicans block action at this point, folks’ taxes go up. That strikes me as deeply un-Republican, so I rather doubt they’d really do it. The Republican leadership is counting on the Democrats being a bunch of pussies and thus will probably get their way. Because the Democratic leadership is largely comprised of spineless simps.