2012 Mass. Senate Debate: on Tax Reform


Scott Brown: Never raise taxes in a recession; it hurts job creators

Warren portrayed herself as someone who was being honest and realistic when she said she would "raise revenues," a euphemism for taxes, and would even cut the military budget and redirect spending to education programs and improvements in the nation's infrastructure.

Brown said he would never raise taxes on anyone and particularly not in the midst of a three-year recession, because doing so would hurt the "job creators" and crush small businesses.

Source: N.Y. Times on 2012 Mass. Senate debates Oct 11, 2012

Elizabeth Warren: Stop protecting loopholes for millionaires

Warren pointed to a series of Brown votes in the Senate that she said show he sided with big oil companies and held tax cuts for the middle class hostage to give tax cuts to millionaires. "Sen. Brown is out there protecting every loophole," she said.

Brown responded that Warren supports higher taxes, and also said putting more financial pressure on oil companies could raise prices at the pump. "I am on the taxpayer's side," he said, noting that it's now costing him $70 to fill up his pick-up truck.

Source: North Adams Transcript on 2012 Mass. Senate debate Sep 21, 2012

Scott Brown: Guilty as charged: I don't want to raise taxes

Warren said she favored a "balanced approach" to deficit reduction. Brown sought to depict Warren as a tax-increaser, and he deflected her attacks. "Her criticism of me is that I'm not gonna raise taxes, and that's an accurate criticism," he said. At another point, he said, "The criticism you're hearing. I don't want to raise taxes. Guilty as charged." He said of Professor Warren, "she's obsessed with raising taxes. The first thing, every single time, is to raise taxes."
Source: FutureOfCapitalism.com on 2012 Mass. Senate Debate Sep 21, 2012

Scott Brown: I'm not going to raise taxes on our job creators

Warren and Brown tangled over Brown's recent statement that he would vote against a plan to extend Bush era tax cuts, if the cuts were not extended for those earning over $250,000 a year. "He would let taxes go up for 98% of families in order to protect tax breaks for the top 2%," said Warren. "I'll make it crystal clear. I will not vote to increase taxes on working families, not ever."

Brown said the US Chamber of Commerce had said that Warren's tax policies were the "greatest threat to free enterprise." He added, "We already have a tremendous amount of tax revenue in Washington right now. I'm not going to raise taxes on our job creators."

Source: Boston Globe on 2012 Mass. Senate debate Sep 20, 2012

  • The above quotations are from 2012 Massachusetts Senate Debate.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Tax Reform.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
  • Click here for more quotes by Elizabeth Warren on Tax Reform.
  • Click here for more quotes by Scott Brown on Tax Reform.
Candidates and political leaders on Tax Reform:

Retired Senate as of Jan. 2015:
GA:Chambliss(R)
IA:Harkin(D)
MI:Levin(D)
MT:Baucus(D)
NE:Johanns(R)
OK:Coburn(R)
SD:Johnson(D)
WV:Rockefeller(D)

Resigned from 113th House:
AL-1:Jo Bonner(R)
FL-19:Trey Radel(R)
LA-5:Rod Alexander(R)
MA-5:Ed Markey(D)
MO-9:Jo Ann Emerson(R)
NC-12:Melvin Watt(D)
SC-1:Tim Scott(R) 		Retired House to run for Senate or Governor:
AR-4:Tom Cotton(R)
GA-1:Jack Kingston(R)
GA-10:Paul Broun(R)
GA-11:Phil Gingrey(R)
HI-1:Colleen Hanabusa(D)
IA-1:Bruce Braley(D)
LA-6:Bill Cassidy(R)
ME-2:Mike Michaud(D)
MI-14:Gary Peters(D)
MT-0:Steve Daines(R)
OK-5:James Lankford(R)
PA-13:Allyson Schwartz(D)
TX-36:Steve Stockman(R)
WV-2:Shelley Capito(R) 		Retired House as of Jan. 2015:
AL-6:Spencer Bachus(R)
AR-2:Tim Griffin(R)
CA-11:George Miller(D)
CA-25:Howard McKeon(R)
CA-33:Henry Waxman(D)
CA-45:John Campbell(R)
IA-3:Tom Latham(R)
MN-6:Michele Bachmann(R)
NC-6:Howard Coble(R)
NC-7:Mike McIntyre(D)
NJ-3:Jon Runyan(R)
NY-4:Carolyn McCarthy(D)
NY-21:Bill Owens(D)
PA-6:Jim Gerlach(R)
UT-4:Jim Matheson(D)
VA-8:Jim Moran(D)
VA-10:Frank Wolf(R)
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Page last updated: Dec 04, 2018