2006 Minnesota 3-way Senate Debate: on Tax Reform

Amy Klobuchar: Roll back tax cuts on people making over $336,000 a year

KLOBUCHAR: This Congress has taken a $200 billion budget surplus and turned it into a $250 billion budget deficit. One out of 12 federal tax dollars that you pay goes to interest on that debt. We need to roll back the Bush tax cuts on people making over $336,000 a year. That’s the top 1%; that brings in $56 billion a year. Closing the tax shelters, $70 billion a year; taking back the oil giveaways, that balances the budget. We can’t keep living on a credit card.

KENNEDY: If you look at her tax proposal of $1.5 trillion, the top 1% only covers about a third of that. When someone like Ms. Klobuchar says she wants to tax the rich, the middle class gets drenched.

KLOBUCHAR: The proposals I’ve made does not change the tax cut for the middle class, in fact it adds tax cuts for the middle class. We’re going to pay for it by rolling back the tax cut on those in the top 1%.

Mark Kennedy: Tax relief promotes job growth

KENNEDY: The solution is to focus on the spending side. How do we control spending so we can keep taxes low and keep growing jobs? Ms. Klobuchar’s $1.5 trillion increase in taxes would be devastating for the economy and would kill jobs. We ought to continue with the tax relief that helps to promote that job growth.

KLOBUCHAR: We need to roll back the Bush tax cuts on people making over $336,000 a year.

KENNEDY: If you look at her tax proposal of $1.5 trillion, the top 1% only covers about a third of that. When someone like Ms. Klobuchar says she wants to tax the rich, the middle class gets drenched.

KLOBUCHAR: The proposals I’ve made does not change the tax cut for the middle class, in fact it adds tax cuts for the middle class. We’re going to pay for it by rolling back the tax cut on those in the top 1%.

Robert Fitzgerald: Bush tax cuts will be paid for by young people in the future

KENNEDY: We ought to continue with the tax relief that helps to promote that job growth.

FITZGERALD: The Bush tax cuts are set to expire on a schedule set forth by Republicans. We’re in a war. You do not have tax cuts when you’re running $300 billion deficits. You have tax deferments, which falls on the backs of young people and young families, who are going to have to pay off this debt. That impedes their ability to earn and to pay for their retirement. I do not support extending the Bush tax cuts.

KLOBUCHAR: We need to roll back the Bush tax cuts on people making over $336,000 a year. That’s the top 1%; that brings in $56 billion a year.

FITZGERALD: The tax code is incentivized by those who can afford to cheat, shirk, and duck their tax responsibility. We need to have clear and concise legislation on our tax policy, which we don’t have right now.