State of the Union Address & Romney Tax Talking Points
State of the Union Address Talking Points
(And some Romney tax related updates, too!)
President’s State of the Union Address Will Outline Blueprint for an America Built to Last
Key Point: President Obama will outline in his State of the Union a blueprint for a job-creating economy that’s built to last – one where hard work pays, responsibility is rewarded, and everyone does their fair share and plays by the same rules.
* In his State of the Union address, the President will lay out a blueprint for an economy that’s built to last – an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values.
* This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class and those trying to reach it. At stake is the very survival of the basic American promise that if you work hard, you can do well enough to raise a family, own a home and have some savings when you retire.
* The defining issue and most urgent challenge of our time is how to keep that promise alive. We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well but most Americans barely get by, or we can build a nation where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules.
* The economic security of the middle class has eroded for decades. Long before the recession, good jobs and manufacturing began leaving our shores. Hard work stopped paying off for too many Americans. Those at the top saw their incomes rise like never before, but the vast majority of Americans struggled with costs that were growing and paychecks that weren’t.
* The house of cards collapsed in 2008 after mortgages were sold to people who couldn’t afford or understand them, and banks made huge bets and paid bonuses with other people’s money. It was a crisis that cost us more than eight million jobs and plunged our economy and the world into a crisis from which we are still fighting to recover.
* The President has been clear that we still need to do more to create jobs and grow the economy. But under his leadership, the economy is growing again.
o The economy has added nearly 3.2 million private sector jobs over the last 22 months.
o American manufacturing is creating jobs for the first time since the late 1990s.
o The American auto industry is coming back, adding 100,000 jobs in the last year alone.
o American oil production is at the highest in eight years.
o We’re cutting the deficit by more than $2 trillion.
o And, as a result of reforms the signed into law, we’re reining in Wall Street abuses.
· Tonight he will lay out a blueprint that will build on this solid record and ensure an economy built to last over the long term, not one based on outsourcing, loopholes and risky financial deals that jeopardize the middle class.
* To move forward as a country, reduce our deficit and invest in manufacturing and education, we need to invest in it. There’s no question our tax code is far too complicated, and stacked against the middle class. When the average middle-class worker pays a higher tax rate than someone making $50 million a year, we have to change it to ensure that everyone pays their fair share and plays by the same rules.
* Tonight, the President will lay out specifics on the Buffett Rule, which says that millionaires and billionaires should pay at least the same tax rate as middle class Americans. Warren Buffett said he should not pay a lower tax rate than his secretary, and in fact his secretary – Debbie Bosanek – is sitting in the First Lady’s box tonight.
Romney Refuses to Pay His Fair Share or Level with the American People About It
Key Point: In releasing only last year’s tax returns and a guess for this year’s, Mitt Romney shows not only that he refuses to pay his fair share – he refuses even to level with the American people about it.
* After years of resisting and three different positions on it in the past two weeks, Mitt Romney today released limited and insufficient information about his finances. He showed not only that he refuses to pay his fair share – he refuses even to level with the American people about it.
* Romney gave John McCain’s campaign 23 years of tax returns when he was vetted for vice president, but today believes the American people are only entitled to one full year’s worth of returns and a guess on this year’s.
* This not only defies precedent set by presidential candidates – his father released 12 years of tax returns, President Bush released returns back to 1991, and President Obama released eight years of tax returns during the 2008 campaign – but it further weakens the central premise of his candidacy.
* Romney wants voters to judge him on his “real economy” experience at Bain Capital, but he won’t release his tax returns from the years he ran the company.
* Romney used loopholes available only to the wealthiest and large corporations to avoid paying his fair share. There may be substantial unresolved issues:
o We know Romney recently divested from China after deciding it conflicted with his ever-changing position on that country. We know he closed a Swiss bank account because he was worried it might cause political problems. But we don’t know about other potential conflicts of interest.
o We know Romney has made a fortune using offshore investments, from Swiss bank accounts to investments in famous tax havens like the Caymans, Bermuda and Luxembourg. But we don’t know if that helped him defer paying taxes on his Bain income or if he made offshore investments for non-tax reasons.
* This we know for sure: Romney doesn’t think he should have to pay his fair share, unlike most Americans. Romney pays a lower tax rate than many police, firefighters, teachers and small business owners, and he doesn’t want that to change.
* He opposes the Buffett Rule that would make sure millionaires and billionaires don’t pay lower tax rates than the middle class, and he opposes eliminating tax loopholes like the “carried interest” benefit for Wall Street so that the tax code rewards hard work instead of just wealth.
