If This Came Out Last Month It Might Have Saved NY-9 For The Democrats-- Obama Finally Agrees To Make The Rich Pay A Fairer Share Of Taxes

I bet Republicans aren't going to be happy hearing that President Obama intends to pay for his jobs proposals by increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans and closing tax loopholes for Big Business. He wants to limit itemized deductions for families making more than $250,000 a year, something he campaigned on in 2008. That would raise something like $400 billion over 10 years. On top of that Obama wants to tax carried interest-- the income investment fund managers make-- as regular income instead of as capital gains (another $18 billion in revenue) and eliminate a $40 billion tax break for Big Oil and a $3 billion tax break for private jet depreciation.

The extreme right Republican House leaders, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), shot down the proposal out of hand-- no surprises there. With a straight face, Boehner's press flack, Michael Steele said, “It would be fair to say this tax increase on job creators is the kind of proposal both parties have opposed in the past. We remain eager to work together on ways to support job growth, but this proposal doesn’t appear to have been offered in that bipartisan spirit."

I noticed that the White House released a state-by-state study on how the President's jobs bill would impact each state and I decided to check out Ohio and Virginia, in the off-chance that a Boehner or a Cantor voter stumbles upon DWT in a search for why the economy has stagnated in their districts. According to the study the plan has 5 components:

1. Tax Cuts to Help America’s Small Businesses Hire and Grow

• The President’s plan will cut the payroll tax in half to 3.1% for employers on the first $5 million in wages, providing broad tax relief to all businesses but targeting it to the 98 percent of firms with wages below this level. In Ohio, 200,000 firms will receive a payroll tax cut under the American Jobs Act.

2. Putting Workers Back on the Job While Rebuilding and Modernizing America

• The President’s plan includes $50 billion in immediate investments for highways, transit, rail and aviation, helping to modernize an infrastructure that now receives a grade of “D” from the American Society of Civil Engineers and putting hundreds of thousands of construction workers back on the job. Of the investments for highway and transit modernization projects, the President’s plan will make immediate investments of at least $1,051,800,000 in Ohio that could support a minimum of approximately 13,700 local jobs.

• The President is proposing to invest $35 billion to prevent layoffs of up to 280,000 teachers, while supporting the hiring of tens of thousands more and keeping cops and firefighters on the job. These funds would help states and localities avoid and reverse layoffs now, and will provide $1,093,800,000 in funds to Ohio to support up to 14,200 educator and first responder jobs.

• The President is proposing a $25 billion investment in school infrastructure that will modernize at least 35,000 public schools-- investments that will create jobs, while improving classrooms and upgrading our schools to meet 21st century needs. Ohio will receive $985,500,000 in funding to support as many as 12,800 jobs.

• The President is proposing to invest $15 billion in a national effort to put construction workers on the job rehabilitating and refurbishing hundreds of thousands of vacant and foreclosed homes and businesses. Ohio could receive about $577,200,000 to revitalize and refurbish local communities, in addition to funds that would be available through a competitive application.

• The President’s plan proposes $5 billion of investments for facilities modernization needs at community colleges. Investment in modernizing community colleges fills a key resource gap, and ensures these local, bedrock education institutions have the facilities and equipment to address currentworkforce demands in today’s highly technical and growing fields. Ohio could receive $148,300,000 in funding in the next fiscal year for its community colleges.

3. Pathways Back to Work for Americans Looking for Jobs.

• Drawing on the best ideas of both parties and the most innovative states, the President is proposing the most sweeping reforms to the unemployment insurance (UI) system in 40 years help those without jobs transition to the workplace. This could help put the 250,000 long-term unemployed workers in Ohio back to work.

• Alongside these reforms, the President is reiterating his call to extend unemployment insurance, preventing 80,000 people looking for work in Ohio from losing their benefits in just the first 6 weeks.

And, across the country, the number saved from losing benefits would triple by the end of the year.

• The President is proposing a new Pathways Back to Work Fund to provide hundreds of thousands of low-income youth and adults with opportunities to work and to achieve needed training in growth industries. Pathways Back to Work could place 5,200 adults and 10,900 youths in jobs in Ohio.

4. Tax Relief for Every American Worker and Family

• The President’s plan will expand the payroll tax cut passed last December by cutting workers payroll taxes in half next year. A typical household in Ohio, with a median income of around $46,000, will receive a tax cut of around $1,430.

5. Fully Paid for as Part of the President’s Long-Term Deficit Reduction Plan.

• To ensure that the American Jobs Act is fully paid for, the President will call on the Joint Committee to come up with additional deficit reduction necessary to pay for the Act and still meet its deficit target. The President will, in the coming days, release a detailed plan that will show how we can do that while achieving the additional deficit reduction necessary to meet the President’s broader goal of stabilizing our debt as a share of the economy.

The people of Virginia are being screwed by Cantor the same way Boehner is screwing Ohio's residents. In Virginia it would be 150,000 firms that would receive a payroll tax cut and a $809,000,000 investment in Virginia transporation projects that could support a minimum of 10,500 local jobs, as well as $742,300,000 in funds to Virginia to support up to 10,800 educator and first responder jobs. Virginia's share of infrastructure jobs would be $425,300,000 (something like 5,500 jobs). And the Pathways Back to Work project for low-income youth could place 2,200 adults and 9,000 youths in jobs in Virginia. On top of that, a typical household in Virginia, with a median income of around $61,000, will receive a tax cut of around $1,890, substantially more than a typical Ohio household.