Senator Cornyn: ‘Worst Possible Moment for a Huge Tax Hike’

Thursday I spoke on the Senate floor about the President’s insistence on raising taxes and the need to cut spending as part of an agreement to avert the fiscal cliff.

Its become disturbingly clear that President Obama doesnt mind whether or not we drive off the fiscal cliff.

Just last week Secretary Geithner said the White House was ‘absolutely’ prepared to go off the cliff unless Republicans agree to raise marginal tax rates.

President Obama is so desperate to secure this revenue that hes willing to risk another recession. Meanwhile, hes asking for more Stimulus spending along with the authority to raise the debt ceiling whenever he chooses.

If you have a deficit of $1.1 trillion a year, as we did in 2012, then raising taxes by $68 billion or $55 billion doesnt get you very far. In fact, it would fund the federal government for about a week – one week.

The President often says his tax increases would merely restore the top tax rates that prevailed when Bill Clinton was in the White House – but thats demonstrably false.

Thanks to new taxes under Obamacare, including the new 3.8% surtax on investment income, top rates would be significantly higher than they would be under the Clinton Administration.

Tax cuts did not create our fiscal problems, and so it is axiomatic that tax increases will not solve our fiscal problems alone.

If you ask me, this is the worst possible moment for a huge tax hike.