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AZ Congressional GOP Opposes President's Middle Class Tax Cut

Republicans say Arizona businesses will suffer if President Obama is allowed to increase taxes on wealthier Americans.

"The president is on the campaign trail this week calling on Congress to let the Bush-era tax cuts expire for individuals making more than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year. Arizona Republican Senator Jon Kyl says the president’s plan would just prolong this lingering bad economy and cause further layoffs in Arizona.

“So you have a slower economy now and even more people that would be subject to this increase taxation and it goes directly to the creation of jobs or the non-creation of jobs," Kyl said. "And that’s why Republicans consistently say, 'don’t raise taxes on the very people who historically have created the bulk of the jobs coming out of a recession.'”

The president counters that his proposal would shield ninety seven percent of small businesses from a tax hike. The issue is unlikely to get resolved before November’s elections but the Senate majority leader says his chamber will vote on the president’s proposal later this month.    

Based on Capitol Hill, Matt Laslo is a freelance reporter who has been covering Congress, the White House and the Supreme Courtfor more than five years. While he has filed stories for more than 40 local NPR stations, his work has also appeared in The Atlantic, The Chattanooga Times Free Press, National Public Radio, The Omaha World-Herald, Pacifica Radio, Politics