Republican Sen. Rob Portman: Bush Tax Cuts Made Tax Code ‘More Progressive’
Republican Ohio Sen. Rob Portman appeared on Fox & Friends on Tuesday where he criticized President Barack Obama for claiming that successful small businesses have to thank public sector projects for facilitating some of that success. In defending the Bush-era tax cuts, Portman claimed that the cuts made the tax code more progressive because every year they have been active, the nation’s top earners have been responsible for more of the overall tax burden.
The hosts of Fox & Friends asked Portman to weigh in on a clip of President Obama from the weekend telling successful small business owners that “you didn’t get there on your own,” and there were public sector projects that helped business owners succeed.
“It’s no wonder that the President says the private sector is doing fine and all we need to do is send more money from the taxpayers back to the states so the states can hire more public employees,” said Portman. “That’s his answer to the economy.”
Portman said that the President’s policies over the last three years have made it more difficult for small business owners to be successful and hire employees.
Portman said that there was a second aspect of Obama’s controversial statement where he recommended that the states get more money from the federal government. “This is the Washington D.C. that is going broke,” said Portman.
Co-host Gretchen Carlson asked Portman to weigh in on the statistics from the Congressional Budget Office which showed that in 2008 – 2009, the top 20 percent of earners paid 94 percent of taxes. She asked if Portman would say that President George W. Bush’s tax cuts had a negative impact on the nation’s highest earners.
“It does,” said Portman. Portman criticized the President for ignoring the growth that occurred as a result of the tax cuts that occurred in 2001 and 2003. “Under the Bush tax cuts, the tax code became more progressive,” said Portman. “Before the Bush tax cuts, by the way, it was about 81 percent for that same group – then 86 percent right after that tax cut than, as you say, in that period you got over 90 percent.”
Watch the segment below via Fox News Channel:
