De Republikeinse presidentiële kandidaten reageerden afgelopen week snel op de toespraak van president Obama over de bezuinigingsplannen, waar onder andere in staat dat mensen die meer dan 1 miljoen dollar per jaar verdienen meer belasting moet gaan betalen, de zogenoemde Buffet-norm.

De gouverneur van Texas, Rick Perry, zei: “President Obama’s plan is a bait and switch that offers more than a trillion dollars in higher taxes for a promise of temporary tax relief. The president penalizes investment when it is needed most, discourages charitable giving and doubles down on a failed government stimulus strategy.”

Afgevaardigde van Minnesota, Michele Bachmann, zei: “If Warren Buffett believes he doesn’t pay enough taxes, then he should write a check today to the Treasury, but he and the President shouldn’t enact warfare on the millions of small businesses, on charities and on middle class America with increased tax burdens. The President is compromising the future of our children with his plan to continue spending and increase taxes, and he is ruining the American economy.”

“President Obama continues to demonstrate that he has no new ideas on how to create American jobs. For two and a half years he’s been peddling a version of the Buffett Tax Hike as a key pillar of his failed attempt to tax and spend and regulate this country to prosperity”, aldus voormalig ambassadeur Jon Huntsman.

De voormalige gouverneur van Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, zei: “President Obama’s plan to raise taxes will have a crushing impact on economic growth. Higher taxes mean fewer jobs – it’s that simple. This is yet another indication that President Obama has no clue how to bring our economy back.”

“The President’s class-baiting rhetoric categorizes Americans into opposing groups and pits them against one another, purely for his own political gain. This gets us nowhere as a nation, and nowhere closer to solving our economic problems”, aldus afgevaardigde vanTexas, Ron Paul.

De voormalige voorzitter van het Huis, Newt Gingrich, zei: “Once again, President Obama fails the test of leadership. In the midst of the worst economy since the Great Depression, job creation must be job one for our political leaders. Instead, the president has chosen the path of political gamesmanship and class warfare with a plan that would kill jobs with higher taxes on small businesses and private capital.”

De reacties zijn niet verrassend. De Republikeinen denken dat als een kleine groep Amerikanen meer belasting gaat betalen dit ten koste gaat van banen, maar dat hoeft helemaal niet zo te zijn.