Obama Will Seek to Raise Taxes on Wealthy to Finance Cuts for Middle Class
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS

WASHINGTON — President Obama will use his State of the Union address to call on Congress to raise taxes and fees on the wealthiest taxpayers and the largest financial firms to finance an array of tax cuts for the middle class, pressing to reshape the tax code to help working families, administration officials said on Saturday.

The proposal faces long odds in the Republican-controlled Congress, led by lawmakers who have long opposed raising taxes and who argue that doing so would hamper economic growth at a time the country cannot afford it. And it was quickly dismissed by leading Republicans as a nonstarter.

But the decision to present the plan during Tuesday’s speech marks the start of a debate over taxes and the economy that will shape both Mr. Obama’s legacy and the 2016 presidential campaign.

It is also the latest indication that the president, untethered from political constraints after Democratic losses in the midterm elections, is moving aggressively to set the terms of that discussion, even as he pushes audacious moves in other areas, like immigration and relations with Cuba. 

The president’s plan would raise $320 billion over the next decade, while adding new provisions cutting taxes by $175 billion over the same period. The revenue generated would also cover an initiative Mr. Obama announced this month, offering some students two years of tuition-free community college, which the White House has said would cost $60 billion over 10 years.

The centerpiece of the plan, described by administration officials on the condition of anonymity ahead of the president’s speech, would eliminate what Mr. Obama’s advisers call the “trust-fund loophole,” a provision governing inherited assets that shields hundreds of billions of dollars from taxation each year. The plan would also increase the top capital-gains tax rate, to 28 percent from 23.8 percent, for couples with incomes above $500,000 annually. 

Those changes and a new fee on banks with assets over $50 billion would be used to finance a set of tax breaks for middle-income earners, including a $500 credit for families in which both spouses work; increased child care and education credits; and incentives to save for retirement.

The initiative signals a turnabout for Mr. Obama, who has spoken repeatedly about the potential for a deal with Republicans on business tax reform but little about individual taxation, an area fraught with disagreements. 

“Slapping American small businesses, savers and investors with more tax hikes only negates the benefits of the tax policies that have been successful in helping to expand the economy, promote savings and create jobs,” said Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah and chairman of the Finance Committee. “The president needs to stop listening to his liberal allies who want to raise taxes at all costs and start working with Congress to fix our broken tax code.”

The proposal includes some elements that have previously drawn support from both Republicans and Democrats, including education and retirement savings proposals and the secondary earner credit. A tax on large banks was part of a plan proposed last year by former Representative Dave Camp, a Republican from Michigan who retired as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. Obama’s advisers characterized the plan as the next phase in the president’s economic message, which he has been promoting over the past two weeks with trips highlighting the nation’s financial rebound. During the tour, Mr. Obama has pitched a range of initiatives to help the middle class, including free community college and paid leave.  The bulk of the financing for the plan — $210 billion — would come from a capital-gains tax hike and a change in the way the tax code treats the appreciated value of inherited assets. Under the proposal, inherited assets would be taxed according to their value when they were purchased. That means the capital gains on those assets during a person’s lifetime, now shielded from taxation, would be subject to tax at the time of the bequest.

The proposal, which does not apply to charitable gifts, would fall almost entirely on the top 1 percent of taxpayers, administration officials said. It would apply to capital gains of $200,000 or more per couple, with an additional $500,000 exemption for personal residences.

The remaining $110 billion to pay for Mr. Obama’s new tax proposals would be generated by a fee imposed on the largest and most highly leveraged financial firms. That proposal, administration officials said, was designed to make “risky activity” more costly for the roughly 100 such companies in the nation with assets more than $50 billion. Those companies would be assessed a fee based on the amount of debt they hold.

White House officials estimated that the new $500 “second-earner” tax credit would benefit 24 million households. The maximum credit would go to those earning up to $120,000, and some credit would be available to those earning up to $210,000.

Mr. Obama also wants to triple the child care tax credit, now an average of $550, and make it easier for middle-income earners to qualify, offering up to $3,000 for each child under age 5. White House officials said the plan would eliminate existing tax-advantaged flexible spending accounts for child care and reinvest those resources in the tax credit.

In addition, the president is proposing to streamline a jumble of educational tax credits and give students up to $2,500 annually toward earning a college degree. Students who attend school less than half the time would also qualify for the first time, and more of the credit, $1,500, would be available regardless of whether an individual owed any taxes.

The president’s proposal would also increase access to tax-advantaged retirement savings plans by requiring most employers that do not offer such plans to automatically enroll their workers in an IRA. Mr. Obama has failed to find common ground with Republicans on fiscal matters, including during several attempts to strike a “grand bargain” on the budget. The Treasury Department proposed a detailed corporate tax overhaul in 2012 that would have lowered the rate to 28 percent from 35 percent and given multinational corporations a one-time “tax holiday” to return billions of dollars in profits parked overseas. But it went nowhere in the last Congress.

It is not clear that this effort will fare any better.

歐巴馬重拋富人稅 紐時：國會難過關

美國總統歐巴馬將於廿日發表國情咨文，根據白宮事先透露的內容，歐巴馬將透過這項年度演說，呼籲國會從事稅法改革，對鉅富階層與大型金融機構增稅，以利中產階級減稅。紐約時報報導，雖然徵收「富人稅」能獲得由共和黨把持的參眾兩院支持的可能性不高，歐巴馬試圖透過新計畫，尋求個人的歷史定位，並讓計畫成為2016年總統選戰的政見軸心。

歐巴馬的國情咨文將維持「劫富濟貧」以達到「收入平等」的主軸。主要的內容為在未來十年從富人與大約一百家金融機構徵收三千兩百億美元稅收，藉此彌補未來十年協助中產階級減稅一千七百五十億美元所造成的缺口，以及用於包括提供社區大學學生兩年免學費等計畫。

預料歐巴馬的演說將引發稅改與經濟成長的辯論；儘管參眾兩院均由共和黨把持，歐巴馬的執政團隊仍樂觀認為，計畫應會在參眾兩院贏得某種程度的跨黨派支持。紐時說，共和黨向來反對增稅，認為有礙經濟成長，新計畫在國會過關困難重重。

儘管民主黨於期中選舉重挫，歐巴馬仍無視於政治困境積極作為，包括推動移民政策和與古巴復交，這次於國情咨文重提徵富人稅，即準備讓它成為他任期最後兩年的討論議題。

歐巴馬的計畫與《二十一世紀資本論》作者、法國巴黎經濟學院教授皮凱提的觀念一致，華盛頓郵報稱為美國版的皮凱提。皮凱提理論被法國總統歐蘭德放棄後，由歐巴馬接收，歐巴馬將從兩條戰線對付皮凱提所說的寡頭集團。

在加稅面，歐巴馬計畫提高資本利得的最高稅率，從百分之廿三點八提高到百分之廿八，及對大筆借貸的金融機構加收稅款，變更信託基金稅收規則。經由這些措施，歐巴馬希望能進一步做到收入平等。

白宮指出，美國所得最高的四百名納稅人，2012年平均稅率僅百分之十七，低於許多中產階級家庭。

在減稅方面，除了提供雙收入家庭新的五百美元免稅額，還將提供托兒照顧與教育免稅額。

在保障個人退休方面，歐巴馬也將要求雇員超過十人但無退休計畫的企業，自動為雇員設立個人退休帳戶；政府將提供賦稅優惠鼓勵。之前，共和黨也支持這項作法。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/18/us/president-obama-will-seek-to-reduce-taxes-for-middle-class.html

紐約時報中文版翻譯：
http://cn.nytimes.com/usa/20150118/c18obama/zh-hant/

2015-01-19．聯合報．A7．話題．編譯王麗娟