Joe Biden: 'Yes We Do' Want to Raise Taxes by $1 Trillion

During a campaign stop in Iowa on Thursday, Vice President Joe Biden responded to accusations coming from the GOP that the Obama administration wants to raise taxes by $1 trillion. Well, he confirmed that they are true anyway, saying "Yes we do" as he called on the rich to pay more taxes.

"On top of the trillions of dollars of spending that we have already cut, we’re gonna ask – yes – we’re gonna ask the wealthy to pay more -- My heart breaks, come on man," Biden said sarcastically.

"You know the phrase they always use? 'Obama and Biden want to raise taxes by a trillion dollars.' Guess what? Yes we do in one regard. We want to let that trillion dollar tax cut expire so the middle class doesn’t have to bear the burden of all that money going to the super wealthy. That’s not a tax raise, that’s called fairness where I come from."

Though Biden is asserting that allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire isn't technically a tax increase, others disagree. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani did a good job explaining the issue on MSNBC Wednesday:

“If you extend the Bush tax cuts, you don’t cut taxes, you keep taxes where they are! If you don’t extend the Bush tax cuts, you raise taxes,” he said, before explaining that if he pays a higher rate next year that is, in fact, raising taxes.

 

(H/T: Weekly Standard)