December 14, 2007

Bean Holds Taxpayers Hostage

Melissa Bean (IL-8TH) joined only two other Democrats in voting once again to deny relief for working family taxpayers snared by the Alternative Minimum Tax trap (HR 4351, “AMT Relief Act of 2007”).

Bean’s “no” votes garnered praise from Republican extremist group, Americans for Prosperity, whose leadership includes Ralph Reed partner and longtime Republican political operative Timothy Phillips.

“This shows exactly where she stands when it comes to the interests of working families,” says Randi Scheurer, who is challenging Bean in the Democratic Party primary on February 5. “She sides with her wealthy campaign contributors, over the taxpayer, every time.”

The reason for Bean’s “no” vote? Because the relief for middle-class taxpayers would have been “paid for” through offsetting taxes on corporate interests and wealthy investors.

The “paid for” notion is part of a government-speak fantasy called “pay-go” which calls for all cuts in taxes and increases in spending to offset each other. This so-called “revenue neutral” scheme blithely ignores the massive, bleeding deficits already built into the budget baseline.

Bean is a member of the ultra-conservative “Blue Dog Coalition” – a tiny group of Democrats in the House who keep the Republicans in virtual control, despite the Democratic majority on paper.

The “pay-go” doctrine is part of the Blue Dog (a.k.a. “Bush Dog”) creed – they like to call themselves “fiscal conservatives,” much like the profligate “borrow and spend” Republicans cling to this label.

“This satisfies the ‘pay-go’ rule, so she could have voted for it,” says Scheurer. “She is holding the taxpayer hostage, because – just like her Republican colleagues – she really doesn’t want to ‘pay for’ anything at all. She just wants to protect the super-wealthy from paying their fair share.”