Suddenly, It’s Not Good Enough for Democrats to Just Hike Taxes on Millionaires and Billionaires

According to Politico, John Boehner’s “Plan B” – letting taxes rise on those making $1 million or more, but keeping the Bush tax rates for those couples making over $250,000 but less than a $1 million – “has already been declared dead on arrival by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and the White House, who argue it’s still weighted too heavily in favor of the wealthy. “

That’s funny, because President Obama’s own rhetoric – at least 17 times in the past six months – has framed the debate in terms of whether “millionaires and billionaires” should get to pay the Bush tax rates. Well, Boehner’s Plan B would stick it to the millionaires and billionaires – so why isn’t that good enough for Obama and the Senate Democrats?

Furthermore, some Democrats have also talked about just upping the rates for millionaires and billionaires.  In 2010, New York Democrat senator Chuck Schumer said on Face the Nation, “Well, I think there is a compromise in the making. Democrats had originally called for tax cuts for the people below 250,000 (dollars), Republicans for everybody. What if we moved it up to a million dollars?”

“I think that’s a good compromise,” Schumer added.

Missouri Democrat senator Claire McCaskill has previously expressed a willingness to consider to not hiking taxes on those under the million dollar threshold. Florida Democrat senator Bill Nelson has also indicated he would prefer to leave tax rates at the current level for those aren’t millionaires.