White House push on tax measures is CT-specific

A day before America’s tax deadline, the Obama White House is on a mission to sell its vision of middle-class tax relief and contrast it to Republicans’ “huge tax cuts for the top’’ and plans to eliminate the estate tax.

 

The White House released state-specific calculations about how the dueling tax visions would help or hinder the wealthiest and the middle class. Obama’s special break for two-earner families would “would give a tax cut of up to $500 to 293,000 working families in Connecticut,’’ the White House said.

 

And in a state where the average annual cost of child care for two children was $24,247 in 2013, “the President’s proposal to triple the maximum child care tax credit for young children to $3,000 per child is sorely needed,’’ the White House said. By contrast, the GOP estate-tax plan “would benefit only 140 of the wealthiest households in Connecticut.’’

 

And to drive home the point, Vice President Joe Biden made an unscheduled drop-by Monday to a regional reporters’ roundtable discussion with Jeffrey Zients, director of the U.S. National Economic Council and a top economic adviser to Obama.

 

“The way to grow the economy is to give ordinary people a shot,’’ the avuncular and occasionally gaffe-prone Biden said. “Every time they’ve been given a shot, they’ve never let the country down.’’

 

On chances for a deal with Republicans who are in full control on Capitol Hill? “This is not your father’s Republican Party,’’ Biden responded, pointing out the gap between the party’s center-right leadership and its more conservative rank and file. He recalled concluding deals with former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor only to be told later “it can’t be done.’’

 

Democrats, Biden said, “need to be able to sit across the table from someone who can make a deal and deliver for their party.’’

Daniel Freedman