March 18, 2013
By Stephanie West
Washington DC – House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) introduced a budget proposal last week that passed through his committee 22 to 17 along party-lines with no Democratic support. His budget would impose considerable hardships on those who can least afford them in order to slash taxes for the wealthy and corporations.
The entirety of deficit reduction in the Ryan budget is from spending cuts with no revenues raised. AFSCME President Lee Saunders noted that: "The economy may be recovering, but a budget like Paul Ryan's is nothing more than a time machine ride back to financial instability. There is too much at stake to play these games with the federal budget
Ryan's spending reductions of more than $4 trillion, on top of the $1.2 trillion sequester cuts over ten years, would incapacitate state and local governments, leading to massive cuts in vital public services. But loopholes and giveaways to the wealthy are alive and well in the Ryan budget. It would reduce the top individual tax rate on the highest income Americans from 39.6% to 25%, and reduce the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%.
The budget proposal gives tax breaks for top earners at the expense of middle-class taxpayers, whose federal tax bill will increase for an average family by $2,000 per year. The Budget Committee's Ranking Democrat Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said Ryan's budget calls for cutting the tax rate for millionaires by over one-third.
