A Message From Tammy Baldwin 2nd US Cong District WI

At least we have one member of congress with some intelligence!!
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Dear Mr. Michaelis:

Thank you for contacting me regarding President Obama's tax compromise. It is good to hear from you.

Families in Wisconsin and throughout the nation continue to struggle with unemployment, home foreclosure, and lack of access to credit. At the same time, our nation is confronting a growing national debt. It is for these reasons that I support President Obama's proposal to extend tax cuts on income up to $250,000 a year. However, I also believe it is time to end the tax cuts for the very wealthiest Americans.

As you may know, on December 17, 2010, President Obama signed the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance, and Job Creation Act of 2010, into law. While the measure includes extensions of the middle class tax cut and unemployment benefits, which I support, it also extends tax cuts for the wealthiest at a total cost of $858 billion dollars over the next ten years. Unfortunately, the measure does not do enough to grow the economy, create jobs, or put us on track to confronting our nation's fiscal challenges. For these reasons, I did not support this legislation.

I am troubled that the measure provides a two year extension of tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans while it only provides a 13 month extension of unemployment compensation benefits. Unemployment benefits provide a critical lifeline to families suffering through no fault of their own. Unfortunately, while this measure supports our nation's richest Americans, it leaves behind those who are struggling to make ends meet.

I also find it troubling that the payroll tax provision was included in the act. In addition to being dangerous to the long-term fiscal health of our country, this measure threatens our most cherished social program, Social Security. The two percent payroll tax relief is drawn out of an employee's contribution to the program. While I support tax relief for workers during these difficult economic times, I do not believe that it should come at the expense of Social Security.

Despite concerns about the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance, and Job Creation Act of 2010, the measure includes many important provisions that may impact you or your family. Among them are:

Out-of-state mining execs say "pleased to meet you" to Walker

About a month ago the Democracy Campaign's research director posted an item on our blog pointing out that some out-of-state mining company executives with hopes of developing an open pit iron ore mine in northern Wisconsin made their first-ever campaign contributions in Wisconsin this fall.

As we've continued digging into campaign finance reports, we found they also made sizeable donations to Governor-elect Scott Walker. For more on this, check out the report we issued this morning. For audio commentary on our findings, go here to listen to our podcast.

 

Another fine example of our Gov Elect prior to work.

 

Also:

 

Voters may get chance to weigh in on election spending

May this happen in communities all across the land.

 

Boy the Supreme Court skewered our country with that ruling!

DID YOU GET YOUR PROPERTY TAXES YET?

What are you going to do about preventing them from going up even more next year?  Can we afford this?

There are two key elections coming up that could significantly change this and if you do nothing else (which I discourage), you can speak with your vote against your council member, county supervisor, and MAYOR!

Take action and START NOW!!