House Dem: Raise taxes, wealthy won't miss extra house, yacht

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) said it should not be a "that big a deal" to increase taxes on the wealthy in order to help pay for an expiring payroll tax cut, and said higher taxes will only prevent the wealthy from buying extra houses and yachts.

"It's pretty clear to me that with corporate profits at all-time highs, and those who run these corporations and sit on their boards, they have been doing quite well, thank you," she said on the House floor Tuesday night. "And it's time for them to do something for the Republic. It's not that big a deal. Who's going miss an eighth home or a seventh yacht?

"It would seem to me that in the holiday spirit, that both chambers should get together, the tax writing committees, and figure out a solution that is fair to all families," she added.

Kaptur added that increasing taxes would help people who did not profit as much from the good times as the wealthy did, and said she cannot understand why those with money would oppose these taxes.

"It simply eludes me why those at the very top end of the income scale who have taken most of the benefit of growth in the last 20 years, why they are so adverse when they are doing so well to helping our country, and to making sure that everyone has a chance to prosper," she said.

Soon after Kaptur spoke, Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) took the floor and agreed that it's time for the wealthy to "share in the burden of America."

As of late Tuesday night, Congress was struggling to find a way to extend the 2 percent payroll tax cut. Republicans so far oppose any tax hike on those earning more than $1 million a year, as Democrats have proposed.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has proposed an extension that would tax millionaire earners, but other Republicans are cool to this proposal. House Republicans are considering other elements that could be in a bill to extend the payroll tax cut, such as language speeding up the approval of the Keystone oil pipeline.

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