(VIDEO) Shelby: Obama’s ‘attack on the middle class’ is ‘dead on arrival’

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January 26, 2015

WASHINGTON — Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) has a message for President Obama in response to his latest tax proposal: “It’s not going anywhere.”

In last week’s State of the Union Address and in subsequent remarks, Obama outlined a plan that would raise taxes on businesses and increase subsidies for some families, including offering “free” community college to an estimated 9 million Americans a year at a cost of roughly $60 billion over the next decade.

During an interview on Fox News Sunday morning, Shelby spoke out against the proposal laid out by the Obama administration.

“I think if he wanted to, he could work with us, but I think he was real defiant the other night,” Shelby said. “He was saying ‘Look, it’s my way, or the veto.’”

Part of President Obama’s proposal would increase the top rate on the capital gains tax—which is already one of the highest in the world—from 23.8 percent to 28 percent.

Sen. Shelby blames high capital gains tax rates for pushing corporations abroad, and believes that lowering them will bring jobs back to the country saying, “There’s a lot of corporate money overseas that we need to bring back.”

Capital gains aren’t only paid by big corporations, most middle class families will pay the tax as they save for retirement, or when selling a house. But the capital gains tax isn’t the only one that could hit middle income families.

“He’s also proposed taxes on the savings account where middle class families are saving money to send their children to college,” said Shelby. “This is an attack on the middle class… Most of the middle class wants to be left alone.”

As chairman of the Senate Banking committee, Shelby said he plans to use his significant leverage to put the kibosh on Obama’s budget.

“A lot of his stuff is rhetoric, it’s not going anywhere. A lot of those taxes, as I said last week, are dead on arrival, and I believe they’re really dead.”

As for Shelby’s long-term plans, he says a fundamental overhaul of the nation’s tax system is a must.

“The way you really move the needle… we need really fundamental tax reform where we can lower rates, where we can knock out a lot of deductions that have been put in there by special interests over the years. America is crying out for real fundamental tax reform.”