Publication date: 12/02/2009
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Dec. 1 that he cannot currently support a proposal to impose a surtax that would be used to pay for U.S. military operations in Afghanistan.
The Share the Sacrifice Act of 2010 (H.R. 4130), offered Nov. 19 by House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.), would impose a tax on couples with a net income tax liability of as little as $22,600. The surtax would begin at 1 percent and would rise along with income, although the maximum value of the tax would be left for the Obama administration to decide.
Hoyer said he is “generally in favor of paying for things, but the weak economy complicates things,” and he is “not supportive of [the surtax] at this point in time.”
Obey proposed similar legislation in 2007, and the idea was rejected by House leaders then as well.
Obey has said he believes the surtax is necessary to force the administration to offset the cost of the war and to remind the American public that U.S. military involvement in the Middle East comes with a price tag.
© 2009, The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.
