Gibbs Reiterates: Obama Won't Raise Taxes on Middle Class

I watched both Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner on the Sunday shows yesterday and didn't come to the conclusion that the press did -- that Obama is going to raise taxes on the middle class. The way I saw it is that neither Summers nor Geithner wanted to speak on behalf of Obama. There are some things that Obama's advisors speak about and there are some topics that are off limits. How many different ways can the White House press ask the same question? Watch:

Obama's Big Tax Cuts for Middle Class and Business

Big tax cuts, big speech this week.

Politico: Aiming to foster bipartisan support for his record-setting economic stimulus, President-elect Obama plans to propose huge tax cuts for businesses and middle-class workers that will total about 40 percent of the package, or up to $310 billion, congressional officials said.

The revelation is part of an intricately orchestrated roll-out of the plan that includes an appearance by Obama on Capitol Hill on Monday and a major speech about the economy later in the week.

Obama plans to ask Congress for a stimulus package of $675 billion to $775 billion, so the planned tax cuts will total about $270 billion to $310 billion, the officials said.

Obama strategists say he wants to get 80 or more votes in the 100-member Senate, and the emphasis on tax cuts is a way to defuse conservative criticism and enlist Republican support. read the rest.

What form will the tax cuts take?

For families, the tax cuts include the $500 “Making Work Pay” payroll tax credit Obama proposed during the campaign.

For businesses, the tax cuts would include breaks for small employers and a “new jobs credit.”

Dems are planning on getting the package to Obama in mid-February. More from MSNBC:

Congressional aides briefed on the measure say it probably would blend tax cuts of $500 to $1,000 for middle-class individuals and couples with about $200 billion to help revenue-starved states with their Medicaid programs and other operating costs. A large portion of the measure will go toward public works projects and include new programs such as research and development on energy efficiency and an expensive rebuilding of the information technology system for health care.

WSJ says the breaks could pack a punch:

The Obama tax-cut proposals, if enacted, could pack more punch in two years than either of President George W. Bush's tax cuts did in their first two years. Mr. Bush's 10-year, $1.35 trillion tax cut of 2001, considered the largest in history, contained $174 billion of cuts during its first two full years, according to Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation. The second-largest tax cut -- the 10-year, $350 billion package engineered by Mr. Bush's in 2003 -- contained $231 billion in 2004 and 2005.