They're big spenders and quiet taxers.
More than $115 billion in new and restored taxes -- called the biggest tax hikes in U.S. history -- will kick in Jan. 1, unless the Democratic Congress acts to stop them.
But, so far, only one Florida Democratic representative, Suzanne Kosmas, has bucked her party by committing to extend the 2001 and 2003 tax reductions.
A Sunshine State News survey of Florida's 10-member Democratic congressional delegation last week found most members lying low.
Two lawmakers -- Reps. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Pembroke Pines -- said through theirspokespersons that they want the Bush-era tax cuts to expire at year's end.
Wasserman Schultz's spokesman Jonathan Beeton said, "She does not believe that we should continue to increase the deficit by extending tax cuts to the wealthiest 1 to 2 percent of Americans."
Similarly, Grayson spokesman Todd Jurkowski said his boss opposes "tax cuts for the rich."
But inquiries to Florida's remaining seven Democratic congressmen, including U.S. Senate hopeful Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, went unanswered.
Republicans, meantime, are turning up the heat on Democrats from coast to coast, pointing out that the majority party has the power to derail the coming tax train.
Kosmas, D-New Smyrna Beach, evidently got the message. The first-term congresswoman, in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, stated:
[W]e must extend these tax rates in order to give our fragile economythe time it needs to recover from the ongoing crisis. Continuing this tax relief is a common-sense measure that will ease the burden for middle-class families and provide tax certainty for small-business owners looking to invest and create jobs.
"Extending the 2001 and 2003 tax rates will provide continuing stability to the millions of families who have benefited from reduced taxes."
Kosmas continued:
"In addition, the 2001/2003 tax cuts lowered rates not only for ordinary income, but also for dividends and capital gains, which create incentives that are crucial to private-sector investment and give our small-business owners the opportunities and financial security they deserve.
"If we allow these tax rates to expire, we run the serious risk of weakening job growth and economic expansion at a time when our economy has begun to recover."
The Obama administration and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill argue that more tax revenues are needed to shrink the budget deficit; but Kosmas, along with the Republican minority in Congress, counters that the private sector needs a break.
"The best way to reduce our deficit is to grow our economy," Kosmas wrote. "Allowing the 2001 and 2003 tax rates to expire before our economy fully recovers may reduce our ability to support our small businesses, stimulate the economy and bring our deficit under control in the future."
Contrary to Democratic claims that the Bush tax cuts benefited only the wealthy, Republicans respond that the expiration of those reductions will hurt middle-class Americans and that even the tax rates for the poorest Americans would rise.
Here are the current and future rates that will be effective Jan. 1 (income ranges are for taxpayers who are married and filing jointly):
Even for those who stay in the 15 percent bracket, taxes will increase because of higher capital gains rates (moving up to 15 to 20 percent), higher top dividend rates (15 to 39.6 percent) and the return of the estate ("death") tax, which goes from 0 to 55 percent.
In addition, higher taxes on insurers, drug makers and other health-care businesses will be passed on to everyone in the form of higher medical costs.
And thanks to Obamacare, a new 3.8 percent Medicare "payroll" surcharge will apply to all investment income.
Unless Congress acts to stop the Bush-era cuts from expiring, a wide range of working-class tax breaks will disappear.
For example, the child-care tax credit will be sliced in half, deductions for tuition and fees will end, and credits for education will be limited. Even teachers will feel the pinch; they'll no longer be able to deduct classroom expenses.
Small businesses, which create the lion's share of jobs in the country, also are sweating. Some 20 million "S-Corp" firms, whose tax bills are pegged to personal tax rates, face higher taxes.
Given what's at stake, it is perhaps understandable that Florida's Democratic members of Congress don't want to publicly discuss this subject.
Those who have taken a stand, such as Grayson, are already paying a price. At a straw poll of 300 members at the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce, he was thrashed by TEA Party candidate Peg Dunmire 72 to 28 percent. Like Dunmire, Republicans vying for the 8th Congressional District nomination also support extending the tax cuts.
Allen West, a Republican challenging U.S. Rep. Ron Klein in the 22nd District, says the Fort Lauderdale Democrat "goes right along with liberal, progressive agenda, which just issues more unemployment checks, prints more money and increases dependence on government."
Accusing the Democrats of engaging in "class warfare" and "exorbitant taxation," West, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, quoted former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as saying, "Socialism works until you run out of other people's money."
Florida's congressional delegation -- representing a large swing state -- could prove pivotal to any action Congress may consider. With all 25 of the state's House seats up for election, and all 15 Republican congressmen united in their opposition to tax increases, Democratic lawmakers will find themselves under increasing pressure on the campaign trail this fall.
They may not want to answer Sunshine State News' inquiries, but you can bet they'll be hearing from their constituents.
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Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 559-4719.
