House Dems push new tax to pay for Iraq war

Politicol, The Crypt: Three senior House Democrats are proposing a new tax to pay for the Iraq war, as well as vowing to oppose any funding bill for Iraq that does not include a policy for ending the conflict. House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-WI), Rep. Jack Murtha (D-PA), chairman of the Defense subcommittee on House Appropriations, and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), will soon unveil a "surtax" on taxes owed by Americans to help cover the cost of the war, the trio announced this morning. The tax is designed to raise $140 billion to $150 billion annually, and would range from a 2% surtax on low-income Americans to as much as 15% for wealthy taxpayers. Obey and Murtha also said that they would not move an Iraq supplemental funding bill, needed to pay for combat operations in 2008, unless a "goal" of having all U.S. combat troops out of the country by January 2009, troop deployment times are shortened, and President Bush demonstrates that will engage in "an intensive, broad scale diplomatic offensive involving other countries in the region." . . . [Read More]

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