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PDFFrom CampusProgress:
At a press conference Wednesday, President Obama announced the creation of a new social media campaign to raise awareness about the upcoming fiscal cliff.
The fiscal cliff—or fiscal showdown, as we’re calling it—is a bundle of expiring tax cuts and cuts to program spending that threaten America’s middle class with an average tax increase of $2,200 if Congress cannot reach an agreement by the end of the year. Twitter users can now tweet using the hashtag #My2K to express concerns about how the potential tax hike would impact their daily life.
During the press conference, Obama pressed that an agreement by Congress on how to handle the “fiscal cliff” is critical and must be reached before January.
“This debate is not just about numbers,” he said. “It’s a set of major decisions that are going to affect millions of families.”
There is consensus among lawmakers and economists that increasing taxes on the middle class would be detrimental to our economy, particularly for small businesses. President Obama agreed, calling on Congress to “pass a law that would prevent a tax hike on the first $250,000 of everybody’s income.”
A bill, which the president said he is willing to sign quickly, would protect 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small businesses from the tax increase. The wealthiest Americans, who have balked at the idea of higher taxes, would also get a tax-break on their first $250,000 worth of income.
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