Politics

Obama’s Tax Cuts Target Parents, Families with 2 Incomes

Published

11 years ago

February 3, 2015

President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the Department of Homeland Security on his FY2016 budget proposal, on Monday, Feb. 2, 2015, in Washington. Obama warned congressional Republicans Monday that he won’t accept a spending plan that boosts national security at the expense of domestic programs for the middle class. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is proposing nearly $280 billion in tax cuts for low- and middle-income families, but not everyone will benefit.

Obama’s proposed budget calls for a total of $1.5 trillion in new taxes over the next decade, mostly on corporations and high-income households. He would use much of that money to pay for targeted tax breaks for low- and middle-income families.

The proposed tax cuts would benefit households with two wage earners, families with young children in child care and those with older children in college. One proposal would automatically enroll workers in individual retirement accounts, unless they opt out. Another would extend the Earned Income Tax Credit to low-wage workers without children.

Obama calls his tax and spending plan “middle-class economics.” But middle-income families that don’t fit these categories won’t see many changes in their taxes, according to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center, a research group formed by the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution.

For families making between $50,000 and $75,000 a year, about a quarter of them would get a tax cut, averaging $545, according to the analysis. About 6 percent would get a tax increase, and the rest — about 70 percent — would see no change in their tax bill.

Among the bottom 20 percent — families with incomes averaging $15,600 — nearly a third would get tax cuts averaging $617. The rest would see little or no change in their taxes.

“The key thing is that, overall, there will be winners, losers and a lot of people unaffected,” said Roberton Williams, a fellow at the Tax Policy Center.

The center’s analysis focused on the effects of the two-earner tax credit, the child-care credit, the expanded education credit, the tax credit for low-wage workers and the program making it easier for workers to enroll in retirement accounts, Williams said. The analysis also took into account Obama’s proposal to increase taxes on some investments and estates.

All of these proposals were part of Obama’s larger budget plan, which he unveiled Monday.

Obama would pay for middle-class tax cuts by raising taxes on the wealthy — including increasing the tax on capital gains — and changing the way the U.S. taxes the foreign profits of American corporations. Obama’s proposals are designed to further talks on Capitol Hill about revamping American business taxes, lowering the overall tax rate while eliminating or reducing many tax breaks.

Obama’s proposed tax increases, however, are running into strong opposition from Republicans in Congress.

“I want to work with this administration, and I hope that we can find common ground,” said Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. “But the president has to demonstrate that he’s interested in governing, not just posturing.”

Obama’s proposed tax cuts are getting a friendlier welcome — House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he is open to Obama’s plan to increase a tax credit to help pay for childcare expenses. But Boehner has been critical of Obama’s overall plan.

The Obama administration says its proposal addresses decades of rising income and wealth inequality, and a tax system that “lets the wealthy shelter hundreds of billions of dollars from taxes each year.”

“The president’s budget proposes targeted policies to strengthen the middle class, level the playing field for American businesses, create more fairness in our tax code, and lay the groundwork for long-term economic growth for our country that is broadly shared, all while setting a course to put our country on sound fiscal footing,” Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said in a statement.

Among Obama’s proposed tax cuts for middle- and low-income families:

— Create a tax credit of up to $500 for families with a second wage-earner, which the administration says would benefit 24 million couples. Cost: $89 billion over 10 years.

— Triple the child care tax credit — to a maximum of $3,000 per child — and make the full credit available to families with incomes up to $120,000. Families with higher incomes could get a reduced credit. Cost: $50 billion over 10 years.

Obama’s plan would repeal tax breaks for flexible spending accounts for child-care expenses.

— Extend the Earned Income Tax Credit to low-wage workers with no children. Cost: $60 billion over 10 years.

— Consolidate several education tax breaks into an enhanced tax credit of up to $2,500 a student to help pay for college expenses. The tax credit, which is scheduled to expire at the end of 2017, would be made permanent. Cost: $31 billion over 10 years.

Obama initially proposed to scale back the tax benefits of college savings accounts, known as 529 accounts. But he dropped the proposal after getting resistance from both Republicans and Democrats in Congress.

___

Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenatap

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Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

Published

4 days ago

July 5, 2026

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

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NPRC Joins National Grand Jury Proceedings Seeking Accountability, Constitutional Restoration

Organizers state that testimony will explore historical and political developments that they believe have contributed to the expansion of corporate influence over public institutions and governmental decision-making. Participants are expected to discuss concerns regarding constitutional governance, individual liberties, property rights, and the protection of vulnerable populations, including seniors and persons with disabilities.

Published

2 weeks ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

Photo by Billie Powers.

Special to The Post

The National Probate Reform Coalition (NPRC) has joined Toll and Roll and a growing coalition of advocacy organizations, victims, whistleblowers, and citizen groups in support of a nationally broadcast People’s Grand Jury proceeding scheduled for July 1 and July 7.

Organizers describe the event as a public forum designed to examine allegations of government abuse, judicial misconduct, legislative failures, and the erosion of constitutional protections affecting millions of Americans.

The proceedings will feature testimony from victims, families, advocates, and organizations from across the country who contend they have experienced harm through government actions, institutional neglect, and failures of oversight.

According to organizers, the People’s Grand Jury will focus on concerns involving probate courts, guardianships, conservatorships, child welfare systems, property rights, civil liberties, and what participants view as a growing disconnect between government institutions and the constitutional rights of the people they are sworn to serve.

NPRC is participating because many of the issues being examined mirror the concerns raised by advocates, victims, and families who have participated in its monthly town halls. For years, families have reported cases involving exploitation of elders, questionable guardianships, estate depletion, denial of due process, and a lack of meaningful oversight within probate court systems.

“This proceeding gives victims and advocates an opportunity to place their experiences on the public record,” said Tanya Dennis, lead facilitator of NPRC. “For too long, families have struggled to have their voices heard regarding elder abuse, probate exploitation, and government inaction. This forum allows those stories to be shared before a national audience.”

In keeping with principles of transparency and fairness, invitations have been extended to legislators, members of the judiciary, law enforcement representatives, and other public officials who may wish to respond to concerns raised during the proceedings or defend actions taken by their respective institutions.

One of the primary outcomes sought by organizers is public consideration and support for the People’s Remedy and Restoration Act, a proposed legislative framework that advocates believe would strengthen oversight, increase accountability, provide remedies for victims of governmental abuse, and restore constitutional protections.

The proceedings are expected to be broadcast nationally, providing citizens throughout the United States an opportunity to observe testimony, review evidence presented, and participate in an ongoing conversation regarding government accountability and the protection of individual rights.

Advocates hope the hearings will encourage meaningful dialogue, legislative reform, and renewed public engagement in the democratic process.

Individuals, organizations, public officials, and members of the media interested in attending or obtaining access information may contact the organizers at tollandroll2025@gmail.com.

As Americans continue to debate the future of constitutional governance, judicial accountability, and the protection of vulnerable citizens, the July proceedings are expected to serve as a significant forum for public testimony and civic engagement. For more information, go to https://tollandroll.com

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Local Civil Rights Attorney, Activist Walter Riley Reveals Life Lessons from 70 Years in the Movement

Widely known in Oakland for his unifying leadership on issues of social justice and human rights, Riley is also recognized for his famous son, Raymond “Boots” Riley, a rap artist, political activist, and successful filmmaker, whose latest film, “I Love Boosters,” is now in theaters and capturing national attention.

Published

2 weeks ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

Walter Riley. Courtesy photo.

By Ken Epstein

Prominent civil rights attorney and activist Walter Riley recently went on radio station KPFA 94.1 to discuss his new book co-authored with local veteran organizer Jesse Strauss: “Civil Rights and Structural Attacks: Conversations with Walter Riley.”

Born in North Carolina, Riley has lived in San Francisco, Chicago, and Detroit, but his longtime home is Oakland, California.

Over the years, he was a leader in the South against Jim Crow, participated as a student in the historic 1968 San Francisco State University strike that created Black Studies and Ethnic Studies in the U.S. and scored victories in the fight for open college admissions.

He was also a labor organizer and was involved in early Black Panther Party formations, anti-war protests, and was a leader of the Progressive Labor Party, a pro-Mao, Marxist Leninist party.

In an interview on KPFA’s “Upfront” with host Brian Edwards-Tiekert on June 18, he discussed some of his formative experiences, born in 1944 to a family of sharecroppers who worked on a tobacco farm near Durham, North Carolina.

“I came from a farming family, the ninth child of 11 children,” Riley said. “My mom and dad got married as teenagers, and they were together for their entire lives. Growing up in this large family, we had to deal with various aspects of what it meant to live in an economically depressed area with parents who had come through what they called “Hoover times” (the Great Depression) in the South.

“They were proud of every one of their children when they took some stand, to develop and show some sense of dignity,” he said.

In his neighborhood, slavery was not a distant memory. There are many people “who knew firsthand what it was to have family members that had lived as enslaved people and lived in communities where enslaved people had lived.

“(Under tenant farming), the landowner negotiated for the entire family: the farmer, the wife, the children – everybody was involved on the farm. Kids were often engaged. We had to shovel, hoe tobacco to keep the weeds from taking over, to make sure that tobacco worms didn’t eat up the tobacco. If a child was old enough to plow, they would walk behind a horse or mule and plow a field, working from sunup to sundown,” he said.

The houses did not have indoor bathrooms, running water or electricity. “A lot of the names in the Black community were the same names as these slave owners. We could see the names of folks on the streets, street names of people who had enslaved people, and they were symbols to me of a world that did not see me as a human being, that has not treated my ancestors as humans, has treated us as chattel to be sold, to be owned, to be property,” Riley said

“When we were counted by our government, we were counted only for the purposes of allowing white people, white men, to have a vote.”

By 1950, when he was 6 years old, his family moved to another house, leaving tenant farming. His father took a job in construction.

“My parents wanted the younger kids to have education,” he continued. “The older kids had to work on the farms. By the time I came along, I was the second child born in a hospital. “My parents looked forward to younger kids to have more sense of independence from the economic and social depravities that they saw around them.”

Watching television, he became aware of the suffering under Jim Crow, including the lynching in Mississippi of Emmett Till in 1955 and Mack Parker in 1959.

When he was 13, he joined a picket line in town in front of a variety store chain that did not hire Black people and became active in the Civil Rights Movement. By time he was in high school, he had become a leader in the local chapter of the NAACP and met Malcolm X and later Medgar Evers, leaders who were both assassinated.

Married and with a child, he moved with his family in the early 1960s to San Francisco, attending San Francisco State University while working full time.

He participated in the San Francisco State University strike, the longest student strike in U.S. history, where students and their supporters prevailed in the face of mass arrests and daily violent police attacks.

While many people remember the strike for its historic victory – the creation of the first Black Studies and Ethnic Studies programs in the country. “But open admissions was the thing,” he said. “Open admissions had to do with people being able to go to school for free. People should be able to go to school just because they come here and say, ‘I want to go to school. I want an education’ (because) we live in a rich country.”

Studying Marxism, including dialectical materialism, he gradually began to understand structure of the system that needs to be changed, he said. “It requires a lot of study, and it still does.”