White House Reply to SSTF Theft Question

 
Dear Martin:

Thank you for writing.  I have heard from many Americans about Government spending and our national debt, and I appreciate your perspective.

This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class and those trying to reach it.  After decades of eroding middle-class security and after a recession that plunged our economy into a crisis from which we are still fighting to recover, it is time to construct an economy built to last.  To put our Nation back on a path of living within our means, we must cut wasteful spending, ask all Americans to shoulder their fair share, and make tough choices on some things we cannot afford.

Over the last few years, Democrats and Republicans have worked together to reduce the Federal deficit by more than $2.5 trillion—mostly through spending cuts, but also by raising tax rates on the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans.  As a result, we are more than halfway toward the goal of $4 trillion in deficit reduction that economists say we need to stabilize our finances.

To hit the rest of our deficit reduction target, we must address the rising cost of health care for an aging population.  The Affordable Care Act is helping us meet that challenge, and the entitlement reforms I have proposed would take us even further.  But we should also do what leaders in both parties have already suggested, and save hundreds of billions of dollars by getting rid of tax loopholes and deductions for the well-off and the well-connected.  The American people deserve a tax code that helps small businesses expand and hire, ensures billionaires cannot work the system and pay a lower rate than their hardworking secretaries, and reduces tax rates for businesses and manufacturers that are creating jobs right here at home.

We know these reforms will not be easy, and neither side will get 100 percent of what they want.  But Congress must set party interests aside and work to pass a budget that replaces reckless cuts with smart savings and wise investments in the future.  The greatest Nation on earth cannot keep conducting its business by drifting from one manufactured crisis to the next.

An economy built to last also demands we renew the American values of fair play and shared responsibility—principles that must guide our approach to solving our Nation’s deficit problem.  Just as we extended middle-class tax cuts to help working families, I am pursuing the end of costly tax breaks and special deductions for the highest-income Americans and biggest corporations.  I have repeatedly called on Congress to stop giving away $4 billion a year in oil and gas subsidies to an industry that has never been more profitable, and instead, to pass clean energy tax credits to cultivate a market for innovation in clean energy technology.  I also proposed a fee on big banks and other major financial institutions to recoup taxpayer assistance that was crucial to saving our economy.

To prevent Congress from worsening our deficit outlook, I pushed for and signed into law pay-as-you-go rules for Congress—rules critical to creating the surpluses of the 1990s.  Additionally, I established the Campaign to Cut Waste, which is aggressively rooting out misspent tax dollars, and sent Congress the Consolidating and Reforming Government Act to reinstate the authority past presidents have had to streamline the Executive Branch and create a leaner, more efficient Federal Government.  Through these and other efforts, we can reduce the deficit and ensure a more stable future for our children.

Thank you, again, for writing.  To learn more about our budget, please visit www.Budget.gov.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama