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President Obama To Sign Middle Class Tax Cut Bill

President Obama is expected to sign the Middle Class Tax Cut Bill today in a ceremony at the White House.

The bill, with parts the president admits he his opposed to - but is satisfied with, nonetheness -  is expected to grow the economy, create jobs, and help middle class families across the country, ensuring that middle class families won't incur a tax hike at the end of the year.

One report explains the measure like this:
  • Tax rates will remain at their current levels -- 10%; 15%; 25%; 28%; 33%; and 35%, based on your income. It also maintains lower tax rates on your investments for the next two years.
  • If you make less than $90,000 a year, the bill provides an extension of the $2,500 credit you've been receiving to help pay for college tuition, which was begun under last year's economic stimulus bill.
  • It will be easier for you to provide for your children. Under the Bush bill, you got a child tax credit of $500. That has now increased to $1,000.
 Other measures of the bill as stated by the president earlier in the week include:

"Offering hope to millions of Americans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own by making sure that they won’t suddenly find themselves out in the cold without the unemployment insurance benefits that they were counting on; and it would offer real tax relief for Americans who are paying for college, parents raising their children, and business owners looking to invest in their businesses and propel our economy forward."

Former president Bill Clinton, who admitted he will benefit from the tax bill, said the bill is a good one, calling it "a net-plus", and expects that the portion extending unemployment benefits will circulate money back into the economy. 

The bill also continues the credits for manufacturing jobs related to energy coming in to America.

Many Democrats have expressed their opposition to the bill.   Members of the Congressional Black Caucus called the bill “bad for African Americans” and other vulnerable communities.

“You can’t give tax cuts away like you’re Oprah Winfrey or Santa Claus,” Virginia Democrat Rep. Bobby Scott, a member of the House Budget Committee, said during a Capitol Hill press conference. “Someone eventually has to pay for it.”

That somebody, as Caucus members explained, have been communities of color.

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