Governor Tom Vilsack says if he’s elected president, he would push to repeal “some” of the Bush-era tax cuts. Vilsack formally announced at the end of November that he’s seeking the Democratic party’s 2008 presidential nomination. During a recent appearance on Iowa Public Television, Vilsack outlined what tax policies he’d pursue as president.
“You may want to revisit some of the Bush tax cuts as to whether or not they are teh most appropriate way of stimulating the economy,” Vilsack said. “You may want to reverse one of those tax cuts and maybe cut taxes in another area.” Vilsack did not single out which tax cuts he would repeal, but he outlined new cuts he would propose.
Vilsack suggests a “family tax credit” that would make it easier for middle class parents to pay for a college education for their kids. Vilsack and New York Senator Hillary Clinton, another potential candidate for the presidency, are both leaders of the Democratic Leadership Council, a group that has endorsed such a move. “You may want to change the mix of tax reductions,” according to Vilsack. Vilsack suggests the U.S. won’t be able to resolve a lot of its foreign problems until the domestic problem of the federal budget deficit is erased.
“Before you can go to the American people and say ‘Taxes have to be increased’ you have to assure them that you’ve done everything you possibly can to reduce the burden in terms of government spending and government priorities. We have not done that. This is a fiscal mess,” Vilsack said. “It has put us in very serious shape because we borrow money from a communist country to finance our budget. Now listen to this. This is important. We can’t put pressure on China and North Korea, we can’t put pressure on China and Darfur in large part because of what we are doing here domestically.”
Vilsack says as a governor, he was forced to balance the state budget and that gives him a tactical advantage over other candidates — senators like Clinton and Barak Obama, for example — who have cast votes to approve the federal budget which is in the red.