Brown says tax-credit plan would benefit middle class

From Columbus Dispatch: 

In a U.S. Senate race that has been increasingly about which candidate most wants to help middle-class Ohioans, Democrat Sherrod Brown rolled out a package of tax credits Wednesday that he says will help families from childhood to old age.

"This is real help for real families, at every stage of their lives,'' said the Lorain congressman, who unveiled his plans Wednesday on the front porch of a middle-class family's home in the Columbus neighborhood of Clintonville.

The Brown campaign is hoping, too, that the package of tax credits Brown said he would push for in the Senate will help blunt a barrage of TV ads from his opponent, Republican incumbent Mike DeWine. The ads criticize Brown for voting against President Bush's tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, along with other GOP tax-cutting plans.

Brown's "Path to Opportunity" package would include $1,000 tax credits for parents in the first three years of their children's lives, increasing current child care tax credits, increased tax deductions for college tuition, a "first home" tax credit for individuals and married couples, and an elder care tax credit.

Brown said he thinks that he can convince the Senate to approve his package next year, even if the Democrats do not take control of Congress in the Nov. 7 election. His tax credit proposals, Brown said, could be paid for by the new Congress rolling back existing tax breaks for oil companies "and other special interests.''

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09/07/2006 / Permalink / Taxes, (all tags)