Obama moots tax package for middle class

President Barack Obama is proposing a tax package aimed at appealing to middle-income Americans, including an increased tax credit for child care and an expansion of tax credits to match retirement savings.

The proposals are intended to fit within the main themes — the economy, jobs and tackling the deficit — the president plans to sound in his State of the Union address on January 27, according to an administration statement.

“The middle class has been under assault for a long time,” Obama said today as he and Vice President Joe Biden presented the plan in Washington. “We need to reverse the overall erosion in middle-class security.”

Obama is seeking to recover political momentum lost when Republican Scott Brown defeated the Democratic candidate in a special election to fill the US Senate seat from Massachusetts that had been held by the late Edward Kennedy. The president has tapped David Plouffe, the manager of Obama’s presidential campaign, to help Democrats in the House, Senate and gubernatorial elections set for November.

With the national unemployment rate hovering at 10 per cent, the tax initiatives are aimed at broad segments of voters, including parents of children, the elderly, people saving for retirement and parents with students in college. The recommendation stems from 11 hearings held around the nation in the past year, according to a White House fact sheet.

“Even if we grow the economy at 8 per cent a year, it’s not going to be viewed as a success unless middle-class people are put back in the position where they are reaping the benefits,” Biden said. Biden defined middle-class as a family of four with an annual income of about $85,000.