North Bay Congressman Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) said he voted in favor of the bipartisan agreement to avert the fiscal cliff because to do otherwise would have triggered another recession.
The legislation was passed in the 11th hour, according to the Huffington Post.
Thompson, a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee, released the following statement Tuesday on his vote:
“This legislation is far from perfect but it’s better than the falling off the fiscal cliff," Thompson said. "Doing nothing would have sent our economy into a tailspin and triggered another recession.
"Now that we have done what was needed to avoid the fiscal cliff, it’s time to focus on what should have been our priority all along: getting Americans back to work and getting our fiscal house in order,” Thompson added.
-- has been redistricted to the newly created 5th District, which represents Napa and Sonoma valleys and Rohnert Park-Cotati.
Healdsburg and Petaluma -- and much of the entire North Coast -- will be represented D-San Rafael, in the newly created 2nd congressional district.
According to the Press Democrat, Huffman will have his hands full as he heads off to Congress this month.
To read the Press Democrat article, click here.
To read the Associated Press account -- as published in the Press Democrat -- of the "fiscal cliff" legislation approval, click here.
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Raising taxes (during an economic slowdown) by $600 BILLION? Cutting spending by a paltry $15 BILLION? Obviously not a problem for Mike, just more of the same...
By this measure, federal taxes are at their lowest level in more than 60 years. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that federal taxes would consume just 14.8 percent of G.D.P. this year. The last year in which revenues were lower was 1950, according to the Office of Management and Budget. The postwar annual average is about 18.5 percent of G.D.P. Revenues averaged 18.2 percent of G.D.P. during Ronald Reagan’s administration; the lowest percentage during that administration was 17.3 percent of G.D.P. in 1984. In short, by the broadest measure of the tax rate, the current level is unusually low and has been for some time. Revenues were 14.9 percent of G.D.P. in both 2009 and 2010. Yet if one listens to Republicans, one would think that taxes have never been higher, that an excessive tax burden is the most important constraint holding back economic growth and that a big tax cut is exactly what the economy needs to get growing again." http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/are-taxes-in-the-u-s-high-or-low/
http://visualizingeconomics.com/blog/2011/04/14/top-marginal-tax-rates-1916-2010