WASHINGTON — Facing sagging jobs numbers, President Barack Obama sought to recast the November election as a fight over tax fairness on Monday, urging tax-cut extensions for all families earning less than $250,000 but denying them to households making more than that.
His pitch was aimed at painting Republican rival Mitt Romney as a protector of the rich at a time of economic unease, as Democrats intensify efforts to raise questions about Romney’s own wealth and offshore bank accounts.
Romney supports extending the federal tax cuts, first signed by George W. Bush, for all income earners.
Obama said if Congress passes a one-year extension for those making less than $250,000, voters can use the November election to decide the fate of the cuts for higher-income earners.
“My opponent will fight to keep them in place. I will fight to end them,” said Obama, flanked by a dozen people the White House said would benefit from the tax-cut extension.
The president has long supported ending the Bush-era tax cuts for those making more than $250,000. The White House and Obama’s re-election team are reviving his arguments as a way to suggest that the push by Romney and congressional Republicans for an across-the-board extension of the tax cuts could put the middle class at risk.
“Let’s not hold the vast majority of Americans and our economy hostage while we debate the merits of another tax cut for the wealthy,” Obama said at the White House.
Obama’s sudden focus on the tax-fairness debate was also an attempt to change the election subject after yet another lackluster jobs report. New numbers released Friday showed the nation’s unemployment rate stuck at 8.2 percent, giving Romney fresh grounds to attack Obama as unfit to steer the U.S. economy.
Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said Obama was responding to the bad economic news by calling for a “massive tax increase.”
“It just proves again that the president doesn’t have a clue how to get America working again and help the middle class,” Saul said.
Obama said his proposal was aimed at staving off an end-of-the year stalemate with Congress. But it appeared to have the opposite effect.
Congressional Republicans balked, saying it would be a mistake to raise taxes on anyone while the economy was still struggling to recover. The House GOP plans to make its own push this summer for a full extension of the tax cuts. White House press secretary Jay Carney said Obama would veto such a bill if it landed on his desk.
On Monday, Romney raised money in Aspen, where Michelle Obama has vacationed.
Where the candidates stand
President Barack Obama: He wants to raise taxes on the wealthy and ensure they pay a minimum of 30 percent of their income. He supports extending Bush-era tax cuts for everyone making up to $200,000, or $250,000 for couples, but he wants to let the top two tax rates go back up.
Mitt Romney: He wants a permanent extension of Bush-era tax cuts for all income levels and dropping all tax rates by 20 percent. He wants to curtail deductions, credits and exemptions for the wealthiest and also end the alternative minimum tax for individuals.
