Republicans Call The Move A 'Stalking Horse'

Congressional Republicans say that President Obama's use of the imagery of wealthy people flying around in "corporate jets" is nothing more than a stalking horse for larger tax increases sought by Democrats.

Following Wednesday's news conference, where the President made several disparaging references to business aircraft and the people who use them, Republican leaders in Washington said the speech was another attempt by the White House to use class warfare as a wedge issue in an effort to obtain tax increases.

Multiple media sources including the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News indicate that a change in the tax structure to increase the depreciation schedule for business aircraft back to seven years from the five that is the current standard would add about $3 billion to the government's coffers over the next 10 years. But industry insiders say that the move could be devastating to the business aviation industry, which despite its troubles still accounts for 1.2 million jobs and $150 billion in economic impact, according to industry analysis.

The Fact Checker blog from the Washington Post gives the President poor marks for his speech. President Obama suggested that accelerated depreciation on business airplanes could cost some people the opportunity to get a student loan for college, but with the student financial assistance program for FY2011 alone reportedly tipping the budget scale at $42 billion, and the savings from the removing the accelerated depreciation estimated to be $3 billion over 10 years, that is a difficult comparison to make.

And, while the president continues to say rhetorically that he wants to eliminate tax breaks for "the rich", and "millionaires and billionaires," the tax increases would extend to those individuals earning $200,000, and couple earning $250,000.

FMI: www.whitehouse.gov, www.treasury.gov