Here is your Morning Brief for January 19, 2015

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Obama's Tax Plan

According to FOX News, President Obama will call for higher taxes on the wealthy in his State of the Union Address on Tuesday.

President Obama plans to call for billions in tax increases on top earners – including a hike in investment tax rates -- in order to fund new tax credits and other measures the White House claims will help the middle class.

The president's proposals, which also include eliminating a tax break on inheritances, are likely to be cheered by the Democratic Party's liberal base when they are announced Tuesday night in his State of the Union address. However, the tax increases are all but certain to be non-starters with the new Republican majority on Capitol Hill.

The president's address -- his first to a Republican-led Congress -- will call for $320 billion in tax increases over 10 years. Aside from funding new tax credits including a tax credit for working families and expanding the child care tax credit, the White House says that money would go to funding measures to make college more afforable and accessible, including the president’s recently announced plan to make community college free for many students.

The centerpiece of the president's tax proposal is an increase in the capital gains and dividends rate on couples making more than $500,000 per year to 28 percent, the same level as under President Ronald Reagan. The top capital gains rate has already been raised from 15 percent to 23.8 percent during Obama's presidency.

Obama also wants to close what the administration is calling the "Trust Fund Loophole," a change that would require estates to pay capital gains taxes on securities at the time they're inherited. Officials said the overwhelming impact of the change would be on the top 1 percent of income earners.

While GOP leaders have said they share Obama's desire to reform the nation's complicated tax code, the party has opposed many of the proposals the president will outline Tuesday. For example, most Republicans want to lower or eliminate the capital gains tax and similarly want to end taxes on estates, not expand them.

Administration officials pointed to a third proposal from the president as one they hope Republicans would support: a fee on the roughly 100 U.S. financial firms with assets of more than $50 billion. Officials said the fee is similar to a proposal from former Republican Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, who led the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. Camp's plan, however, was part of a larger proposal to lower the overall corporate income tax rate.

The Obama administration claims that raising the capital gains rate, ending the inheritance loophole and tacking a fee on financial firms would generate $320 billion in revenue over a decade. Obama wants to put the bulk of that money into a series of measures aimed at helping middle-class Americans. Among them:

--A credit of up to $500 for families in which both spouses work. The administration says 24 million couples would benefit from the proposal, which would apply to families with annual income up to $210,000.

--Expanding the child care tax credit to up to $3,000 per child under age 5. The administration says the proposal would help more than 5 million families with the cost of child care.

--Overhauling the education tax system by consolidating six provisions into two, a move that could cut taxes for 8.5 million families. Republicans have been open to the idea of consolidating education tax breaks.

The president's address will also include calls for lawmakers to increase paid leave for workers and enact broad cybersecurity rules.

Obama's call for higher taxes on the wealthy is likely to further antagonize Republicans who are already angry with the president over his vows to veto several of the party's priorities, including legislation to approve construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, make changes to the president's signature health care legislation and block his executive actions on immigration.

Republicans say Obama's veto threats are a sign of a president who didn't get the message from voters who relegated his party to minority status in the November election. New Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the president still has a chance to change his tone.

"Tuesday can be a new day," McConnell said. "This can be the moment the president pivots to a positive posture. This can be a day when he promotes serious realistic reforms that focus on economic growth and don't just spend more money we don't have. We're eager for him to do so."

Beyond rolling out new proposals, Obama's address is also expected to focus on making the case to the public that recent economic gains represent a real and lasting recovery. The approach reflects the White House's belief that it has been too cautious in promoting economic gains out of fear of looking tone deaf to the continued struggles of many Americans.

White House advisers have suggested that their restraint hindered Democrats in the November elections and helped Republicans take full control of Congress for the first time in eight years. But with hiring up and unemployment down, the president has been more assertive about the improving state of the economy in the new year. Tuesday's prime-time address will be his most high-profile platform for making that case.

"America's resurgence is real, and we're better positioned than any country on Earth to succeed in the 21st century," Obama said Wednesday in Iowa, one of several trips he has made this month to preview the speech.

Obama isn't expected to make any major foreign policy announcements. He is likely to urge lawmakers to stop the pursuit of new penalties against Iran while the U.S. and others are in the midst of nuclear negotiations with Tehran. In a news conference Friday, Obama said legislation threatening additional penalties could upend the delicate diplomacy.

With a Republican Congress, I don't see Obama's plan for higher taxes on the wealthy going anywhere. The State of the Union is a wishlist from the President but rarely are the wishes granted.

What Abbott Could Speak About

The Dallas Morning News reported over the weekend that when Greg Abbott speaks on Tuesday, conservatives shouldn't expect to hear a bunch of red meat items.

Greg Abbott is strongly pro-gun and anti-abortion. He loves the tea party. And his lawsuits opposing same-sex marriage and lifting a deportation ban on illegal immigrants made recent headlines.

Expect to hear none of that Tuesday.

When Texas’ new Republican governor is sworn in and offers his inaugural speech and his legislative agenda, close advisers say, Abbott will hew to broader issues with wider appeal: relieving snarled traffic, improving education, easing taxes and keeping Texas’ economic engine churning.

Abbott is not about waving red banners, they said. He is more into dog-earing a 420-page blueprint of priorities developed during his campaign.

“He’ll be a no-drama governor,” said top political adviser David Carney. “He’ll be somebody focused and prioritized and will work with the Legislature.”

On Tuesday, in the sunshine of the Capitol steps and in the shadow of Rick Perry — the longest-serving and most powerful governor the state has known — Abbott is expected to lay out an agenda that reflects his methodical campaign.

Gone will be Perry’s flair for declaring as legislative “emergencies” controversial topics such as requiring pre-abortion sonograms or cracking down on immigration. And while Abbott might not lend rhetorical flourish to those issues, he is likely to succeed on them without having to take the lead — or the heat — thanks to a Legislature in which staunch conservatives have unprecedented clout.

Abbott’s entire political career has been in the legal arena, as a judge and, for the last 12 years, as the state attorney general. His policy and political chops are about to be tested, and neither lawmakers nor voters know what style of governing to expect.

But so far, Abbott appears ready to put his shoulder behind big, potentially bipartisan, issues, albeit in bite-size pieces crafted to keep government spending low. He will let partisan, politically charged issues take care of themselves.

“There are core issues that are very important to the citizens of Texas,” said Angela Hale, a longtime Abbott adviser who is now a media consultant. “Transportation, education and some kind of tax relief. Making sure Texas is No. 1 in economic development.”

Hale and others pointed out that a cadre of GOP lawmakers are ready to jab at hot-button issues. And Abbott will likely sign their bills if they hit his desk.

But that’s not where they expect his attention to be as governor.

Hale said he’ll keep promises to social conservatives. “You can pass the things you promised, but the focus and vision is about making Texas a better place that will keep Texas moving,” she said.

Abbott will let his actions speak for themselves. About what I expected.

Other Must Read Links:

These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show. Tune in mornings 8:30-11am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard on our KFYO YouTube page after the show and online at kfyo.com.

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