Biden to zing Mitt on Buffett Rule in New Hampshire speech

Vice President Joe Biden stumps for the Obama/Biden ticket Thursday in battleground New Hampshire, where he makes income tax equity–the Buffett Rule, in shorthand–a centerpiece of his speech, where he goes after presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney.

This is the fourth is a series of what the campaign calls issue “framing speeches” for Biden. After the town hall in Exeter, N.H., Biden heads to Scarsdale, New York for a fund-raiser. Meanwhile, in Washington, President Barack Obama at the White House–does a series of broadcast interviews with battleground state stations to talk up the Buffett Rule.

The Obama White House/Obama 2012 campaign in Chicago have ramped up the Buffett Rule issue this week not because there is a realistic chance the Senate will pass it anytime soon–but because they believe they have an issue–tax fairness–that attracts independents, appeals to the middle class and portrays Romney–without exactly saying it–as a super-rich rival not only out of touch–but who does not personally pay his fair share.

The campaign advised Biden’s speech this way: “Today, Vice President Joe Biden will deliver remarks at the Exeter Town Hall in Exeter, New Hampshire on the President’s efforts to promote tax fairness by ensuring millionaires and billionaires do not pay less in taxes than middle-class families. Mitt Romney, on the other hand, believes we should keep giving tax breaks to the wealthiest two percent of Americans instead of taking steps to help reduce our deficit and investing in things that will grow our economy and keep us secure: education, research and technology, a strong military and retirement programs like Medicare and Social Security.”

To watch the event live at 12:15 PM EDT, please click here: http://www.barackobama.com/live

BIDEN SPEECH EXCERPTS…..

So now we are faced with a choice:

Do we pay down those deficits, cutting wherever we can, while we invest in the things we know we must to grow our economy and good, middle class jobs–education; research and development; clean energy technology?

Or do we continue to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on these tax windfalls for millionaires–windfalls they do not need and haven’t asked for.

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It’s not the American way.

We’re not supposed to have a system that’s rigged. We’re not supposed to have a system with one set of rules for the wealthy and one set of rules for everyone else.

Middle class Americans are willing to stand up and do their part. But they don’t want to be played for a sucker.

When you pay your taxes next week, you ought to be able to know that everyone else is paying their fair share too.

…

Just look at what Governor Romney wants to do.

The Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, the ones that were intended to expire, the ones that will expire this December–he wants to extend them.

That will cost about a trillion dollars over the next ten years. And $800 billion of that trillion will go to people who make a minimum of a million dollars a year.

And to add insult to injury, he proposes to give another $250,000 in tax cuts to the average millionaire.

That’s another trillion dollars to the top 1 percent–on top of making permanent the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.

Look, these are tax cuts to people who didn’t ask for them, who don’t need them, and who know the nation can’t afford them.

And it matters. There’s a stark choice we have to make.

The Buffett Rule says that multi-millionaires should pay at least the same percentage of their income in taxes as middle-class families do.

The Romney Rule says the very wealthy should keep the tax cuts and loopholes they have, and get an additional, new tax cut every year that is worth more than what the average middle class family makes in an entire year.

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