Obama’s tax proposals spark partisan divide among Georgians

On Tuesday night President Barack Obama offered a plan, leaked to the press well in advance, to increase taxes on top earners and banks in order to pay for tax credits for the middle class and make community college cost-free for all.

Georgians in the majority of the all-Republican Congress, receiving the president for his sixth State of the Union address, quickly cast aside the plan, as members of both parties dug into their trenches.

“I don’t think there’s any question it runs counterproductive to everything we’re trying to do,” said Georgia Republican U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, referring to the president’s tax proposal.

Isakson serves on the Senate Finance Committee, which is working for a big deal to simplify the entire tax code — a vision Obama says he shares.

“We’re talking about reforming the entire code; he’s talking about piecemeal-ing increases,” Isakson said. “That’s not reform. That’s adding onto the problem we already have.”

Georgia Democrats cheered the tax plans.

“Using the tax code to level the playing field for everyday working Americans so that corporations and the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share of taxes is a good first step, but we have more work to do,” said U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, a Lithonia Democrat.

“We must pass legislation that ensures that all hardworking Americans are able to earn a living wage to support their families so that we all can share in our country’s resurgence,” Johnson said.

Obama’s State of the Union proposals, along with his executive action to relieve the threat of deportation for up to 5 million immigrants living illegally in the U.S., have forced congressional Republicans to respond to his moves.

“The president fulfilled one portion of his constitutional duties by delivering the speech, but as we’ve seen most recently with his executive amnesty, he has failed to adhere to his constitutional constraints time and time again,” said U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, a freshman Republican from Monroe.

Meanwhile, the House and Senate are trying to set their own agenda, starting with moves to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline and tear apart pieces of the 2010 health care law known as Obamacare, daring vetos.

“If you look at the priorities now in the first few weeks, you’ll see some of the things that (Senate Majority Leader Mitch) McConnell and the leadership are actually doing to try to address the priorities that we have, that the American people want to see us talking about,” Georgia Republican U.S. Sen. David Perdue said.

The president invited 23 people to sit with first lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday night to amplify his initiatives.

One of them was Kathy Pham, a Georgia Tech graduate who went to high school in Savannah.

Pham, 29, worked for Google and IBM, but in December she joined the Obama administration’s new United States Digital Service to work in information technology. Now she’s helping the Department of Veterans Affairs — an agency with well-documented struggles — modernize its systems.

Pham said helping connect veterans with care has been a rewarding experience.

“You could go work for Facebook or Google or a big tech company or consulting firm,” she said, “but this is such a wonderful opportunity.”