Kay's Plan to Put the Middle Class First

September 26, 2008

GREENSBORO, N.C. – State Senator and U.S. Senate Candidate Kay Hagan (D-Guilford) today unveiled her plan to ensure that the interests of the middle class are once again a priority for leaders in Washington. During a tour of a middle-income housing development outside of Wilmington, Kay discussed her plan, “Making Sense for the Middle Class,” which addresses tax policies that benefit working families, increasing home ownership, promoting the growth of small businesses to create jobs and spur economic growth, and reining in federal deficits to reduce the debt burden for future generations.

Elizabeth Dole has voted with President Bush 92% of the time – a record that has made the special interests a priority over the best interests of hardworking North Carolina families. Dole voted against middle class tax cuts three times this past summer. She has also voted three times against raising the minimum wage, yet she has accepted pay raises for herself. And during at least 61 hearings for the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, Dole was silent – no remarks and no questions. Many of these were crucial hearings, during which she could have advocated for more regulation of the financial markets that crumbled last week leaving taxpayers to foot the bill.

As a state senator, Kay has worked tirelessly on behalf of North Carolinians’ best interests. Kay passed at least $840 million in tax cuts and fought to reduce income and sales taxes, and cap the gas tax. As co-chair of the budget committee, Kay balanced North Carolina’s budget while continuing to invest in middle class priorities such as increasing the minimum wage. She helped to make North Carolina one of the most business-friendly states in the nation by supporting economic incentives and tax credits for small businesses that create stable jobs. And as health care costs spiraled out of control, Kay worked to expand health care for the uninsured, particularly North Carolina’s children.

Kay’s plan includes ending the ineffective Bush-Dole tax policies that favor the wealthy and the special interests while forcing the middle class to shoulder that burden. As she will discuss today in Wilmington, Kay will support measures that make home ownership a reality by working with lenders and non-profits to provide financial counseling and ensure loan options to North Carolinians with steady incomes. She will support the entrepreneurial spirit by expanding loan options and helping with startup costs for new businesses, and by investing in research, development, innovation and health care tax credits to help keep these entrepreneurs in business and contributing to the economy. Finally, Kay will limit the debt burden placed on future generations by advocating for budget accountability and fiscal responsibility. Kay believes that we can be successful in implementing these proposals by clarifying and closing tax loopholes for offshore tax shelters, which could save up to $100 billion over 10 years.

“For too long, the special interests have had too much power in Washington, to the detriment of America’s working families,” Kay said. “We, as a country, need to start investing in the commonsense policies that will help our families move forward, not fall behind. My plans to give tax breaks to the middle class, increase access to affordable homes, encourage innovation and entrepreneurship and limit the debt burden on future generations make sense for the middle class. In the current economic climate, we simply do not have a minute to waste to level the playing field for hardworking families.”

Kay’s plan, “Making Sense for the Middle Class,” is attached and can be found on her website at http://www.kayhagan.com/issues/middleclass.

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