Dalila: Let me ask you something: If you went in for a raise and instead
of giving you a raise, they took away $2,500 from your salary,
what would mean -- what would that mean to your bottom line?
How would you feel?
What's on the table right now potentially has that same
effect; that it's going to take money away from your everyday
living expenses.
And that's real money that you use every day to make your life
and the lives of your family better.
Tiffany: If you take away the $2,200 from my paycheck,
it will severely impact my family.
Right now, my husband is currently unemployed,
so the household is being sustained by my one income.
Ron: It'll effect whether we can make necessary improvements to our
house; it'll effect whether or not I can buy a new computer for
my business.
We're not as bad off as lots of people,
but we still live on a margin.
And $2,000 for us is huge.
It's huge.
Bruce: The idea that the middle class is a secure entity in this
country is, I think, somewhat anachronistic.
And that's why this tax proposal is so important --
$2,200 for the middle class is vitally important today.
Mayra: We are about to lose our home.
We have our oldest son going to college.
And then we have two other younger ones that also --
we planned on them being in college.
And we are not sure how we are going to pay.
Gay: This is an opportunity for all of us, regardless of income,
to make a difference, to contribute to making this nation
continue to be as great as it has been.
And it shouldn't be just a function of income,
but it's your obligation as a citizen to do that.
Ron: If you're privileged, it seems to me that you've benefited
from this country and you owe a little bit more;
you need to pay back a little bit more.
And it's to protect -- it's -- it's both to pay back the
generations that have given you the shot that's gotten you where
you are, and it's also to make sure that your children will
have a shot.
Tiffany: At the end of the day, we are really all in this together.
We are all Americans, and it is really important that we look at
the consequences that lie before us if we start to be adversaries
with one another.
We really need to come together and make a decision on a good
tax policy that's going to help us all.
You know, having the problem of having to pay more for a
$250,000 salary -- that would be a really good problem to have.
Mayra: Can you pay $2,000 more in taxes?
Can you?
Well, if you cannot, then you've got to support this.
Most people I know cannot possibly pay $2,000 more
in taxes.
If you cannot, then get on board.
