Heller Says Taxes Are His Biggest Worry of Lame Duck Session

(Nevada News Bureau Staff) – Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., said today his biggest concern about a “lame duck” session of Congress following the Nov. 2 general election is the potential for tax increases.

Heller, in an interview on the Nevada NewsMakers television program, said with Democrats in control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate despite what happens on election day that, “taxes are my biggest concern.”

“We do not know what we’re going to look like,” he said. “Here we are, less than 100 days out from the end of the year; we do not know what our tax structure is going to look like. And my biggest concern is this lame duck session we’re going to start raising taxes.”

Heller said he is concerned that the Bush tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of the year without action by Congress might not be extended for everyone.

“They are saying the top 2 or 3 percent, that we’re going to let those fade away,” he said. “That’s a huge tax increase on small businesses. Fifty percent of the small businesses in this country are going to be hit with a tax increase at the worst economic situation that we’ve had since the Great Depression and I don’t believe it bodes well.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in his debate with GOP opponent Sharron Angle last week that he wants to continue the tax cuts for the middle class, but added there is a large federal deficit that may require the wealthiest Americans to pay more.

In the interview, Heller again declined to say if he will run for the Senate seat now held by John Ensign, R-Nev., in 2012, saying, “we’ll talk about that in about six months.”

On Angle’s campaign and lead in a recent poll, Heller said he is not surprised.

A Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely Nevada voters released Monday showed Angle with 50 percent to Reid’s 47 percent. Two percent preferred another candidate in the race, and one percent were undecided. The race is considered a toss-up.

“This thing is going to go down to the wire,” Heller said. “I’ll be watching it like everyone else.”