Democrats, in a stark shift in messaging, to make big tax-break pitch for middle class:

[SunSeeker]

2. I LOVE Van Hollen's proposals.

To spur employers to increase pay, the plan would target corporations, prohibiting companies from deducting executive performance bonuses in excess of $1 million, a benefit worth $66 billion from 2007 to 2010. To claim the deduction, companies would have to demonstrate that workers had shared in the company’s good fortunes by increasing wages about 4 percent, on par with inflation and productivity growth.

Other provisions would provide incentives to companies that give workers a share of corporate profits and invest in job training, through apprenticeship programs or partnerships with community colleges.

Blossoming wages would also stretch further under the plan, primarily through the paycheck bonus, worth $1,000 to individuals and $2,000 to couples. The idea is similar to Obama’s “Make Work Pay” credit, part of the 2009 stimulus package, but Obama’s credit was temporary and, at $400 per person, much smaller.

Van Hollen also proposes to:

●Increase the tax credit for child care from $3,000 per person to $8,000, or $16,000 per couple.

●Create a “saver’s bonus” of $250 for workers who put at least $500 a year into retirement or other savings accounts.

●And reduce marriage penalties for dual-income couples, particularly the working poor.

To avoid increasing federal budget deficits, Van Hollen proposes to limit tax breaks for the top 1 percent of earners, who are on track to reap more than $2 trillion over the next decade from favorable rates on capital gains, the mortgage-interest deduction and other “tax expenditures,” according to the Congressional Budget Office.

He also calls for imposing a 0.1 percent fee on stock trades, an idea under consideration by the European Union. That proposal would raise as much as $800 billion over the next decade, primarily from high-volume traders, Van Hollen said.