LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "Let's not hold the vast majority of Americans and our entire economy hostage while we debate the merits of another tax cut for the wealthy," Obama said at the White House. The president stood in front of a riser filled with U.S. citizens who Obama said would be affected if their tax cuts were not extended.

Republicans insist that allowing taxes to rise for wealthier Americans would hurt small business owners who are helping to create jobs in a tough economy. Obama countered this claim by saying that 97 percent of all U.S. small business owners would fall under the $250,000-a-year income threshold.

"This isn't about taxing job creators, this is about helping job creators," Obama said.

The Democratic incumbent's will achieve several political goals. The action renders the current campaign conversation from last week's weak jobs report and Obama's handling of the economy to "tax fairness" and inequality in America.

It also enhances Obama's message of being the candidate who backs the middle class while Republicans, suggesting that presumptive presidential nominee Mitt Romney favors chiefly the wealthy.

The tax cuts enacted by Republican President George W. Bush will expire with the New Year without congressional action, part of a so-called fiscal cliff that could hit the U.S. economy alongside deep automatic spending cuts.

Romney has suggested that Congress wait until January -- when he hopes to take office.

His campaign said on Monday Obama's move would amount to a "massive tax increase" on families, job creators and small businesses.

"It just proves again that the president doesn't have a clue how to get America working again and help the middle class," Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said.

Obama's move may potentially alienate his democratic allies, who are divided about how to address the issue.

House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi has suggested that the income threshold for extending tax cuts be set at $1 million a year rather than the $250,000 limit Obama wants.

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