Fiorina says rising jobless claims show Obama policies aren’t working

Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina cited the continuing rise in first-time jobless claims as evidence that the Obama administration’s economic policies were not working as she renewed her call Thursday for making the Bush-era tax cuts permanent.

In a campaign event in Riverside, Fiorina also called for slowing the rate of government spending — in part through a federal hiring freeze, although her spokesperson later said the freeze would exempt the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, CIA, FBI and other agencies that collectively account for well over half of the payroll of the executive departments.

Tax cuts passed mostly in 2001 are scheduled to expire at the end of this year. The Obama administration has proposed keeping the tax cuts in place for most Americans, but allowing rates to rise for families making more than $250,000 a year and individuals making more than $200,000. Administration officials — and many private economists — say that raising taxes only on that relatively small slice of the population would shield most small businesses.

Fiorina, however, argued that anxiety over possible tax increases is curbing small business expansion.

“When people talk about [how] the Bush tax cuts only help the wealthy, it’s simply not true,” she said. “With all that uncertainty hanging over [small businesses] and all those additional costs — of course, they are not hiring.”

She charged that her rival, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, “obviously believes that big government is the solution to everything and the way you create jobs is to spend taxpayer money.”

The sparring between Boxer and Fiorina over tax policy during the August congressional recess has set the stage for September when Congress is expected to debate the tax issue, which will feature prominently in midterm races across the country. Boxer has argued that Fiorina is attempting to protect the wealthiest Americans, often pairing that attack with a mention of the $21 million that Fiorina received in severance when she was fired from HP.

But illustrating the sensitivity of the issue, the Democratic senator also has hinted that she might back a more generous proposal than Obama’s.

“I will not support tax breaks for billionaires and millionaires,” Boxer said during a visit to a microturbine manufacturer in Chatsworth earlier this week. “But as far as where the line will be drawn, right now I can tell you 98% of the people who pay income tax, I would not raise their taxes.”

Fiorina has worked the issue into her narrative that Boxer, along with the Obama administration, has not paid enough attention to struggling small businesses in California.

Before a polite audience of Riverside Chamber of Commerce members Thursday, Fiorina also faulted Boxer for opposing the repeal of the estate tax, which is at zero this year but would rise back up to 55% if the Bush tax cuts were to expire. Boxer’s aides said she supports a return to the 2009 tax rate, which would be 45%, and would favor keeping the amount that an individual can pass on without incurring the tax at $3.5 million.

maeve.reston@latimes.com