With a tax deadline approaching and congressional elections only months away, US President Barack Obama used his weekly address on Saturday to remind Americans he had kept a promise to cut their taxes. President Obama said in a radio and Internet address that the $787 billion stimulus package passed by the U.S. Congress last year had provided more than $160 billion in tax relief to families and businesses already. "I kept a promise I made when I campaigned for this office and cut taxes for 95 percent of working Americans," he said. "One thing we have not done is raise income taxes on families making less than $250,000. That's another promise we've kept," he said. Americans must file their 2009 tax returns by April 15, and President Obama said taxpayers could amend their returns later if they did not take advantage of a series of tax credits that were made available in the stimulus package. "So far, Americans who have filed their taxes have discovered that the average refund is up nearly 10 percent this year -- to an all-time high of about $3,000," he said. President Obama also repeated a call for Congress to close tax loopholes for big corporations. "Just as each of us meets our responsibilities as citizens, we expect our businesses and our government to meet theirs in return," President Obama said. "That's why I've asked Congress to close some of the biggest tax loopholes exploited by some of our most profitable corporations to avoid paying their fair share -- or, in some cases, paying taxes at all," he said.
