Taxes Going Up For Everyone Despite Campaign Promises
If you remember George H. W. Bush’s presidency, you probably remember the phrase, “Read my lips. No new taxes.” After uttering those words, he agreed to raise taxes. That mistake played a big role in his reelection campaign loss to Bill Clinton. Now it appears that Barack Obama is singing from the elder Bush’s hymnal; determined to move us from trickle down prosperity to trickle-up poverty.
During his campaign for president, Obama repeatedly attacked John McCain’s tax policies by saying that unless you made over $250,000, you would not have your taxes increased under the Obama plan. In fact, if you watch the following video clip, Obama says a number of things that are quite interesting. First, he says that McCain is distorting his plan. Second, he emphatically states that nobody making under $250,000 will see any type of tax increase. And finally, he attacks McCain again by saying that only McCain wants to make you pay taxes on the health care benefits that are paid for by your employer. As it turns out, every single one of those statements was at best inaccurate and at worst a bald faced lie.
Here are the facts as they stand right now.
The Obama administration has managed to push its cap-and-trade proposal through the House of Representatives and is now trying to get it passed in the Senate. Cap-and-trade is a tax on emissions that the Congressional Budget Office estimates will cost Americans roughly $850 Billion. It will mean large increases in the cost of utilities, food and transportation. The entire cost of the bill will be passed directly to consumers. And the law virtually insures that US based manufacturers will move their operations off shore; costing jobs and economic growth.
A similar cap and trade policy in Spain led to 17% unemployment. In fact, although politicians there claimed that the policy would create jobs, it actually cost 2.2 jobs for every position it created. These are the same claims that Obama and Pelosi have been making here.
The Obama administration is also trying to push through health care reform that will guarantee coverage for everyone. But how do you pay for that? Well, the president is now considering taxing employer paid health care benefits. This is the very same proposal that McCain made during the election and which Obama criticized at every turn. Based on his own numbers (again, watch the video) Obama says that taxing employer paid heal benefits is a “$3.6 Trillion dollar tax increase potentially on middle class families.” He went on to say, “That’s his idea of change,” referring to McCain. Apparently, it is the same vision of “change” shared by Obama.
Any way you slice it, these are both new taxes. And any way you slice it, John McCain’s predictions about the direction Obama would take this country with regard to taxes are proving to be more and more on-point.
Neither cap-and-trade nor healthcare reform is law yet, and their passage is still in doubt. While the House of Representatives has already passed cap-and-trade and is likely to pass healthcare reform, getting through the Senate is another story. If you want to keep your taxes low, or if you are unemployed (or think you might become unemployed) and looking for a job, call your Senators’ offices and tell them not to support either of these bills. Both bills are economy killers that you and I and our children will be paying for for years to come.
Politics & Politicians 
