Obama Tries Biggest Tax Hike in History...Again

Dec. 7, 2012 - PRLog -- A few weeks before the eve of his second inauguration, President Obama has proposed $1.6 trillion in higher taxes over 10 years, translating to some thousands of dollars extra per taxpayer as a levelled average. It's a revival of his spring 2012 budget, which had been rejected by Congress before it took its first breath.  Now House Republicans have countered with a proposal to cut that in half, claiming in a letter to Obama that the lesser figure is what his campaign had cited.

It appears that, as last spring, Obama's tax provisions attempt more than just to abolish pre-Bush tax relief for the top 2 percent of earners (a move that would raise only a quarter of what he wants to pull). He also proposes to eliminate other pre-Obama tax cuts that benefitted "the wealthy." These hikes again would net only a small additional sum (about 8% of his total tax increase ambitions).  Additional new bites would come out of the already heavily burdened estate and gift tax areas, assessments that can in effect be levied against elderly and other survivors of the newly deceased. And capital gains and dividend taxes would be boosted, for another 15% to 18% of his target, siphoning off to federal coffers the fruits of enabling productivity.

Finally, the notion was proposed to renig on certain tax preferences for so-called "high income" taxpayers. The well-worn "bleed the fat cats" theme, which bets on the average household presuming it's not yet in that category, was never more pronounced.

This may be the fresh voice of ingenuity that deserved a Nobel prize and it may not, but to many taxpayers it sounds like a garden grade hand reaching into their pocket.

When this budget was proposed in spring 2012 it represented one of the biggest tax increases in history.  Congress dismissed it outright.  Obama himself, not surprisingly, called no attention to it in mid-campaign; rumors floated that he was proposing no tax increase at all.  The Democratic-dominated Senate made a show of passing a temporary extension of pre-Obama tax cuts for the less-than-$250,000 crowd.  That was simply an exercise in extracting a small, palatable portion of Obama’s 2013 plan and bandering it about, pre-election.  And even that portion stalled in the House.  In campaign debates, Obama spoke not of tax hikes but of tax rates, a distinction that seems to have cloaked his true plan.  Oddly, Romney too called almost no attention to it, which in retrospect may have been the political blunder of the century.

That plan has resurfaced now, and is being promoted in place of the Democratic campaign message.  

For more details see the Washington Post report, here:  www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/did-obama-pull-a-bait-and-switch-on-tax-increases/2012/12/06/d9a5971e-3ffc-11e2-bca3-aadc9b7e29c5_blog.html

#   #   #

Executive Summary News is a unique, sponsor-supported news and commentary entity that seeks to present to readers concise facts, insights, and commentary on timely issues, topics, concerns and events worldwide.

#   #   #

SPONSOR LINKS:
( http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004LGTP8C )
( http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/archangel-michael-vorhis/...; )
( http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/archangel-michael-vorhis/... )
( http://www.booksinc.net/book/9780983898504 )