President Obama called for a tax hike on America's job creators or those making more than $250,000 per year today while offering to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for the middle class for just one year. Obama said we don't need anymore "top down economics, we've tried that theory," while pushing a the same "rich should pay their fair share" theme wrapped up in different rhetoric.
Obama failed to mention he has already broken his 2008 campaign promise of not raising taxes on the middle class by increasing taxes on those making less than $250,000 through the following:
-Obamacare individual mandate tax
-Cigarettes ($6.20 per carton)
-Over-the-counter medicines
-Indoor tanning (10%)
-Medical Prosthetics
-Special needs tuition
-HSA distributions
-Catastrophic medicinal expenses
The Romney campaign, Republicans and economists are already hitting back.
From Romney Press Secretary Andrea Saul:
"President Obama's response to even more bad economic news is a massive tax increase," said Andrea Saul, the Romney campaign's spokeswoman. "It just proves again that the president doesn't have a clue how to get America working again and help the middle class."
"The proposed tax increase on 53% of all flow-through business income would be especially harmful to small businesses," said a statement by Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Arizona, a leading conservative.
"Two years ago, President Obama said extending these same tax rates was 'the right thing to do' for the middle class, for jobs and for small businesses," Cantor noted, adding that "keeping taxes low is still 'the right thing to do' to get the economy growing again."
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Politics, not economics, is driving President Obama's election year strategy to force a battle over his efforts to raise income taxes. So much of Obama's speech Monday focused on his political opponents and the difference between those whom he claims support the middle class and those who support what Obama continually called "the wealthy."
In December 2010, Mr. Obama agreed to extend the tax cuts temporarily for all taxpayers, citing the stalled economy and the need to get a bipartisan agreement. He has said he would not extend the lower rates for upper-income families again.
The lower rates expire for all Americans at the end of the year, and many economists worry that failure to agree on some form of extension—combined with deep spending cuts scheduled to hit at the same time—would be a blow to the economy.
That case was bolstered on Friday when another disappointing jobs report showed that the national unemployment rate remained at 8.2% in June.
Even Bill Clinton recently said the Bush era tax cuts should be extended for everyone.
Clinton, speaking on the cable television program CNBC, said Congress may have to temporarily extend all of the low tax rates that expire at the end of the year to give lawmakers more time to come up with a plan to cut deficits.
The former president's quip marked the second time in recent days that his message ran counter to that of the Obama re-election campaign.
President Obama made the argument that his extension of the tax cut to only those making less than $250,000 "isn't about taxing job creators," but the fact is, that's exactly what it is. More than 900,000 small business owners file as individuals and will be affected by the tax increase. He also said this is about "helping job creators," something raising taxes in a recession has never shown to be true.
Obama's attempt to keep a few middle class votes at the expense of job creators is also a distraction away from the fact that his massive ObamaTax upheld by the Supreme Court two weeks ago will be paid for on the backs of the middle class. Not to mention, the more small businesses making more than $250,000 per year pay in taxes, the less money they have to create middle class jobs. As usual, Obama used himself or "a guy like me" as an example of why those making more than $250,000 per year should be paying more in taxes, failing to note he's never created a single private sector job in his life.
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