Barack Obama's re-election racket has been running millions of dollars' worth of advertisements claiming that Mitt Romney's "plan" will raise taxes on middle class Americans. This isn't true; Romney promises precisely the opposite, and FactCheck.org has called out Democrats for repeated the debunked charge. But to paraphrase Bill Clinton's DNC speech in Charlotte, it takes some brass to preemptively criticize someone else for doing what you've already done yourself. Before we get to the latest dreary punchline, let's go back to the video tape. May I present to you the man who has been promising you lots of things for the last four years:
"I can make a firm pledge: Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.”
This man's "firm pledges" aren't worth very much, are they? Kate touched on this last night, but it's worth another spin, if only to marvel at the sheer hypocrisy of it all. The Congressional Budget Office has determined that millions of Americans will get socked by the Obamacare mandate tax, 80 percent of whom are middle income citizens:
Nearly 6 million Americans - significantly more than first estimated- will face a tax penalty under President Barack Obama's health overhaul for not getting insurance, congressional analysts said Wednesday. Most would be in the middle class. The new estimate amounts to an inconvenient fact for the administration, a reminder of what critics see as broken promises. And the budget office analysis found that nearly 80 percent of those who'll face the penalty would be making up to or less than five times the federal poverty level. Currently that would work out to $55,850 or less for an individual and $115,250 or less for a family of four. Average penalty: about $1,200 in 2016.
While he falsely accuses Mitt Romney of secretly plotting to raise taxes on the middle class, Barack Obama is...actually raising taxes on the middle class. The Obamacare tax isn't the first instance of this either. He's also violated his "firm pledge" with cigarette taxes, tanning taxes, and a slew of other taxes embedded elsewhere in his giant healthcare boondoggle. Here's another fun CBO nugget mined by the Washington Times:
CBO also said there will be 30 million people without insurance, though all but the 6 million will be exempt from the tax. The exempt Americans are a combination of illegal immigrants and those with incomes too low to pay income taxes.
Just so we're clear: Obamacare raids $716 Billion from almost-insolvent Medicare to chip in toward its own $2 trillion price tag, raises premiums on average families, increases national healthcare spending faster than doing nothing would have, swells the deficit, exacerbates the national doctor shortage, is insanely costly and difficult to comply with, and raises taxes by $500 Billion on the backs of millions of middle class families -- and the country will still have 30 million people lacking health insurance. What a deal! And most of that dysfunction doesn't kick in until 2014. For a review of what a logistical migrane the current elements of the program have already become, read this sobering analysis. It really is a debacle, guys. Try to keep this stuff in mind next time the Democrats run an attack ad about free contraception or Mitt Romney's tax returns, or whatever. But in case you're still wavering, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina really, really wants you to know how much he loves Obamacare. This photo is not doctored:
Jim would be happy to tell you all about the law's wonderful provisions, if you'll just climb into the back of his van...
UPDATE - A friendly reminder for those middle class families who think they may have dodged the Obama tax hike bullet: He's absolutely coming for you next.
UPDATE II - The Romney campaign on CBO's findings:
“With every passing day, more evidence mounts that Obamacare is a costly disaster. Today CBO informs us that even more of the middle class families who President Obama promised would see no tax increase will in fact see a massive tax increase thanks to Obamacare. The American people do not want this law, we cannot afford this law, and when Mitt Romney is President he will repeal it and replace it with common-sense, patient-centered reforms that strengthen our health care system.” – Amanda Henneberg, Romney Campaign Spokesperson