NYC Letter: The Taxman Cometh

Day 150 of CHOPE

In order to save our children from a future of debt, we will also end the tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% of Americans. But let me perfectly clear, because I know you’ll hear the same old claims that rolling back these tax breaks means a massive tax increase on the American people: if your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime.

I repeat: not one single dime.

In fact, the recovery plan provides a tax cut – that’s right, a tax cut – for 95% of working families. And these checks are on the way.

Mr. Obama,
being perfectly clear as he prepares
to cripple future generations with debt
ADDRESS TO JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS
WASHINGTON February 24th, 2009 (White House)

Here is the backend of this recent story.

[Mr. Obama] left open the possibility he would have to raise taxes on most Americans to decrease the deficit if growth were too weak. He also indicated he might tax the most-expensive employer-provided benefits to help pay for his health-care revamp. Both would reverse pledges he made during the campaign. Mr. Obama:

If we are growing at a robust rate, then we can pay for the government that we need without having to raise taxes. If we’ve got anemic growth, if we don’t have a strategy for recovery without bubbles, which is essentially what we’ve had over the last couple of recovery cycles, then we’re going to continue to have problems.

The president has repeatedly said he would keep his presidential campaign pledge to cut taxes for 95 percent of working Americans while rolling back tax breaks for households making more than $250,000 a year.

During the campaign, Obama opposed taxing employer-provided health-care benefits, a proposal gaining traction among Senate Democrats to pay for a $1 trillion health-care plan.*

He said he preferred other means** of funding the legislation, including reducing itemized deductions for the wealthiest Americans and focusing on cutting health-care costs.

The classic Democratic approach to goverance is simply to spend. The follow-on is to increase taxes. They have been doing this for decades. This is the extent of Mr. Obama's CHOPE. Spend and tax. That's it. Beyond these Democratic remedies, Mr. Obama is out of ideas.

CHOPE.

Outsized spending. Record Unemployment. Time to tax the remaining life from the economy.

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* Or $4 trillion. Not to worry, it's only money.

** Here's one that doesn't get much press.