he’s acknowledging that raising taxes does hurt the economy, so why is he for it in the first place and/or at all? Class warfare, punishment, jealousy?
Class Warfare
Obama acknowledged to Maria Bartiromo about the damage raising the capital gains tax would do to investors but he insisted it was more fair to take from the rich to give to the needy.
“fair” he said so himself in the Gibson moderated debate;
Obama’s Tax Evasion
April 18, 2008
http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB120847505709424727.html
Mr. Gibson... “So why raise it at all, especially given the fact that 100 million people in this country own stock and would be affected?”
Mr. Obama answered by citing rich hedge fund managers. Raising the capital gains tax is necessary, he said, “to make sure . . . that our tax system is fair and that we are able to finance health care for Americans who currently don’t have it and that we’re able to invest in our infrastructure and invest in our schools. And you can’t do that for free.”
But Mr. Gibson had noted that higher rates yield less revenue. So the news anchor tried again: “But history shows that when you drop the capital gains tax, the revenues go up?” Mr. Obama responded that this “might happen or it might not. It depends on what’s happening on Wall Street and how business is going.” And then he went on a riff about John McCain and the housing market.