Posted on 10/18/2008 6:26:37 PM PDT by george76
"We are going to cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans," Barack Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, said in the spin room here at Hofstra University following the final debate of the 2008 presidential election.
Plouffe was repeating one of the boldest claims made by the Obama campaign. It's a claim that the Wall Street Journal editorial board dubbed "Obama's 95% Illusion," noting that more than a third of Americans don't pay any income taxes, and that what Obama's plan does do is offer a raft of subsidies and government payments to individuals and families that he redefines as "tax cuts." His proposal looks more like a redistribution scheme than an honest effort to reduce taxes -- as he revealed on Monday when he told a now famous Ohio plumber that his plan aimed to "spread the wealth around."
So when Plouffe reiterated the 95 percent claim, I asked him a simple question aimed at clarifying whether Obama's tax plan was about cutting rates, or merely handing out government checks. "What rates would actually go down"? I asked.
"Middle class people are going to see, systemically, their taxes reduced, and small businesses," Plouffe responded.
"But what rate would go down for lower-income Americans?" ...
"We'll have to get you the exact details on that," Obama's campaign manager told me.
"Well, you said that there's going to be a tax cut on 95 percent, so what rate would go down?"
He replied, "I'll have to get you the exact rate differential."
Given that he wasn't clear on the actual rate changes involved, I asked, "but which type of tax would go down?"
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
Why did John McCain never once expose 0bama’s “tax plan” for what it is during any of the debates?
How can Obama cut taxes for 95% of Americans when 40% pay no income tax?
How is Obama’s claim that he will reduce taxes for 95% consistent with his idea of calling for “sacrifice” from Americans?
It's very consistent. He's going to pound businesses with extravagantly higher taxes. Those businesses will have no choice but to pass that along to consumers. This allows Obama to pontificate on how the fat cats are sticking it to the little guy, while simultaneously taxing 100% of the citizenry, using business as the tax collector. They take the heat, and Obama gets re-elected.
Just a note about Obama and taxes. he claims Bush tax cuts did nothing for the middle class. In 2002 a married couple with $75,000 of taxable income paid $2,600 more in federal tax than a couple with $75,000 of taxable income in 2007. Maybe the Dems think $216 more a month is nothing, but it would pay house insurance and the cable bill. It could add that money to an IRA every year. It could pay for a week in a good resort in the Hamptons or Montauk. Maybe Obama Reid and Pelosi don’t need $216 a month more but as one of the folks on the receiving end I appreciated the bucks.
Obama plans for over 1 trillion in new spending. Does anyone expect Obama to veto any tax increases? Plans to let tax cuts to expire in 2010. Voted 94 times to increase taxes.
Yeah, sure he is. Obama is selling the public nonsense.
Simple, 'that one' plans to spread the wealth around! All 100,000 of those idiots at the O'bama rally in St Louis today will be contributors! They don't realize that yet though........
I’m still waiting on that middle-class tax cut Bubba promised me in 2000. How anybody could trust a Democrat to cut taxes is beyond me.
Because he and the RNC are not too bright, and have no common sense.
McCain should offer tax cuts to 100% of Americans. That would really get money into the economy and actually increase tax revunues.
bump
He [Plouffe] insisted that under Obama's plan, income taxes would be lower, as well as capital gains taxes on start up businesses and small entrepreneurs (though the capital gains tax would otherwise increase).
Start-ups? Small businesses usually don't have capital gains until they sell the business. Usually it takes a small business quite a while to grow to a point that it is worth selling and thus generating capital gains. By that time, I doubt the business would still be categorized as a "start-up". What a joke.
It’s amazing how he has managed to pitch a wealth redistribution scheme as a “tax cut” and get away with it. McCain is only just now calling a spade a spade, i.e. Obama’s tax cut socialism, but it may be too little too late. He should have done this in the debates when the nation was watching. This group called “StickObama” has a bumper sticker that says “Obama: Bringing Europe to America (and saving you the trip)” which I think sums it up quite well. Our Founders broke away from Europe to get away from tyranny and infringements upon our natural rights, and we are foolhardily welcoming these injustices right back in.
Its not too late for McCain for this.
If it was just McCain, he’d have a problem. He would be seen as just a politician making a last minute desperate charge. But Joe the Plumber’s observations about the Obama plan gives McCain both cover and credibility to make hay over it.
Just curious. How many of you have calculated your savings under the two plans? I found it interesting that when we did so we fond that under MCCains plan we would pay about $900 less in taxes under his plan than Obama’s. We are in the under $250,000 group, in fact a lot lower since I am a stay at home mom. Have others found the same thing?
When pressed, he redefined the "rebates" as FICA and "other" taxes that are being "refunded", without explaining that the only source of making up the robbery is through income taxes paid by --- you guessed it ---- the real middle class, those making $80k or less...
Not if you raise corporate taxes you’re not! You’ll then be raising taxes (indirectly) on everyone!
Shhhhhh!
The average voter is truly too stupid to figure out a very simple fact; a third grader can grasp it:
Corporations don't pay a cent in taxes. They simply collect it from their customers as invisible part of their product or service.
So it doesn't really exist.
Right?
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