Obama’s Serial Tax Cut Deceptions (1)
The Obama campaign keeps chanting that their candidate will cut taxes for 95% of us while John McCain proposes tax cuts only for the super wealthy. As is usually the case when politicians discuss federal taxes, there’s a gap between rhetoric and truth. To help our readers fully understand Obama’s deception we’re providing a brief refersher on the Bush Tax Cuts.
1. The “Bush tax cuts” passed in 2001 and 2003 lowered all the tax bracket rates. But in order to win enough votes in the Senate Bush had to agree to a catch.
2. The catch, Under the law enacted in 2003, is that those Bush tax bracket rates are temporary. If Congress does not act to change the law, the temporary rates will expir, and beginning in 2011 all the brackets will go back up to the the previous rates.
This chart shows the current tax rate brackets, and what they go up to in 2011 if Congress does not act to change the law.
John McCain’s tax proposals start with changing the law to make the current “temporary” rate brackets permanent – all of them.
Barack Obama’s proposal is to change the law to make only the lowest four brackets permanent, and allow the top two brackets to increase.
For several years, Democrats who opposed the lower rates have deceptively called Congressional action that would keep them the same in 2011 as they are now “a new round of tax cuts.” Democrats have claimed that inaction that allowed the rates to go up would not be a tax increase since there would be no change in the law.
Republicans have said that Congressional action to keep the rates the same in 2011 as they are now simply maintains the status quo, while inaction that allowed the rates to go up would be a tax increase.
Just as Democrats are wont to call the desire reduce the growth rate in spending a spending “cut,” Obama plays games with taxes.
It is a shame when you must out and out deceive to champion your economic philosophy. But it appears to be the Obama way.