Obama “soak the rich” plan misses mark

(Center for American Progress Action Fund)

When President Obama gave his long-awaited speech on deficit reduction today, it was predictable that his prescription for curing the government’s spending problem would be to raise taxes. There are several problems with this strategy that the president does not address.

First and most important is that taxing the wealthy cannot solve our spending problem. The Wall St. Journal has noted that even if the IRS confiscated 100 percent of the taxable income of all Americans who earn more than $500,000, it would only provide $1.3 trillion in new revenue. They further noted that confiscating all taxable income over $75,000 would barely cover the $4 trillion that Obama and Congress spent in 2010. Obviously, a 100 percent tax rate is not possible. The US needs economic growth to boost tax revenues; raising taxes on “the wealthiest Americans” cannot and will not solve the problem.

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Obama derangement syndrome

The Bushes and Obamas in 2008.

Back in the days of George W. Bush’s presidency, Charles Krauthammer discovered a new mental illness: Bush Derangement Syndrome. Krauthammer defined the disease as “the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency — nay — the very existence of George W. Bush.” It was characterized by the willingness to believe any outlandish theory or conspiracy about President Bush and the act of picking apart the president’s every utterance and action to find something to criticize or disagree with. If President Bush had said the sky was up, his critics would have found reason to believe otherwise.

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Pivotal week on Capitol Hill

This has been a busy week under the dome.

The past week produced several political events of great political significance in Washington. The Republicans were able to exercise influence far out of proportion to the size of their still outnumbered caucus to shape fiscal and tax policy for the next few years. They can thank the Tea Party for this.

The first major news of the week came from Virginia though, where US District Judge Henry Hudson ruled that the individual mandate to purchase health insurance was unconstitutional. If this ruling is upheld when it ultimately is likely heard by the Supreme Court, it will render Obamacare unworkable.

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Ga. Dems split on tax deal

Sanford Bishop plans to vote for the compromise.

A political firestorm has erupted among Democrats since President Obama announced a deal with Republicans to extend the low Bush-era tax rates. It seems possible that President Obama negotiated without the input of Democratic congressional leaders, expecting them to follow his lead.

Lame duck House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is unhappy with several provisions and has not committed to pushing the bill through the House. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the compromise was “something that’s not done yet. We’re going to have to do some more work.” This indicates that left-wing Democrats may hold the compromise hostage (to use President Obama’s metaphor) to extract more concessions from the Republicans.

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The tax cut compromise

Can the tax cut compromise save Obama's presidency? (Steve Jurvetson)

For many observers, the fact that the Obama Administration and congressional Republicans reached a compromise on extending the Bush tax cuts was not a surprise. The big surprise was how quickly the agreement came.

President Obama himself has accepted the fact that when tax rates drop, the government’s tax revenues actually increase. On the other hand, as tax rates increase the government actually takes in less money. President Obama’s response to these facts was that tax rates should be increased for “fairness.” Realizing the effect of low tax rates, it is unsurprising that President Obama would temporarily avert a tax increase in order to help bring the economy out of the recession.

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The looming Obama tax increases

Will the Bush tax cuts soon be the Obama tax increases?

There has been much talk recently of extending the Bush tax cuts. These tax cuts were passed during President Bush’s administration in 2001 and 2003 to fight the recessions that resulted from the tech stock bubble and the 9/11 terror attacks. To get the votes needed to pass the tax cuts, an expiration date of December 31, 2010 was written into the law.

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