Barack Obama continues to promise tax cuts to 95% of taxpayers — and the fawning liberal lapdog media still cannot understand that these numbers just don’t add up.
As Alex Brill and Alan Viard explained recently in The American, Obama’s “tax cuts for the middle class are actually marginal rate hikes in disguise.” That is, Obama’s “tax cuts” don’t provide incentives to work or invest or create new jobs. Instead, Obama’s tax scheme actually provides disincentives to work or earn more.
Rather, Obama’s tax plan does not cut marginal tax rates for anyone who earns even $25,000 or as high as $125,000. Quite the opposite, the Obama tax scheme results in higher taxes for people in every income level who actually pay taxes.
Today’s Wall Street Journal shed the light of truth on Obama’s manipulation of the tax code: “For Obama Democrats, a tax cut is no longer letter you keep more of what you earn.” Instead, Obama simply raises taxes on people who earn more and gives it away to people who earn less.
As someone once wrote, “He who taxes Peter to pay Paul can always count on the vote of Paul.”
It’s just that cynical strategy that Obama embraces, calling these tax breaks “refundable tax credits” — i.e., even if you don’t pay a dime in taxes, you can get a “tax credit” check from the government.
According to The Tax Foundation and Heritage Foundation, 44% of all tax filers would not actually pay taxes and, by 2011, an additional 10 million would pay zero taxes while cashing checks from the IRS.
The Journal notes: Total annual expenditures on refundable “tax credits” would rise over the next 10 years by $647 billion to $1.054 trillion, according to the Tax Policy Center. This means that the tax-credit welfare state would soon cost four times actual cash welfare.
Moreover, the same Democrats who criticize Bush administration spending on Iraq (roughly $650 billion) have just spent more than $850 billion on a Wall Street bail out and now want to spend almost $650 billion more to buy votes.
What goes around, comes around.