This week, the left-leaning Tax Policy Center published an analysis of the Barack Obama and John McCain tax plans, concluding that their plans were predictable (as was the analysis). According to the TPC:
Each would raise the national debt by trillions of dollars. Obama would provide modest tax cuts to low- and moderate-income people while imposing stiff tax hikes on the very wealthy. McCain would cut taxes a bit for the working-class and a lot for the rich.
Yet in all of the discussion which followed, virtually none was directed to an equally important question: how seriously should we take the candidates’ tax plans in the first place?
For example, Obama touts his proposed middle-class tax relief in his campaign speeches. However, as Camp McCain noted back in March, Obama voted for the Democrats’ proposed FY 2009 budget, which would hike taxes 3% on people making as little as $31,850 annually.
It reminded me of something I wrote about political character almost two months ago:
My background is such that I care at least as much about issues as character questions  but there are limits. For example, John McCain claims he has learned from the demise of the McCain-Kennedy immigration bill that we need to secure our borders before the public will be willing to consider what to do about the tens of millions of illegal immigrants already here. However, there are many people (myself included) who are skeptical of such pronouncements, based on what is known of McCain’s stubborn and often contrarian character.
So it was no shock to me last month when McCain told business leaders in California that “comprehensive immigration reform” should be a top priority for the next president.
This is not to say that the plans offered by the candidates are pointless. But they are ultimately political documents that often do not survive first contact with reality. Such plans have to be viewed against the records and character of the candidates.
In this case, calling the candidates’ proposals “pointless” would be to overstate their informational content. They’re the ghostwritten words of two spineless and thoughtless men.
McCain’s siding against the people in every domestic-political circumstance isn’t “contrarian.” We always know what he’ll do. His maverickyness is conformity with his peers. If he’s President, he’ll do whatever they want. And his “they” is the same “they” as Obama’s.
No matter who’s the next President, no one is.
This we know to be a fact. Baracky in the White House, with a Dem Congress, will most definitely not lead to a reduction in your income taxes. No way. Not a chance in hell.
Karl,
How would you rathe this first week of the general in terms of the Vibrator’s exhibition of organizational and executive skill? Does stepping on his Johnson suggest anything about his actual ability or is it just a smoke cloud obscuring the “real” Vibrator’s actual talent?
Well, of course Obama would have to raise taxes. Free health care for every man, woman and child costs money, you know. And, of course, being such a good friend of Jews, Obama would send massive amounts of humanitarian aid after Israel has been reduced to radioactive cinder.
JD,
Yup.
We have a wonderful future to look forward to, no matter who wins.
McCain MAY be marginally better, but you are right on the money. He has already let the Dems define the playing field.
BTW. OT, but if you haven’t been to americansolutions.com, please go and sign the petition for “Drill here, drill now, save money”. It’s Newt’s site, and they are approaching a million signatures. We really need to squash these assholes in Congress who are refusing to let the U.S. drill for our own oil.
I have no problem with taking care of the Earth, but the “Greens” (i.e. – Reds) are insane, and, at the moment, causing us to pay about $2.00 a gallon more than we need to. Any Congress(wo)man who keeps up this ridiculous charade should get their butt kicked.
And for the first time, I have become an activist on this issue. We are getting screwed at the gas pumps by a small bunch of fucking IDIOTS.
Please sign up.
Seems to me the last Democrat to be elected president talked a lot during his campaign about cutting taxes for the middle class. After the election nothing whatsoever was heard about the idea until suddenly, one day, said Dem president announced that, despite having worked as hard as he ever has in his life to make it happen, he just couldn’t do it.
People who had voted for him were surprised and disappointed. The rest of us, not so much.
O!
Actually, it should be a top priority to start taxing people making 30k and below again.
They pay little to nothing now. So, we’re creating a mentality among a class that they can vote for any program and not pay anything for it.
5-8%… something…. Make em file returns like the rest of us. Threaten to raise it more whenever the dems push for huge new programs… At least they’ll start paying more attention to whether the program is necessary… and/or structured as best as a possible… vs. just voting for it because it’s a freebee..
No free lunch baby….
Taxing incomes was a stupid mistake from the get-go. It distorted the economy beyond retrieval and funded an explosive growth of the federal government, which proceeded to… distort the economy even further.
If America falls, it will have taxed itself out of existence.
I predict that: No matter what is done with the federal income tax rates, the middle class will still spend about half of their total income on taxes of one form or another. These taxes would include, but not be limited to, Social Security, state sales and income taxes, property taxes, local sales and income taxes, gasoline taxes, license tags, corporate income tax that is passed along in the cost of goods and services, and inflation due to government workers and welfare recipients (non-producers) competeing for the same goods and sevices as producers.
Taxing incomes was a stupid mistake from the get-go. It distorted the economy beyond retrieval and funded an explosive growth of the federal government, which proceeded to… distort the economy even further.
If America falls, it will have taxed itself out of existence.
1913 wasn’t a good year for America. Establishing the Federal Reserve and ratifying the 16th Amendment were both bad ideas.
Karl,
You left out nurses. It’s death, taxes AND nurses.
Comment by McGehee on 6/13 @ 10:25 am #
“Taxing incomes was a stupid mistake from the get-go.”
Better than yearly wealth taxes… that never end.
Not to sound like an under-achiever, but I’d love to see withholding end and a reversion to the old system of monthly or quarterly payments, just so the groundhogs could see and feel the amount of money that is being taken out of their pockets.
1) Ending withholding is awesome but you pretty much have to defeat the entire bureaucracy and most of the accounting profession to get it done. Oh, and lawyers.
2) The Dems will do almost anything to prevent a reduction in gas prices before the election. They’ll try to raise taxes, they’ll block drilling and refinery construction… it is TOTALLY contrary to their interests in every way imaginable.
It’s a vote-loser, because people will credit the current administration – who deserve neither credit nor blame unless they do something dramatic.
It hurts their environmental agenda, which wants to see people “reduce their carbon footprint” by not driving, not eating, not breeding, not living.
It hurts their power agenda because mobile people are harder to control – and wealthier, which means harder to control.
And on, and on, and on…
Ultimately, it’s beyond revolting.
I do wonder how much money Soros has in that particular market.
Break, break: via MSNBC Tim Russert has died of a heart attack.
Merovign,
I’ve been wondering the same thing for a long time now. Soros sees himself as the Emporer, and has set up enough shell 527’s to fund Obama till hell freezes over, and Soros can’t be directly tied the funding.
After watching Obama without a teleprompter, I can reach no other conclusion other than that Obama is not smart enough to be directing his own campaign. He is a liar, and a loser, but most importantly, a water carrier for some shadow. Who else but Soros could pull this off?
[…] Protein Wisdom – Politics: As certain as death and taxes (and illegal immigration)[Karl] […]
To all who talk about Obama raising taxes, He will on the very wealthy. If you make more than 600K your taxes will go up as should be otherwise you will be paying less with the obama tax plan.
McCain also said that border security comes first. But the truth is sooner or later there will be some kind of immigration reform. If Obama wins it will be drivers licenses for illegals. Nationalized health care for illegals. Less concern about the border and more emphasis on the human costs etc. McCain is closer to representing the national view on this. I also think Obama will raise taxes more, including social security taxes. There is no other way he can fund the new entitlement prgrams he wants.
$600K? I’ll believe it when Dingy Harry and Botox Nancy manage to resist the temptation to redefine “very wealthy” as … pretty much anyone with assets or an income.
From the GOP web site: Obama-Backed Budget Would Raise Taxes On Individuals Earning As Little As $31,850. “Under both Democratic plans, tax rates would increase by 3 percentage points for each of the 25 percent, 28 percent and 33 percent brackets. At present, the 25 percent bracket begins at $31,850 for individuals and $63,700 for married couples.
The head before the quotes is the GOP spin, the quote is allegedly from the article. The headline dutifully parroted in your post is self-evidently false, for anyone with a molecule of knowledge about the income tax. The tax brackets are defined in terms of taxable income, which is income after taking deductions and exemptions, among other adjustments. So the $31K figure (which is for 2007, and we’re supposed to be talking about 2009, but who’s counting) could not be total income. It would be gross income minus adjustments, deductions, and exemptions, hence MORE.
No wonder you guys hate taxes. You’re so dumb you’re paying way too much.
So deductions and exemptions amount to $570,000?
You’re right, I am paying too much.
Terrye,
If Obama is elected he’ll be spending most of his time saying things like “these are not the Muslims I know.”
[…] If Camp McCain hammered home that Obama is promising a middle-class tax cut, but he already voted this year to hike taxes on people making as little as $31,850 annually, they could not only establish that […]