Well, not for every American -- only for those who work. Low-information Obama-voting government dependents will still be exempt.
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., called for an income tax increase on the 99 percent of Americans whose rates did not go up under the fiscal cliff deal, a hike that he proposed alongside entitlement reforms as part of a “balanced” plan to resolve the country’s fiscal crisis.“Closing loopholes is like getting rid of fraud, waste, and abuse — it sounds nice, until you’ve got to deal with it politically,” Hoyer said on MSNBC. “I was for the Clinton rates. I’m for the Clinton rates, today. Now, I wouldn’t phase in the Clinton rates immediately, because the economy is still trying to get back, so I would perhaps go at least another year until you get the full Clinton rates.”
Now you may not realize what "full Clinton rates" means. That means completely eliminating the so-called "Bush tax cuts for the wealthy" that were actually tax cuts for every American who paid income taxes under the "Clinton rates". It means that Hoyer is advocating for the very tax rates that Obama and the Democrats insisted would be harmful to American families just a few weeks ago when they were set to expire at the turn of the year -- rates that were declared to be harmful to the economy and to working American families. In other words, it is exactly what we Republicans have been pointing out consistently as the Democrat plan -- tax increases for everyone, not merely "the wealthiest Americans".
Here's what the "full Clinton rates" would mean.
Current tax rates (including the recent tax increase in the wealthy):15 percent: $8,925-$36,250
25 percent: $36,250-$87,850
28 percent: $87,250-$183,250
33 percent: $183,250-$398,350
35 percent: $398,350-$400,000
39.6 percent: $400,000 –The tax rates in 1999 (adjusted for inflation):
15 percent $0-$34,999
28 percent $34,999-$84,731
31 percent $84,731-$176,795
36 percent $176,795-$390,213
39.6 percent $390,213 —
Can your budget absorb that change? Mine can't.
So as you can see, when you hear Democrats talk about "tax fairness" for "the wealthiest Americans", what they mean is "tax increases for every American with a job." You know -- just like the 2.2% tax increase American workers got courtesy of Obama and the Democrats on January 1.
 |
Trackback Information for Leading House Dem Calls For Tax Increases For Every American
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://blog2.mu.nu/cgi/trackback.cgi/282859Listed below are links to weblogs that reference 'Leading House Dem Calls For Tax Increases For Every American'.
Comments on Leading House Dem Calls For Tax Increases For Every American
I want to say something, but allow me to caveat this first:
1) I am not a world reknowned economist.
2) I am not a political expert.
3) I AM an information junkie who tries very hard to get as much info as I can, keep an open mind to being wrong, and am willing to change my stance on an issue if I get new data.
What I wanted to say:
We. Are. Broke.
I mean, the car is still heading down the highway on momentum, but we've got sugar in the gas tank, the cylinders are getting clogged, and the driver won't pull over.
We are going to have an economic collapse. It's just math.
1) We are not going to seriously reform entitlements. Seniors won't allow it. Cutting their SS and Medicare is tantamount to taking (picking a # out of the air) 20-40% of them and making them live in poverty and without medication.
People have a desire to live. They don't want to live in squalor. If they can prevent it, even to the detriment of others, they will.
2) We are devaluing our currency. No one will loan us money any more. We keep devaluing our currency - so if we borrow it at, say 10% interest, and devalue it by 15% during the period of the loan ..... WHY would anyone loan us money? Would you?
We are "printing" money at the rate of about $500 billion a year (more really). Each dollar we print devalue each other dollar. All that money seniors saved .... it's been devalued by 15% since Obama took office - and with their cash reserves gone (or worth far less) seniors have ONLY the option of dependence on the Federal Gov't. It's not an accident.
3) As we borrow more, a bigger and bigger part of our budget is needed just to maintain the interest payment on the debt.
Mathematically, there is no way out - not without reducing entitlements by 40-60%. And that only BALANCES our budget.
That does nothing to pay back the debt, nor revalue our currency.
################@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Bottom line: We WILL have an economic collapse. I don't know what will trigger it, and I can't say exactly when - but it's coming.
I am not some "doom and gloom" guy. I am practical, grounded, and an optimist. But I can do math. I can plan a budget for my household. We either cut off welfare, food stamps, drastically redo SS and Medicare, or we're going to watch our economy collapse.
THIS WAS PLANNED. People in Washington may be power hungry, they may be liars, and they may be feathering their own nests : but they are not stupid.
This has been coming for decades. Whether you are for or against abortion it's simple demographics: We killed off 50 MILLION unborn future tax payers while we knew that 75 million baby boomers were going to (and are now) retire.
Letting in 10 (or even 30) million illegal aliens to make up the demographic difference was never going to be enough. They are not (most often) doctors, engineers, or other professional high paid class individuals. I'm not knocking them - it's just how it is. They are often poor (so were my ancestors btw) and often a net loss to our tax books.
We are going to have a collapse. My wife and I stopped saving after QE2 was announced and started prepping. We're not crazy, we don't have a bunker (lol, can't afford one), and have no desire to witness what we believe is coming. It's going to get very very ugly - and I'd SOOOOOOOOOOoooooo much rather be dead wrong and be sitting my chubby happy butt on my couch watching re-runs of Gilligan's Island in an economically healthy America 10 years from now. I would LOVE to be wrong. Please let me be wrong.
We have saved and bought a solar power plant for our house (battery back up & generator), gotten a wood stove, saved up food (Wise Foods is excellent), medicine, vitamins, medical supplies, and, yes, firearms.
Obama has to do SOMETHING, and raising taxes on the rich didn't cut it. Neither will taxing the middle class. We have a spending problem that is only going to get worse as we devalue our currency and as people retire.
It's just math.
Steven
|| Posted by Steven, February 22, 2013 04:48 PM ||Post a comment