The Democrats’ Tax Dilemma
Aug 4, 2010 Political
The Democrats are between Barack and a hard place during this election season. Many of them are likely to lose their jobs and if the Republicans gain the majority in one chamber then Obama will essentially be cut off at the knees. For years Democrats have been strong proponents for tax increases. While they claim that tax increases are on the rich they eventually end up taxing many more people, particularly those in the middle class.
Democrats like Obama preached about targeted tax cuts for the middle class. Remember, it was he who said that 95% of us would not see a tax increase. That has gone by the wayside as taxes have risen and will continue to rise. In 2011 we are set for a huge tax increase when the tax cuts that George Bush pushed through expire.
Now for years the Democrats have told us that these were tax cuts for the rich. In any debate the Democrats will frame the argument in those terms. The tax cuts were for George Bush’s rich friends. Tax cuts do not stimulate the economy and you have to find a way to pay for the money the government “lost” as if government actually has any money. Taxpayers have money that government extorts.
So we find ourselves in the middle of a heated election season and Democrats are running for cover. They are trying to convince the people back home that they were looking out for their best interests. Despite voting for things that the majority of Americans opposed, Democrats are running as if they fulfilled the will of the people. Funny, when the polls indicated that the American public had stopped supporting the war effort the Democrats said we needed to end the war (and they made up stories about being tricked into voting for it) because it was the will of the people. These same Democrats ignored the will of the people when they pushed through the Socialist agenda of Barack Hussein Obama (mmm, mmm, mmm).
In any event, the Bush tax cuts are causing heartburn for Democrats. Democrats will tell you that tax cuts hurt the economy and they will raise taxes every chance they get. It is how they feed the ever growing beast that is government. But now that the economy is in the dumper and is not recovering they are worried about raising taxes. They realize that allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire will result in a tax increase. Many of them have had to admit that this is not the smartest thing to do because it will stifle an already stagnant economy. They say we need the tax cuts to help STIMULATE the economy. Got that? Tax cuts stimulate the economy.
But why worry? The Bush tax cuts were only for the rich, at least that is what the Democrats have told us for nearly a decade. If the tax cuts were only for the rich and the Democrats were discussing raising taxes on the rich anyway, why does it matter? Those evil rich people can afford a tax increase so just let the Bush tax cuts expire. According to Democrat mythology the only people who will be affected are the rich because tax cuts were only for Bush’s rich friends.
Therein lies one of the problems for Democrats. The Bush tax cuts helped the middle class the most. That’s right, no matter what your liberal friends and the Democrat politicians have been telling you, the Bush tax cuts provided the greatest benefit for the middle class. If the Democrats allow the tax cuts to expire the middle class will get socked the hardest.
Therein lies a few more problems. Since Democrats are talking about only letting the tax cuts for the rich expire and extending the tax cuts for the middle class, they are admitting that the Bush tax cuts affected the middle class. In order to save their rear ends they have had to admit that tax cuts stimulate the economy and that the middle class received tax cuts from George Bush.
And it gets trickier. Barack Obama is not receptive to the idea of extending the tax cuts. He wants to end them especially for the rich. But in doing so he will be admitting that Bush gave the middle class tax cuts and that Obama just extended them. This will go against everything Obama has said about Bush and tax cuts as Obama is one of the loudest voices in proclaiming that Bush gave tax cuts to the rich.
And maybe even trickier. If Obama decides not to extend the tax cuts for the middle class January 2011 will provide a rude awakening to many middle class people who have been duped by Democrats into believing that the Bush tax cuts were for the rich. This is a potential disaster for Democrats. They have bamboozled a lot of people about tax cuts for the rich so much so that many people in the middle class who actually benefited from tax cuts do not know or understand that they were helped.
If Obama allows the tax cuts on them to expire a lot of people will have less money in their paychecks and when they go to their HR department to ask why and are informed that the tax cuts expired so their rate went up the little light bulb will go on and they will realize that they actually benefited from the Bush tax cuts after all. They will know that they were lied to by Democrats who harped on the same lie for a decade and they will know that Obama lied because he raised their taxes.
The Democrats are in a tough spot. There is only one choice that will provide the least amount of damage and that is extending the cuts for all Americans. The problem with that is their base, the morons who believe that tax cuts were only for the rich, will be forced to admit that the Democrats either lied or extended tax cuts for the rich. The Democrats would love to just allow the cuts for the rich to expire but by their own words they admit that doing so will not help the economy (tax cuts stimulate and the rich pay the most taxes).
The Democrats are really in a bad way on this issue. They are debating tax cuts vs allowing them to expire and they are conflicted. They are always conflicted in an election year because during election years Democrats pretend to be moderates who are in favor of tax cuts and reigning in spending. Once they get elected or reelected they go right back to tax and spend. If this were not an election year the issue would not matter and even though no harm will be done until 2011 Democrats must act now to keep the increases from coming. This is why they are having the debate in the first place.
As for Obama, I think he would be fairly happy to see his majority go away. He has gotten a lot of his agenda through and it is unlikely that it will be repealed until we are rid of him (he can veto any legislation). The only thing Republicans can do is not fund any of it. The power of the purse is still in the realm of Congress. I think Obama would be happy having Republicans in the majority.
What? How could that be? Obama is floundering and he will not be reelected in 2012 if things stay as they are. Democrats and their agenda will not fix the economy and this will spell disaster for Obama. He knows that Bill Clinton was in a similar spot when he was in his first term but once Republicans took over they straightened things out. Balanced budgets, the imaginary surplus, welfare reform, and many other items were part of the Republican agenda that Clinton was forced to go along with and for which he later took credit. This helped him get reelected.
Obama is looking at a similar situation. He might figure having Republicans in to clean things up will make him look good and if they screw things up even worse (unlikely) he will have them to blame and if there is one thing this guy is good at it is the blame game. Either way he will be on more sound footing when asking people to give him four more years.
As for his party, they are running from him and backing an extension of tax cuts.
That just about says it all…
Cave Canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
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Tags: democratsm bush tax cuts, lies, middle class, Obama, rich