It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year—for Tax-and-Spend Democrats

NRCC - President Obama's budget speech last week was noteworthy, not only for its partisanship and lack of serious solutions to address the nation’s debt crisis, but also for its recycling of the same, old, tired calls for tax increases Washington Democrats have pursued for years.

Obama's plan for tax increases seemed more rooted in the Democrat party circa 2000 than in 2011, even though families and small businesses are now looking for solutions to America's debt crisis. Giving the American people more of the same, old, tired ideas is the kind of thinking made in Washington:

BARACK OBAMA, 2011: “Meanwhile, the top 1 percent saw their income rise by an average of more than a quarter of a million dollars each.” …

“The fourth step in our approach is to reduce spending in the tax code, so-called tax expenditures. … It calls for tax reform to cut about $1 trillion in tax expenditures -- spending in the tax code.” (President Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President on Fiscal Policy,” The White House, 4/13/2011)

JOHN KERRY, 2004: “One percent of America, the highest one percent of income earners in America, got $89 billion of tax cut last year. One percent of America got more than the 80 percent of America that earned from $100,000 down.”

“The president thinks it's more important to fight for that top 1 percent than to fight for fiscal responsibility and to fight for you.”

“I want to put money in your pocket. I am -- I have a proposal for a tax cut for all people earning less than the $200,000. The only people affected by my plan are the top income earners of America.” (“Transcript: Second Presidential Debate,” The Washington Post, 10/8/2004)

AL GORE, 2000: “Gore said Bush gave too many benefits to the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans.” (John Hall, “Bush Quick to the Attack, Gore All Facts and Figures,” Richmond Times-Dispatch, 10/4/2000)

Even though Obama won’t say it, his tax scheme would hit small businesses just when we most need them to create jobs:

894,000 SMALL BUSINESSES TO SUFFER TAX HIKE UNDER OBAMA TAX PLAN. (Jonathan Karl, “Fact Checking the Tax-Cut Debate,” ABC News, 9/8/2010)

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF INDEPENDENT BUSINESSES: FIRMS OF 20 TO 250 EMPLOYEES MOST LIKELY TO BE HIT BY TAX INCREASE: “Bill Rys, tax counsel for the National Federation of Independent Business, said a survey of his organization found that the businesses most likely to be subject to the tax increase were those employing 20 to 250 workers.” (David Kocieniewski, “Tax Increase Would Hit Few Small Businesses,” The New York Times, 9/29/2010)

BUT OBAMA IS PUSHING AHEAD, DESPITE THE FACT THAT SMALL BUSINESSES “ACCOUNT FOR MORE THAN HALF OF ALL PRIVATE-SECTOR JOBS IN THE U.S.”: “And there are a lot of small businesses out there. Businesses organized as small businesses – also known as pass-throughs – now account for more than half of all private-sector jobs in the U.S., according to the paper.” (John D. McKinnon, “Tax Overhaul: For Small Companies As well As Big Ones,” The Wall Street Journal, 4/12/2011)

For decades, Democrats have been using the language of class warfare to try to ram through their tax increases on small business job creators. These proposed tax hikes will “only put a small dent” in the deficit. No wonder Obama won’t even use the phrase “tax increase”:

“Eliminating the Bush tax cuts for the highest earners, however, will only put a small dent in the projected deficit.” (Carol Lee and Damian Paletta, “Obama Puts Taxes on Table,” The Wall Street Journal, 4/11/2011)

ASSOCIATED PRESS: OBAMA “TORTURED AND OPAQUE” IN REFUSING TO SAY HE WANTS TAX INCREASES: “But the president's language was tortured and opaque when it came to one element of his own proposal: raising taxes for certain Americans, mostly high earners. Obama said he wants ‘to reduce spending in the tax code.’ That code, he said, is ‘loaded up with spending on things like itemized deductions.’

“By any measure, ‘spending in the tax code’ is a curious phrase. It likens tax revenue to a source of money that ‘spends’ down its total when tax cuts are enacted and conversely ‘reduces spending’ when taxes go up, including cases in which temporary tax cuts are ended.

“Long gone are the days when Democrats employed frank language on taxes, as presidential nominee Walter Mondale did in 1984. ‘Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I,’ Mondale said in accepting the nomination. ‘He won't tell you. I just did.’

“Obama left no doubt he believes some taxes should go up.” (Charles Babington, "Analysis: Obama Tiptoes on Proposes Tax Hikes," Associated Press, 4/14/2011)

Obama's latest tax hike scheme is only the latest in a long line of tax increases Obama's policies have burdened American families and job creators with:

CBO: GOVERNMENT TAKEOVER OF HEALTHCARE INCREASES TAXES AND FEES BY AT LEAST $525 BILLION: “The two pieces of legislation [that make up the health care law] were estimated to increase mandatory outlays by $401 billion and raise revenues by $525 billion.” (“The Budget and Economic Outlook: An Update,” Congressional Budget Office, August 2010)

TAXES ON EVERYTHING FROM MEDICARE TO TANNING BEDS: “The tax increases range from hundreds of billions of dollars in new Medicare levies, including one that taxes investment income such as capital gains and dividends for the first time, to a 10 percent excise tax on indoor tanning services that will raise less than $3 billion over the next decade…

“Middle- and working-class Americans, Republicans say, also can expect to pay a big portion of the numerous fees that the health care bill will impose on the pharmaceutical industry ($27 billion from 2011 through 2019), on medical-device manufacturers ($20 billion from 2013 through 2019) and on health insurance providers ($60.1 billion from 2014 through 2019), and on indoor tanning services (a 10 percent excise tax).” (David Dickson, “Healthy Tax Increases, Not Only on Wealthy,” The Washington Times, 3/24/2010)

TAX INCREASES FOR THOSE MAKING UNDER $200,000: “Taxpayers earning less than $200,000 a year will pay roughly $3.9 billion more in taxes — in 2019 alone — due to healthcare reform, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, Congress's official scorekeeper.” (Jay Heflin, “JCT: Healthcare Law to Sock Middle Class with a $3.9 Billion Tax Increase in 2019,” The Hill, 4/12/2010)

TAX INCREASES FOR THOSE WITH CHRONIC DISEASES: “The new law raises $15.2 billion over 10 years by limiting the medical expense deduction, a provision widely used by taxpayers who either have a serious illness or are older.” (Jay Heflin, “JCT: Healthcare Law to Sock Middle Class with a $3.9 Billion Tax Increase in 2019,” The Hill, 4/12/2010)