Barack Obama -- Taxes

Obama and Taxes

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There will be taxes

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Tax The Rich

Also on the 31st, Obama said he would pay for his proposed new programs, including mandatory health insurance, by imposing higher taxes on "the wealthy" and raising the tax on Social Security wages. He added, "What we have had right now is a situation where we've cut taxes for people who don't need them."

According to recent Gallup data, "The wealthiest 1 percent of the population earn 19 percent of the income, but pay 37 percent of the income tax. The top 10 percent pay 68 percent of the tab.

Meanwhile, the bottom 50 percent -- those below the median income level -- now earn 13 percent of the income but pay just 3 percent of the taxes.

Should government determine how much money people "need"?

This is Marxism: "from each according to his ability; to each according to his need."

Double The Capital Gains Tax

Economic conservatives have a special love for cutting capital gains taxes. Not only do they feel it is one of the most destructive taxes that exists, but it was the 1978 capital gains tax cut -- along with Proposition 13 the same year in California -- that really launched the supply-side tax revolution. Now Obama says he wants to nearly double the capital gains tax rate. Here is what he told CNBC's Maria Bartiromo last week:

"Well, you know, I haven't given a firm number. Here's my belief, that we can't go back to some of the, you know, confiscatory rates that existed in the past that distorted sound economics. And I certainly would not go above what existed under Bill Clinton, which was 28 percent. I would -- and my guess would be it would be significantly lower than that. I think that we can have a capital gains rate that is higher than 15 percent. If it -- and if it, you know -- when I talk to people like Warren Buffett or others and I ask them, you know, what's -- how much of a difference is it going to be if it's 20 or 25 percent, they say, look, if it's within that range, then it's not going to distort, I think, economic decision making."

My take: Obama got it wrong. The capital gains rate during the Clinton administration fell from 28 percent at the beginning to 20 percent with the signing of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 in August of that year. Interestingly, the economy managed only two years of growth of 4 percent or more in the decade previous to the 1997 cap gains cut -- but notched three straight years of such growth in 1997, 1998, and 1999.

A Trillion Dollar Tax Increase

An Obama presidency could mean a Trillion Dollar tax increase.

The Urban Institute Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center has just published a detailed analysis and comparison of the tax policies of Senators McCain and Obama.

It concludes that compared to current policy, McCain would cut taxes by $628 billion over the next 10 years and that Obama would raise them by $734 billion over the same period.

No Taxes For Obama Though

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama would raise taxes on the rich, but as an investor, he seems eager to cut his own.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama wants to raises taxes on the wealthy, but as a member of that social class, he isn't eager to fall victim himself. He has invested at least $1 million in a fund that yields tax-free income.

The Illinois senator's latest campaign-finance disclosure shows that his investments have nearly tripled in the past two years to as much as $7.4 million, and his income in 2007 surged past $4 million, not counting his government salary.

Obama reported accounts with Morgan Chase Private Client Asset Management, an elite firm that deals only with the rich, as well as a host of retirement accounts, some in the name of his wife, Michelle.

The Global ~~Poverty~~ Redistribution Act

Obama has already endorsed the U.N.-inspired giveaway known as the Global Poverty Act. It’s estimated that filling this particular Christmas stocking would run us $845 billion. Worse yet, most of this largesse would wind up in the pockets or Swiss bank accounts of those various thugs, such as Omar al-Bashir, Teodoro Obiang Mbasogo, Isayas Afeworki and the aforementioned Robert Mugabe, who run Africa the way that Al Capone ran Chicago.

Finally, it’s no business of mine how much of their millions Mr. And Mrs. Obama send to his relatives in Kenya, but I see no good reason why the we should have to shell out a plugged nickel.

But, that's with your money. Obama is much tighter with his own.

The Evening Standard reports that Barack Obama has failed to honor the pledges of assistance that he made to a school named in his honor when he visited here amid great fanfare two years ago.

Update: Kenyan-American milblogger Juliette Ochieng at Baldilocks is setting up a non-profit called "Save Senator Obama Kogelo School, Inc" to effect the change the village had hoped Obama would deliver.

Windfall Profits Tax

Obama's proposal for a windfall profits tax on oil companies could cost $15 billion a year at last year's profit levels, a campaign adviser said.

The plan would target profit from the biggest oil companies by taxing each barrel of oil costing more than $80, according to a fact sheet on the proposal. The tax would help pay for a $1,000 tax cut for working families, an expansion of the earned-income tax credit and assistance for people who can't afford their energy bills.

And the oil companies would pass that on to the consumer -- great idea!

The Hard Numbers

First hard numbers on the Obama Tax Plan show a dramatic redistribution of wealth according to a new Tax Foundation analysis.

In Tax Foundation Fiscal Fact, No. 132, Tax Foundation president Scott Hodge uses revenue estimates from the Tax Policy Center to show that Obama's plan would greatly accelerate the decades-long trend toward a federal government that depends for tax revenue almost exclusively on a few high-income people.

This contrasts starkly with the McCain plan, according to Hodge, which would give every taxpayer a cut and leave the current tax burden distribution approximately where it is.

"Under the Obama plan for 2009," explains Hodge, "more than $131 billion would be redistributed from the top 1 percent of taxpayers to all other taxpayers."

Obama's plan to punish success is patterned straight from Karl Marx -- "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."

Of course, Obama has his millions in a "quasi-blind trust" -- exempt from his "tax the rich" plan.

A Trillion Dollar Tax Increase.

No Taxes For Obama

No Gifts Either

Windfall Profits Tax

Promises To Raise Taxes

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama flatly promised to raise taxes in a television interview Thursday afternoon.

"I will raise CEO taxes," Obama told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room."

"If you’re a CEO in this country you’ll probably pay more taxes," Obama said. Obama speculated his CEO tax rates "won’t be prohibitively high, you’ll pay roughly what you did in the 90’s when they were doing fine."

Obama also said he would eliminate the Bush tax cuts and install what he called a "middle class tax cut."

Blitzer asked Obama to define "middle class."

Obama replied, "You know, I think the definitions are always a little bit rough" and said "if you’re making $100,000 a year or less, then you’re pretty solidly middle class… On the other hand, if you’re making more than $100,000 and certainly if you’re making more than $200,000 or $250,000, you’re doing pretty well."

Favors Higher Taxes

Today's Wall Street Journal publishes a column by former principal deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration Andrew Biggs on "Obama's faulty tax argument."

Like his improbable history, Obama's argument in favor of higher taxes is both straightforward and misleading. If Obama is elected president, we can count on at least two things: bad economic policy and bad foreign policy. And we won't be able to say we weren't warned.

Voted To Raise Taxes 90 Times

After battling for five months, the Cook County Board has voted to more than double the county's sales tax, bringing the overall sales tax in Chicago to be the highest of any major U.S. city at 10.25 percent.

The agreement means a drink at the bar, a fast-food meal and back-to-school shopping, among other things, will get a bit more expensive in Cook County.

Vote Obama and double your taxes too! When Obama talks about change, he's talking about the money he plans to leave in your pocket.

Did you know, as a U. S senator, Obama has voted to raise taxes 90 times -- and on wage-earners earning as little as $32,000.

Obama's Tax Plan Is Really A Welfare Plan

According to the Wall Street Journal, Barack Obama's tax plan is the opposite of supply-side economics. He proposes to raise marginal rates for just about every federal tax. He also proposes a raft of tax credits that taxpayers can receive if they engage in various government-specified activities.

Moreover, the tax credits would mostly go to those who pay little or nothing in federal income taxes. His trick is to make the tax credits "refundable." Thus, if the tax credit is for $1,000, but the taxpayer would otherwise only pay $200 in taxes, the government would write a check to the taxpayer for $800. If the taxpayer pays nothing in federal income taxes, the government would pay him the whole $1,000.

Such credits are not tax cuts. Indeed, they should be called The New Tax Welfare. In effect, Mr. Obama is proposing to create or expand a slew of government spending programs that are disguised as tax credits. The spending on these programs is then subtracted from the total tax burden, in order to make the claim that his tax plan is a net tax cut overall.

Taxes Will Balloon Deficit

Sunday's Washington Post carried a story by reporter Lori Montgomery with a surprising headline: "Obama Tax Plan Would Balloon Deficit, Analysis Finds." The Post is highlighting research from the "nonpartisan" Tax Policy Center, a project of two liberal think tanks, the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute.

Measured against current law and against the promises of his fellow Democrats, Obama would rack up huge deficits. According to a recent analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, Obama's tax plan would add $3.4 trillion to the national debt, including interest, by 2018.

Will Raise Every Major Federal Tax

The recently released details of Barack Obama's tax plan, published on his campaign website, along with an article by his top economic advisers in the Wall Street Journal, confirm that Obama makes Walter Mondale look like a moderate. For Obama pledges not just to raise taxes. He proposes to raise every major federal tax. The recently released details confirm that:

* Obama would raise individual income taxes, increasing the top two income tax rates, with the top rate climbing by 13%, to almost 40%. This tax increase particularly hits small business, which creates the most new jobs in America.

* Obama would raise the top capital gains tax rate by 33%, to 20%.

* He would also raise the top dividends tax rate by 33%, to 20% as well.

* He would raise Social Security payroll taxes by 16% to 32% for families earning over $250,000 a year. He would consequently arbitrarily punish these families with an effective real return from Social Security of less than 0%, while making only a minor dent in the long term Social Security deficit.

* Obama would reinstate the death tax (estate tax) now being phased out under current law, with a top tax rate of 45%.

* The Obama health plan includes a new payroll tax on employers to pay for health insurance.

* Obama would impose several specified tax increases on corporations, including a new so-called windfall profits tax on oil companies.

* Obama's protectionist trade policies would mean higher taxes and tariffs on trade.

* Obama tries to argue, crassly, that these tax increases would fall only on "the rich." The tax increasers always start by saying that. But they always end up reaching down towards the middle class because that is where the big money is. The federal income tax was adopted almost 100 years ago with the promise it would only tax "the rich."

Moreover, the answer to Rick Warren's question as to who the rich are is small business employers who create most of the jobs, and investors who finance the jobs. Raising taxes on them ends up hurting the middle class and working people the most in terms of lost jobs, lower wages, and a weaker economy, discussed further HERE.

A Living Wage

A health care mandate is not the only new regulation that Obama wants to impose. For example, he would require businesses to pay an undefined "living wage." He would require paid "family and medical leave." He would regulate mortgages and credit card interest rates. He would impose a host of environmental and labor restrictions. The net cost of this regulatory burden almost certainly will be higher unemployment and greater poverty.

And it's not just businesses that would feel the regulatory hand of an Obama presidency. Consumers too will have to pay, as he imposes new costs on products ranging from homes to automobiles and appliances. In almost everything we do, Obama sees a need for the government to intervene.

A President Obama would mean a much bigger, more intrusive, and costlier government. Indeed, when considering his policies, one searches in vain for any break with liberal orthodoxy. Personal accounts for Social Security? Entitlement reform? School choice? Obama rejects them all, calling such proposals, "Social Darwinism."

10 Things You Need to Know

if you have a retirement account, work in or shop at a small business, are close or in retirement, or even flip on a light switch, then there are a few things that you should consider.

Under that plan:

1. Small main street businesses would be forced to pay tax rates as high as 62.3% under Senator Obama’s tax proposals.

2. Senator Obama’s tax plan would tax small businesses at a higher rate than Wal-Mart!

3. Taxes on retirement income and savings could increase by at least 33%, hitting millions of seniors when they need these resources the most.

4. 4 million workers over the age of 50 -- those eagerly looking forward to retirement -- would be hit with increased tax bills.

5. Millions of Americans would only keep 38 cents of every dollar that they earn.

6. Senator Obama’s tax plan would reduce the after tax wages of millions of workers by 17.7%.

7. It will take 227 days per year, nearly 8 months, just to pay your tax bill!

8. 97,065 carpenters, 110,908 police officers, 254,992 nurses, 208,562 postsecondary teachers and 237,000 dentists would see tax increases, if the earnings cap was successfully eliminated.

9. 10.3 million workers would see an average of $5,650 taken from their paycheck and given to government programs.

10. Even YOU might be considered "Rich."

Click Here. Learn More.

Get Ready Middle America

Barack Obama says he is "agnostic" about raising taxes on households making less than $250,000 as part of a broad effort to rein in the budget deficit.

Obama, in a Feb. 9 Oval Office interview, said that a presidential commission on the budget needs to consider all options for reducing the deficit, including tax increases and cuts in spending on entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

"The whole point of it is to make sure that all ideas are on the table," Obama said in the interview with Bloomberg BusinessWeek, which will appear on newsstands Friday. "So what I want to do is to be completely agnostic, in terms of solutions."

Obama repeatedly vowed during the 2008 presidential election campaign that he would not raise taxes on individuals making less than $200,000 and households earning less than $250,000 a year. When senior White House economic adviser Lawrence H. Summers and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner suggested in August that the administration might be open to going back on that pledge, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs quickly reiterated Obama’s promise.

Continue reading here . . .

Obama Will Break Firm Pledge On Taxes

Grover Norquist says Barack Obama has some explaining to do. When he signed the ObamaCare into law, he formally broke his "firm pledge" to the American people that "no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase."

Among the 21 tax hikes signed into law as part of ObamaCare, at least seven directly break Obama’s central campaign promise. The first of these tax hikes will take effect on July 1: the excise tax on indoor tanning services -- a 10 percent tax on the retail price of a tanning session.

Leaving no stone unturned in their petty hunt for tax revenue, Senate Democrats in December added the tax behind closed doors at the last minute. There is no exemption made for families making less than $250,000 per year, thus violating Obama’s "firm pledge" to the American people.

Local news coverage from around the country has illustrated the paperwork and cost burden to salon owners, employees, and customers. The owner of two salons in Virginia has this to say about the new tax: "It is very emotional to see your dream being literally shattered by someone in Washington."

Industry estimates from the Indoor Tanning Association show that 30 million Americans visit an indoor tanning facility in a given year, and over 50 percent of salon owners are women.

Obama Calls For Bank Tax

The Daily Caller is reporting that Barack Obama, fresh from a win on a sweeping overhaul of Wall Street regulations, on Saturday urged Congress to take up his proposal for a $90 billion, 10-year tax on banks as the next step in reform.

Obama wants to slap a 0.15 percent tax on the liabilities of the biggest U.S. financial institutions to recoup the costs to taxpayers of the financial bailout.

"We need to impose a fee on the banks that were the biggest beneficiaries of taxpayer assistance at the height of our financial crisis -- so we can recover every dime of taxpayer money," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address.

With congressional elections looming in November, Obama hopes the financial reform and the bank tax idea will resonate with U.S. voters furious over Wall Street risk-taking that led to the financial meltdown and the worst recession in decades.

Some lawmakers have indicated they are receptive to the bank tax proposal but others have questioned whether it is fair to impose the tax on banks that have already repaid money from the Troubled Asset Relief Fund to make up for losses by American International Group Inc and General Motors.

"The irony is it hurts the weaker banks more than the stronger banks," said Meredith Whitney, a prominent financial services analyst. "To think that it won’t come out of consumers and businesses is mistaken."

Of course this tax will be passed on to consumers and businesses. Obama doesn't tell you about that part -- just the evil bankers.

You must remember, Marxists need an enemy to attack. Whether it's the "bourgeoisie," "fat cat bankers" or the "evil oil men," it's all the same game.

Obama Has Already Broken His Tax Pledge

John Katch says White House mouthpiece, Robert Gibbels, mislead the public about Obama’s broken tax pledge.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbels seems to have forgotten that his boss has already broken his central campaign promise -- a "firm pledge" that "no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes."

Responding to a question during his daily press briefing today, Gibbs said, "The President believes raising taxes on the middle class during this economic time would not make a lot of economic sense."

But Obama has already broken his "firm pledge" at least eight times:

1. Federal Tobacco Tax Hike: On Feb. 4, 2009, just sixteen days into his presidency, Obama signed into law a 156 percent increase in the federal excise tax on tobacco -- a hike of 62 cents per pack. The median income of smokers is just over $36,000.

2. The Tax on Indoor Tanning Services took effect July 1, 2010: This provision of ObamaCare imposes a new 10 percent excise tax on Americans using indoor tanning salons

3. The "Medicine Cabinet Tax" takes effect Jan. 1, 2011: Thanks to ObamaCare, Americans will no longer be able to use health savings account (HSA), flexible spending account (FSA), or health reimbursement (HRA) pre-tax dollars to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (except insulin).

4. The HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike takes effect Jan. 1, 2011: This provision of ObamaCare increases the additional tax on non-medical early withdrawals from an HSA from 10 to 20 percent, disadvantaging them relative to IRAs and other tax-advantaged accounts, which remain at 10 percent.

5. The "Special Needs Kids Tax" takes effect Jan. 1, 2013: This provision of ObamaCare imposes a cap on flexible spending accounts (FSAs) of $2500 (Currently, there is no federal government limit).

6. The ObamaCare Medical Prosthetics and Devices Tax takes effect in January of 2013: This ObamaCare tax raises the price of all medical prosthetic devices, such as pacemakers and artificial limbs.

7. The Medical Itemized Deductions Cap takes effect Jan. 1, 2013: Currently, those facing high medical expenses are allowed a deduction if the total cost if the expenses reduces the filer’s income by 7.5%. This provision of ObamaCare imposes a threshold of 10%

8. The ObamaCare Individual Mandate Excise Tax takes effect Jan. 1, 2014: Anyone not buying "qualifying" health insurance must pay an income surtax according to the higher in the following Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) chart (page 71 of manager’s amendment updates Reid bill):

	Single	2 People	3+ People
2014	$95/1.0% AGI	$190/1.0% AGI	$285/1.0% AGI
2015	$325/2.0% AGI	$650/2.0% AGI	$975/2.0% AGI
2016+	$695/2.5% AGI	$1390/2.0% AGI	$2085/2.5%/AGI

Related: The tax hike that nobody's talking about. That extra $15 bump you're used to getting each bi-weekly pay period is slated to expire at the end of the year unless Congress votes to extend the credit.