In recent days, I have watched on TV and read in different places, the inane, dishonest and disingenuous claims from repuglicans in congress and elsewhere, about what they call a tax hike by Obama. They often follow those statements with characterizations of class war fare, allegations of punishing the rich and related nonsense. The truth is actually more interesting - the tax increase IS A BUSH/REPUBLICAN CONGRESS TAX INCREASE!!
There are times when I watch or read opinions, that I want to scream at something, someone. The inanity can be so overpowering and yet the reasoned rebuttal should be so simple that I am at a complete loss at which the nonsense is not rebutted. Case in point - recent repug nonsense about an Obama "tax increase", "class war", "punishing success in times of recession".
First the nuts and bolts:
a) The "tax increase" was written into law by the repuglicans and signed by George W Bush in 2000. Daniel Gross has a very good piece on the bogus repug claim of an Obama war on the rich here. In their cheating and lying, the repugs were looking for ways to hide the true cost of the $1.3 trillion tax cut travesty and the geniuses thought a good way to do this would be to sunset the tax cuts (lest we forget, at around this time, they were convinced that they would be a permanent majority - ha!). Well, 2011 is sunset.
b) The Obama WH is only letting the law and all its provisions, as written by a repuglican congress and signed by a repug president fully take effect to completeness. To the extent anybody's taxes are being raised, the law raising the taxes was passed and signed by repugs. IT IS A REPUBLICAN TAX HIKE. We don't care that that may not be what they wanted to ultimately do, but they did. They shouldn't get to walk away from their own screw-up. Every single one of them should be made to defend that provision if they were so convinced that the tax cut was a good thing that needed to be allowed into eternity.
c) The republican tax increases do not take effect until 2011. By that time we will be out of the recession or well on our way thereby rubbishing the claims of "increase taxes" (the precise description should be "allowing previously enacted republican tax hikes to take effect) during the recession.
d) The increase for incomes over $250K is about 3% from today's level. Come-on people, THAT is class warfare? Methinks, NEVER!
My bigger frustration though is that progressives, Dems and even it seems the WH, are on the defensive for Bush/Repug tax increases. Let's get it together folks.