Kerry, Edwards, taxes: Don’t believe the campaign rhetoric

Union Leader ^ | 7/08/04

[kattracks]

JOHN KERRY and his running mate, John Edwards, like to say they favor low taxes for the middle class. But their records show otherwise.

Kerry and Edwards both say they want to maintain the existing tax cuts for the middle class, which President Bush initiated in several stages from 2001 to 2003, but raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans. One small problem. They both voted against those same middle-class tax cuts they now say they want to keep.

In January, Kerry attacked Howard Dean for saying, honestly, that he would raise taxes on the middle class. Kerry said this would devastate middle-income Americans who need the child tax credit and other breaks that had come with the Bush tax cuts. When reminded that this statement positioned him closer to, and Dean further from, President Bush, Kerry shot back, “I voted against the Bush tax cut.” An honest statement at last.

Guess how Edwards voted when, in May 2001, he had to decide whether to give taxpayers a $1.35 trillion tax cut or let the government keep that money? Yep, he voted against Bush’s massive tax cut, much of which went to the middle class. Like Kerry, he now says he favors keeping the very middle-class tax cuts he voted against.

In 2003, both Kerry and Edwards voted “no” on several tax cuts, which helped them compile two of the most liberal voting records in the Senate. National Journal ranked Kerry the most liberal senator and Edwards the fourth-most liberal. (Edwards missed second place by fractions of a point.) Hillary Clinton was seventh, and Ted Kennedy ranked 12th.

Edwards’ voting record is so liberal that his re-election to the Senate was in serious doubt before he dropped out of the race to pursue the Presidency. Kerry, coming from Massachusetts, didn’t have to worry about being ranked as more liberal than Ted Kennedy. But now that Kerry and Edwards are running to unseat President Bush, they’re trying to appeal to moderate voters by saying they favor lower taxes for the middle class. If only their rhetoric matched their records.

[samtheman]

Kerry is a Liberal's Liberal.