Posted on 09/23/2012 8:05:44 AM PDT by Kaslin
"And I can make a firm pledge; under my plan no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase."
–Barack Obama, Sept. 12, 2008, Dover, New Hampshire
Barack Obama isn't the first politician to break a promise, torture the truth or outright lie to the American people. But, he certainly is among the most accomplished at it.
Obama made his no-new-taxes pledge over and over again four years ago as he campaigned. Not only has he repeatedly and blatantly violated it, but his policies have relentlessly assaulted poor and middle-income family budgets.
During his weekly address on Dec. 11, 2010, the President falsely implied that Republicans were willing to let the current tax rates expire (aka: the Bush Tax Cuts). Pretending to be mortified, Obama said that would cost middle-class tax payers an extra $3,000. "That's unacceptable to me," he claimed. That would be wrong because "taking money out of the pockets of working people is exactly the wrong thing to do to get our economy growing again."
Obama not only falsely represented the Republican position – as usual – he shamelessly pretended that he was The One "fighting so hard to cut middle-class taxes." Baloney!
First, the fight wasn't over whether to maintain the current tax rates, it was because Obama wanted a tax increase on higher income earners. Something the GOP rightfully refused to consider, particularly in the middle of a deep recession.
Second, if stopping government from "taking money out of the pockets of working people" was so important to Obama, he's done a miserable job of doing it. Whether the family budget is drained from government taxes, fees, penalties or failed policies doesn't make a lot of difference. Government under Barack Obama keeps costing families more and there is a whole lot less than there used to be to take care of necessities.
Let's examine the record.
Obama broke his no-new-taxes pledge 15 days after he took office when he signed legislation on Feb. 4, 2009 raising the tax on cigarettes 158 percent - 62 cents per pack. Arguably, there are good reasons to discourage smoking. But, undeniably this tax not only applies to all classes of income, it is extremely regressive and impacts the poor the hardest.
Obama claimed his health care plan would save the typical American family $2,500 on insurance premium cost. But, the latest analysis from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates a $2,400 increase – not savings – in premium expense. That's a $4,900 swing in the wrong direction for American families.
Additionally, Obama's campaign promise from 2008, cited above, to not raise taxes on middle-class families turned out to be hogwash. American's for Tax Reform and many others have chronicled the 20 new or higher taxes, fees and penalties (is there really any difference?) included in ObamaCare at a cost of more than $500 billion. Obama would have you believe that the taxes are on health care businesses, but those costs will either be passed on in higher prices or force manufacturers and providers out of business. Other taxes, he pretends, will only be imposed on the wealthy to make sure they pay their "fair share."
But, that is not true either. The following is a summary of the seven ObamaCare tax hikes that directly affect the general population of Americans as published in Forbes on June 28, 2012:
No. 1. The Individual Mandate Excise Tax. Starting in 2014, anyone not buying “qualifying” health insurance must pay an income tax surtax. It goes up each year until 2016 and beyond when a couple would pay a tax of the higher of $1,360 or 2.5% of adjusted gross income.No. 2. The Over-The-Counter Drugs Trap. Since Jan. 1, 2011, employees with health savings accounts, flexible spending accounts or health reimbursement accounts have no longer been able to use pre-tax funds stashed in these accounts to buy over-the-counter medicines for allergy relief and the like without a doctor’s prescription (there’s an exception for insulin).
No. 3. The Healthcare Flexible Spending Account Cap. Starting Jan. 1, 2013, employees will face a $2,500 cap on the amount of pre-tax salary deferrals they can make into a healthcare flexible spending account. There is no cap under current law.
No. 4. The Medical Itemized Deduction Hurdle. Starting Jan. 1, 2013, taxpayers who face high medical expenses will only be allowed a deduction for expenses to the extent they exceed 10% of adjusted gross income, up from 7.5% now. Taxpayers 65 and older can still use the old 7.5% threshold through 2016.
No. 5. The Health Savings Account Withdrawal Penalty. Since Jan. 1, 2011, taxpayers who withdraw money from health savings accounts for non-medical expenses before age 65 face a 20% penalty, up from 10% before.
No. 6. The Indoor Tanning Services Tax. Since July 1, 2010, folks using indoor tanning salons face a new 10% excise tax.
No. 7. The Cadillac Health Insurance Plan Tax. Starting in 2018, there will be a new 40% excise tax on taxpayers who are covered by high-cost health insurance plans (with premiums at or above $10,200 for a single or $27,500 for a family). Insurers or employers who are self-insured will pay the tax, but it is expected to trickle down to mean higher costs for consumers.
And then there are the policy debacles that have cost middle and low-income families the most, sapping the family budget the same as the most punishing of taxes.
According to Census Department data, median household income has fallen $4,435 in inflation adjusted dollars since the recession began. The median level has declined every year of Obama's term, including another $777 erosion from 2010 to 2011. The current median income level of $50,054 is the lowest since 1995.
According to the Federal Reserve, family net worth has declined by 40 percent - a $41,000 evaporation of value – in Obama's first term led by the massive collapse of the housing market. While Obama didn't cause all the problems leading up to the recession, he was the one who said he knew how to fix it and lead a strong recovery.
Obama's Stimulus was supposed to turn things around, but all that he has to show for it are some bankrupt empty solar energy plants and $831 billion of new debt.
Although inflation has remained relatively tame thus far on Obama's watch, professional analysts as well as amateurs know a major day of reckoning is coming with the trillions of dollars in new debt and the expansion of the money supply by the Federal Reserve. Still, inflation – mostly driven by the increased cost of energy – has more than erased the anemic wage increases of about 1.5 percent per year since late 2009.
During Obama's non-recovery, record numbers of young adults have been forced to move back home with their parents because they can't find work. Twice as many people as normal must settle for part-time employment. The number of Americans unemployed – 12.5 million – is 495,000 greater than when Obama took office. More than 811,000 Americans are among the long-term unemployed. The percentage of Americans in the workforce is the smallest since 1981 with 8.4 million more Americans not even trying to find work. Poverty levels continue to climb and 1-in-7 Americans use food stamps.
Perhaps the most telling number that proves Obama's failure to lead: There are actually 86,000 fewer people working today in America than when Barack Obama took office even though the working age population has increased by 8.8 million people.
Confounding common-sense, particularly during a recession, Obama implemented policies that would, in his own words, cause energy prices to "necessarily skyrocket." And, they have.
Increasing energy costs work like the most regressive of taxes, punishing low and moderate income Americans the most. As of this writing, the average price at the pump for unleaded regular is $3.86 per gallon – a $2.02, or 110 percent, per gallon increase from the price when Obama took office. The Transportation Department estimates the average driver travels 13,476 miles per year. Assuming an average for all vehicles of 20 mpg, the average driver would use 674 gallons of gas per year. Thus, the $2.02 per gallon increase during Obama's term sucks an extra $1,361.48 out of that average driver's wallet.
That singular increase in gas prices to the family budget is about three times the miniscule hourly wage increase realized during Obama's first term. People like me that drive more than twice the average – or families with more than one driver – are hit that much harder.
Obama has bounced from campus to campus like a super-hero claiming he is fighting to keep student interest rates low. But, what exactly is so benevolent about a government that borrows money at well below 1.0 percent from China and then loans it back to citizen-students at "fixed interest rates from 5.74% APR to 11.85% APR," according to SallieMae. If a private bank were marking up loan rates and making profit margins like that, Obama's community organizing friends and his government regulator thugs would be at the door with pitch forks and handcuffs.
And then there is the burden of the debt. More than $5 trillion added in just four short years – a 50 percent increase – with no real end in sight. Every American, including new born babies, is burdened with a $52,000 share of the national debt – and it increased more than $15,000 on Obama's watch. Every family household has a $122,000 obligation. It's a real burden because it drives up the cost and availability of capital for individuals and small businesses. Increasingly, larger shares of all tax revenues are dedicated to just servicing interest on the debt rather than at least plausibly worthy government programs and services. With so much of our debt owned by foreign nations, our tax dollars end up strengthening other nations instead of our own. China alone gets an estimated $74 million per day in interest on the U.S. debt they have financed – enough to fund 40 percent of the second largest military in the world which is robust, growing and unfriendly.
Obama is playing his very best class-warfare politics, demonizing businesses and the wealthy while pretending he's somehow looking after lower and middle class Americans. But his demise will be the answer to the classic question posited by Ronald Reagan in the 1980 election against Jimmy Carter; "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" Obama fails the test by catastrophic proportions.
Incredibly, with the accumulation of higher taxes, anemic economic growth, job scarcity and wage stagnation, increased energy costs, higher health insurance premiums, erosion of the family budget's purchasing power, the burden of federal debt… and the best Obama can offer is, "It could have been worse" or, "It might be better next time."
Once was quite enough. It was Obama who said, "If I don't have this done in three years, then there's going to be a one term proposition." That's a promise we need to make sure he keeps.
dems are out to destroy the middle class and blame republicans for it.
Years ago there’s no way that ‘the middle class’ would have so many on foodstamps and ssi.
And the real pain is just around the corner: Obama is going to let taxes go up on everybody under Taxamageddon, right at the same time the initial Obamacare taxes start to kick in...
War on the middle class? HAs anyone seen this?
Comprehensive List Of Obama’s Worst Executive Orders
JUNE 15, 2012 BY LAURIE ROTH
After the recent announcement by our President to give illegal aliens quasi citizenship by fiat, I looked into the executive orders he has issued in the last three and a half years. I found this article in Western Journalism that scares the hell out of me and should frighten all of us.
Get out the vote in November folks!!! This guy is dangerous...
There have been over 900 Executive Orders put forth from Obama, and he is not even through his first term yet. He is creating a martial law ‘ Disney Land ‘ of control covering everything imaginable. Some of the executive orders he has
signed recently have been exposed thanks to ‘Friends of Conservative Action Alerts.
‘
They have compiled a choice list of ‘Emergency Powers, Martial law executive orders’: Get your headache medication out while you still can without a prescription.
* Executive Order 10990 allows the Government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports.
* Executive Order 10995 allows the government to seize and control the communication media.
* Executive Order 10997 allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels, and minerals.
* Executive Order 11000 allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision.
* Executive Order 11001 allows the government to take over all health education and welfare functions.
* Executive Order 11002 designates the Postmaster General to operate a national registration of all persons.
* Executive Order 11003 allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.
* Executive Order 11004 allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate and establish new locations for populations.
* Executive Order 11005 allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways, and public storage facilities.
* Executive Order 11049 assigns emergency preparedness function to federal departments and agencies, consolidating 21 operative Executive Orders issues over a fifteen-year period.
* Executive Order 11051 specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis.
* Executive Order 11310 grants authority to the Department of Justice to enforce the plans set out in Executive Orders, to institute Industrial support, to establish judicial and legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate penal and correctional institutions, and to advise and assist the President.
* Executive Order 11921 allows the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency to develop plans to establish control over the mechanisms of production and distribution of energy sources, wages, salaries, credit, and the flow of money in U.S. financial institutions in any undefined national emergency. It also provides that when the president declares a state of emergency, Congress cannot review the action for six months.
____________
It is more than clear that Obama is planning for the total control and takeover of America via Martial Law.
Food, energy, transportation, work, banking, and health.
He has it covered.
While Obama is busy pulling executive orders out of the sky to control everything inside our country, he has been issuing executive orders to force us to submit to international regulations instead of our Constitution.
Sher Zieve exposed this in one of her recent articles.
“Damn the U.S. Constitution, damn the American people and damn U.S. sovereignty.”
Frankly, I believe the foregoing and suggest that he will use the UIC’c UN to push the program. Remember the mark of the devil? Get ready for registration!
Pure communism metastasized and coming to a front door near you.
bump
Trying to show facts to liberals is useless. I have been talking on facebook to a liberal and showed him the CBO report and he still said I am a know nothing and my ‘site’ is full of hogwash. It was a link to the CBO report I posted.
Considering that 0bozo thinks that $250k = “millionaires”, and that he has no knowledge (or feigns ignorance) of, and doesn’t care that the national debt is $16 TRILLION DOLLARS, this is not surprising in the least.
He’s been a born liar and diversity hire from Day 1.
bttt
He’s a liberal and all liberals lie.
I have never posted an article, which this is not an article..but a link to the full movie 2016 posted by “The Five” fans blogger, Seano~
Someone, anyone, repost please as often as possible. Thank you!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mscvdioSb0w
When Dems talk about “the middle class”, they mean union members.
Well, Marx thought his theory could only work with the middle class because they actually owned something-—labor.
It was Lenin who got the poor peasants suckered into it.
You always know what the leftists want to destroy. They pretend they are middle class champions, but that is a ruse.
The idea is to impoverish the middle class, make them dependent on the elitist’s government. That is how to control people. By keeping them poor and dependent.
So far, too many people are allowing them to succeed. Once they have control, they will start to limit those bennies people were promised. By then, there will be nothing anyone can do about it.
What the government gives, they can also take away.
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