Conservative
Type 40
RealClearPolitics - Obama's Duplicitous Debt Proposal
Half of the presidents claimed debt reduction comes from policies already in place. Obama says $1 trillion will be saved by winding down the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In other words, Obama wants credit for reducing debt that was never going to be incurred.
Another $1 trillion is from the agreement that was reached to increase the debt ceiling. But that agreement didnt really reduce the debt by $1 trillion. It simply adopted future spending caps that would have that effect. However, there were no new laws adopted that would actually reduce spending. The caps are unenforceable promises to do something unspecific in the future.
Obama is actually only proposing $2.1 trillion in new stuff. Of that, nearly $1.6 trillion is increased taxes. So, hes actually proposing $3 in tax increases for every $1 in spending cuts.
According to the Tax Policy Center, the top 1 percent of tax filers has 16 percent of the countrys income, but pay 24 percent of all federal taxes and 35 percent of federal individual income taxes.
According to Obama mythology, millionaires and billionaires pay lower tax rates than average Jacks and Jills. According to the Tax Policy Center, the top 1 percent pays 18 percent of their income in federal income taxes. The middle quintile pays less than 3 percent. Those below that actually get more money back than they pay in.
If Obama were truly interested in a bipartisan down payment on debt reduction, he could have anchored his proposal in the recommendations of his debt commission. The debt commission, however, recommended about half of what Obama proposes in additional federal revenue and raised in a way that lowers rates across the board, including for millionaires and billionaires.