Philip Klein at the American Spectator is one of the many people puzzled at the repeated promise of Barack Obama to give “tax cuts to 95% of Americans,” when 40% of Americans pay no federal income tax. So he when he heard the Obama campaign manager repeat the claim, he asked a basic “Joe the Plumber” question:
I asked [Barack Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe] a simple question aimed at clarifying whether Obama's tax plan was about cutting rates, or merely handing out government checks. "What rates would actually go down"? I asked.
"Middle class people are going to see, systemically, their taxes reduced, and small businesses," Plouffe responded.
"But what rate would go down for lower-income Americans?" I persisted, seeking more information.
"We'll have to get you the exact details on that," Obama's campaign manager told me.
I followed up, recapping the claim he had just made moments ago: "Well, you said that there's going to be a tax cut on 95 percent, so what rate would go down?"
He replied, "I'll have to get you the exact rate differential."
You can’t? David, you guys have been running for president since, well, since the minute Sen. Obama was sworn in as a US Senator. And you don’t know the details of your own tax plan? C’mon guys—you know how big the McCain tax cut is.
Or could it be that the reason you can’t tell me what my new tax rate is going to be is because my taxes aren’t going down? That all Sen. Obama is proposing is another round of George-W-Bush “Let’s take money from one group and send it to another” $500 checks?
That’s not a tax cut. That’s “spreading the wealth.” That’s punishing achievers, regardless of the economic outcome, for the sake (as Obama told Charlie Gibson) of “fairness.”
There is no tax cut. You know it, David Plouffe knows it and, according to one recent poll, almost 50% of Americans know it, too. They believe their taxes will go UP, not down, if Sen. Obama has his way.
NOTE TO ANY NORTHEASTERN U. PROFS VISITING THIS BLOG: The photo above is NOT real. Sen. Obama was not, in fact, photographed in front of huge, oversized 1040 forms from the IRS. I hope that clears up any confusion.
Subscribe