I like to think of myself as an observer. I like to watch people and I also like to watch how certain situations unfold in front of me. I find it fascinating to see how some things turn out, but I also get frustrated when I realize things are not working out how I believe they should. Such is the case in the ongoing and upcoming fight over raising our taxes.
Make no mistake about this, President Obama wants to repeal the tax cuts now in place and by doing so, he will be raising taxes. He made it very clear in his recent news conference that he believes he has a mandate to do just that. While it is true that he won the election, and we all know how he feels about winning elections, it is not true that he has a mandate to raise taxes. According to exit polls performed on Election Day, 63% of Americans oppose raising taxes to cut the deficit.
Those who are in favor of raising taxes must believe we are a bunch of sheep, waiting to be led to the slaughter. They are currently conducting a Image may be NSFW.
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campaign of rhetoric to convince us that the Bush tax cuts are evil and that they should be repealed. I keep the adblocker in Firefox disabled on my blog, as well as other conservative blogs I read. By doing so, I am trying to do what I can to support them in their efforts to spread conservative values. On my blog, it is to make sure no ads are displayed that are inappropriate. Imagine my surprise when I saw the same ad on this blog and at Conservative Hideout.
The ad featured a prominent picture of a smiling George W. Bush and proclaimed the Bush tax cuts were bad for America. It then went on to provide a link to sign a petition to repeal them. Clearly, they are trying to win a war of words and to define the issue in a way that will draw Americans to their side of the argument. This ad campaign should not be a shock to those of us who have witnessed the tactics used by liberals to win the day. Just look back a couple of weeks at the election results to realize they have been very successful at this game. Their current purpose is to persuade Americans that taxes have to be raised.
If we are to believe what the liberals are saying, we have to have a balanced approach to bringing our debt and deficit under control. That doesn’t sound so bad, does it? A balanced approach should be a good thing, right? In the normal world, that would be true, but we are in anything but a normal world. If we are to believe the liberals, the debt and deficit crisis we are currently facing is the result of what happens when taxes are too low. The main line of rhetoric we heard during the Obama reelection campaign was simple. We need to raise taxes to make sure the rich pay their fair share. If I had a dollar for every time I heard the President say we need to raise taxes on the rich, I could probably retire.
The problem with this rhetoric is simple. It isn’t true. It is a flat-out lie. We do not have a revenue problem in America. We already pay enough taxes. What we have is a spending problem and it is a problem that both political parties have failed to address. The Democrats pay only honorable mention to spending cuts in their approach to cutting the deficit. The Republicans talk a good game, but always seem to come out on the short end of the issue. All the while, our government continues spending money it does not have and can not afford. Where is the logic in that?
I realize we need to see progress on the side of fiscal sanity in America. It is foolish for our government to continue the unsustainable path it is on. When we talk about fiscal sanity, it is true that a balanced approach would be best. We should possibly look at some new revenues, but we should stay away from raising taxes. Above all, we need to cut spending. That theory is unpopular with liberals, but it is the truth, nonetheless.
Some people may not be fond of Grover Norquist, mainly because of his unrelenting and unforgiving stance on raising taxes in any shape, form, or fashion. I even find his unwillingness to budge or compromise a bit off turning, at times. He has, however, penned an article that details just what kind of fiscal insanity President Obama and the liberal Democrats in his caucus are trying to sell. Here is a portion to whet your appetite for what we are facing.
(Human Events) Obama’s present demand is that the top two marginal tax rates be increased to 39.6 percent plus the 3.8 percent Obamacare tax surcharge for a top rate of 43.4 percent. The death tax would also jump back to 55 percent, capital gains tax would jump from 15 percent to 23.8 percent, and the tax on dividends would increase from 15 percent to 39.6 percent.
Speaker John Boehner is calling for extending all of the Bush tax cuts for all income groups.
Boehner notes that there are 11 million businesses that pay taxes at the individual level. Obama, on the other hand, is demanding that more than half of small business income be taxed at 43.4 percent rather than today’s 35 percent. This would be a body blow to job creation.
If Obama follows through on his threat and refuses to extend the Bush tax cuts, then there would be an automatic $500 billion tax increase beginning January 1, 2013, that would total $5 trillion over the decade.
Here is where we really stand in the fight to prevent taxes from going up. We are facing an uphill fight and unlike the results of the election, which surprised many of us, we need to be prepared. We are likely to lose the fight against higher taxes, at least for the time being.
Some had hoped that President Obama would focus on job creation and back off his high tax/stimulus spending agenda that has so damaged the economy. It does appear that four years of failure have taught him nothing.
Obama has not put on the table any specific entitlement reforms and is demanding a total of $1.6 trillion in tax hikes. He is all tax hikes and no spending restraint. Nothing has changed in four years.
Read the last paragraph again. Make note of what Norquist is saying. President Obama has not changed his rhetoric in four years. He is still all about raising taxes and little to no mention of real and meaningful spending cuts. No spending restraint at all. Make no mistake, this is what we are facing. Unless John Boehner can gather his forces and stiffen his spine, there is a very good chance taxes are about to go up. There is a better than average chance they will go up and spending will remain unchanged, or go even higher. This is what President Obama wants and by pushing so hard, he is showing just how little he cares about real job creation and the small businesses who create those jobs.
I could get behind a deal that allowed for more revenue and cut spending. I’m not talking about cutting the growth of spending by $100 billion in each of the next ten years. I mean real spending cuts, slashing the budgets of every government department. You want cuts in defense spending? No problem. Senator Tom Coburn has more than a few suggestions about where to start. Don’t try to lie to me and tell me there is no good place to start cutting spending. That just isn’t true. Unless we find a place to cut actual spending, and not the projected growth of spending, I will never be in favor of raising taxes. That’s my line in the sand.