 If you work for a living, Republican tax and economic policies are taking money out of your pocket - whether you had to write a check to the U.S. Treasury or not. Inflation has out-paced wages, and energy costs take an increasingly huge bite. The interest rates you pay on your mortgage, student loans, and credit cards have gone up tremendously as the irresponsible fiscal policies of a Republican government come home to roost.
So, it chaps my hide when I hear people like John McCain, who ought to know better, flat out lying about Barack Obama wanting to "raise your taxes". Then again, they pretty much have to lie if they want any votes.
Today, via FactCheck.org, Newsweek published a stinging critique and analysis of John McCain's untruthful assertions:
A TV spot claims Obama once voted for a tax increase "on people making just $42,000 a year." That's true for a single taxpayer, who would have seen a tax increase of $15 for the year – if the measure had been enacted. But the ad shows a woman with two children, and as a single mother, she would not have been affected unless she made more than $62,150. The increase that Obama once supported as part of a Democratic budget bill is not part of his current tax plan anyway.
A Spanish-language radio ad claims the measure Obama supported would have raised taxes on "families" making $42,000, which is simply false. Even a single mother with one child would have been able to make $58,650 without being affected. A family of four with income up to $90,000 would not have been affected.
The TV ad claims in a graphic that Obama would "raise taxes on middle class." In fact, Obama's plan promises cuts for middle-income taxpayers and would increase rates only for persons with family incomes above $250,000 or with individual incomes above $200,000.
The radio ad claims Obama would increase taxes "on the sale of your home." In fact, home-sale profits of up to $500,000 per couple would continue to be exempt from capital gains taxes. Very few sales would see an increase under Obama's proposal to raise the capital gains rate.
The truth matters, Senator McCain.
And the truth is that the Bush tax cuts, which you originally opposed, but now support, are just a small part of a large scale operation that soaks the middle class to give to the corporate welfare kings. It's a massive redistribution of wealth to the corporate aristocracy.
But, it's even worse because McCain reinforces another very negative aspect of something-for-nothing Republicanism, which is an unwillingness to pay one's fair share of the bills incurred by the government that serves and protects us. True patriotism involves more than slapping a ribbon magnet on your truck.
To be sure, I think we would all rather pay less in taxes, and nobody wants to raise more than we need. But we all want highways to drive on, parks to play in, and police, courts and prosecutors to enforce the laws. It gets progressively harder to do that when an increasing share of your tax dollars goes to pay debt service and interest on a record national debt of $9.7 trillion.
But hey, if you want to waste your vote in the ill-informed hope that you'll save a couple of bucks in taxes in the next few years - or that someday you'll be rich and you'd hate to put off buying that second Learjet, then go ahead. I'm pretty sure the IRS won't come after you for the profits on the stuff you'll have to pawn to make the rent when McCain's buddies outsource your job to India.
Read what Obama has to say about Fiscal policy... |
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