Robert Reich: The Truth About Obama's Tax Proposal (and the Lies the Regressives Are Telling About It)

Over the years I have not always agreed with Robert Reich but one thing I will say on his behalf is that he is not afraid to go after members of both parties.  When a Democrat steps out of bounds, he pounces on them the same as Republicans.  Didn't know who he was until Monicagate and then we all learned how honest he was.

When I read this, a lot of what I have been questioning began to make sense.  My comprehension level is pretty high but what the Romney Republicans were against the Obama Tax Proposal, it set off the BS meter.  Then it clicked.  We have been fed a narrative on Obama that the leaders of the Romney Republican Party wanted us to believe in order to vote for Romney over Obama.  Note that I said vote for not 'support' Romney.  This is not even close to being about voting for Romney but ousting Obama.  That is not how you win elections and is flat out stupid.  Many Republicans warned the RNC and other leaders in 2008 that it would be the last election they would vote for a candidate they didn't like.  Now that same leadership thinks those people are now going to vote for Romney in 2012 because they believe they have sufficiently demonized Obama?  My bet is that it is not going to happen.

When you take off the blinders you realize this is an honest proposal and the comments coming out of Romney Republican leaders that this will be a huge tax hike on small business is a LIE!  The only small business owners affected earn over $250,000 a year and anything over the $250,000 will be taxed at the Clinton tax level which Romney praised yesterday.  That amounts to 3.3% of small business owners a far cry from most small business will get a tax hike being touted by the Romney Republicans.  BTW someone forgot to tell him that Clinton raised taxes not lowered them.  Obama has signed laws that lowered taxes and fees 17 times during his Presidency.  You don't hear that out of the Romney Republicans that accuse him of being the biggest liberal tax and spend President ever.  It is simply not true.  When Obama has a plan to cut Government, the Republican House tosses it out right away.

President Reagan worked with then Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill from MA to get bills passed that would help all Americans not just the wealthy.  Reagan was about helping those who needed help not some fat cat Wall Street types who could care less about anything but their bottom line and how much richer they can become who Romney favors who seem to all be wealthy white guys like the Koch Brothers.

It seems that the bought and paid for Romney along with some Republicans who are speaking out are more worried about the rich getting a tax hike when the vast majority of jobs are created by small business not the wealthy who for the most part have sent jobs overseas including Romney when he was head of Bain.   Guess he is now using the Democrat tactic of accusing your opponent of what you are doing even if it is not true.

When Rick Santorum said that Romney was the worst person in America to be the Republican nominee, he wasn't kidding.  He was 100% correct.  Everyday you understand even more how right he was.

The Truth About Obama's Tax Proposal (and the Lies the Regressives Are Telling About It)

Robert Reich 

Posted: 07/10/2012 11:19 am 

To hear the media report it, President Obama is proposing a tax increase on wealthy Americans. That's misleading at best. He's proposing that everyone receive a continuation of the Bush tax cuts on the first $250,000 of their incomes. Any dollars they earn in excess of $250,000 will be taxed at the old Clinton-era rates. 

Get it? Everyone is treated exactly the same. Everyone gets a one-year extension of the Bush tax cut on the first $250,000 of income. No "class warfare." 

Yet regressive Republicans want Americans to believe differently. The editorial writers of the Wall Street Journal say the president wants to extend the Bush tax cuts only "for some taxpayers." They urge House Republicans to extend the Bush tax cuts for "everyone" and thereby put Senate Democrats on the spot by "forcing them to choose between extending rates for everyone and accepting Mr. Obama's tax increase." 

Pure demagoguery. 

Regressives also want Americans to think the president's proposal would hurt "tens of thousands of job-creating businesses," as the Journal puts it. 

More baloney. 

A small business owner earning $251,000 would pay the Bush rate on the first $250,000 and the old Clinton rate on just $1,000. 

Congress's Joint Tax Committee estimates that in 2013 about 940,000 taxpayers would have enough business income to break through the $250,000 ceiling -- and, again, they'd pay additional taxes only on dollars earned above $250,000.  

All told, less than 3 percent of small business owners would even reach the $250,000 threshold. 

A third lie is Obama's proposal will "increase uncertainly and further retard investment and job creation," as the Journal puts it. 

Don't believe it. 

The real reason businesses aren't creating more jobs is American consumers -- whose purchases constitute 70 percent of U.S. economic activity -- don't have the money to buy more, and they can no longer borrow as before. Businesses won't invest and hire without consumers. Even as executive pay keeps rising, the median wage keeps dropping -- largely because businesses keep whacking payrolls. 

The only people who'd have to pay substantially more taxes under Obama's proposal are those earning far in excess of $250,000 -- and they aren't small businesses. They're the fattest of corpulent felines. Their spending will not be affected if their official tax rate rises from the Bush 35 percent to the Bill Clinton 39.6 percent. 

In fact, most of these people's income is unearned -- capital gains and dividends that are now taxed at only 15 percent. If the Bush tax cuts expire on schedule, the capital gains rate would return to the same 20 percent it was under Bill Clinton (the Affordable Care Act would add a 3.8 percent surcharge).

Funny, I don't remember the economy suffering under Bill Clinton's taxes. I was in Clinton's cabinet, so perhaps my memory is self-serving. But I seem to recall that the economy generated 22 million net new jobs during those years, unemployment fell dramatically, almost everyone's income grew, poverty dropped, and the economy soared. In fact, it was the strongest and best economy we've had in anyone's memory. 

In sum: Don't fall for these big lies -- Obama wants to extend the Bush tax cut "only for some people," small businesses will be badly hit, businesses won't hire because of uncertainty this proposal would create, or the Clinton-era tax levels crippled the economy, 

A ton of corporate and billionaire money is behind these lies and others like them, as well as formidable mouthpieces of the regressive right such as Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal editorial page. 

The truth is already a casualty of this election year. That's why it's so important for you to spread it. 

ROBERT B. REICH, Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, was Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration. Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the last century. He has written thirteen books, including the best sellers "Aftershock" and "The Work of Nations." His latest is an e-book, "Beyond Outrage." He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine and chairman of Common Cause.