More headlines: Barack Obama on Tax Reform
(Following are older quotations. Click here for main quotations.)
2011 budget proposed to raise Death Tax to 45%
One likely candidate for an increase is the so-called Death Tax--the inheritance tax that has fallen to zero in 2010 due to the schedule of Bush tax cuts passed in 2001. In his 2011 budget, Obama proposes to hike the tax back up to 45% in 2011 and apply
it to all estates worth more than $3.5 million. So, if you're planning to die soon, you'd better go to your Maker in 2010--while the tax is still at zero!The problem with the Death Tax isn't how it affects families that own the wealth so much as how it
impacts those who earn money to accumulate it. The tax itself is paid by only the top 2% of families. The central question for wealthy elderly Americans is what to do with their money. Should they keep it in cash or easily liquefied investments, or is it
better to plow the money back into their businesses?
The Death Tax creates an incentive NOT to invest money in one's business, but to keep it in things like houses and yachts and luxury goods--or cash and gold and bonds--that are easier to liquidate.
Source: Take Back America, by Dick Morris, p. 65-66
Apr 13, 2010
OpEd: Reassured voters that increases only affect the rich
Obama emphasized centrist views, making it difficult to attack him as a traditional Democratic liberal. For example, he didn't talk about raising taxes on the top 5%; he talked about cutting taxes for the 95% of Americans making under $250,000 a year. He
mentioned only that the top rate should be what it was in the Clinton era. He also talked incessantly about cutting deficits and "ending government programs that do not work." This came across to most people as reassuring--or at least not threatening.
Source: Courage and Consequence, by Karl Rove, p.512
Mar 9, 2010
OpEd: Answer is always to grow government & raise taxes
At the 2008 convention, I launched into a part of the speech that, since Barack Obama's election, has proved prescient: "When the cloud of rhetoric has passed... when the roar of the crowd fads away... when the stadium lights go out and those Styrofoam
Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot--what exactly is our opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet?"The answer is to make government bigger
...take more of your money...give you more orders from Washington...and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world. America needs more energy...our opponent is against producing it.
"And let me be specific, the Democratic nominee
for president supports plans to raise income taxes...raise payroll taxes...raise investment income taxes...raise the death tax...raise business taxes...and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."
Source: Going Rogue, by Sarah Palin, p.243-244
Nov 17, 2009
"Joe the Plumber": tax businesses earning $250K per year?
A man named Joe Wurzelbacher was out in his front yard playing football with his son when Barack Obama walked past his driveway. Joe had a question about his plan to buy a company that makes $250,000 to $280,000 a year. He said to Obama, "Your new tax
plan's going to tax me more, isn't it?"Obama's short answer was yes, and he finished with this revealing comment: "I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."
An ABC cameraman recorded the exchange, and on Oct. 12,
2008, "Joe the Plumber" was born. Our campaign quickly realized that Joe typified the everyday American laborer who had worked hard to make his own way, was trying to improve his economic lot, and ought not be punished by oppressive tax policies.
Joe told a reporter that Obama's idea of "spreading the wealth around" sounded a lot like socialism to him. In the presidential debate, both candidates made references to Joe the Plumber as a symbol of the American worker.
Source: Going Rogue, by Sarah Palin, p.304-305
Nov 17, 2009
FactCheck: Yes, McCain wants Bush cuts in place after 2011
The Statement:Obama compared his tax proposal to that of his opponent: “McCain and I are both offering tax cuts. The difference is, he wants to give the average Fortune 500 CEO a $700,000 tax cut.”The Facts:Obama bases the
$700,000 claim on a Fortune 500 survey that showed the average CEO of those companies earned a salary of $12.8 million in 2007. What the statement considers a tax cut would be renewing President Bush’s current cuts, which are scheduled to expire by
January 2011. McCain has said he would push to renew those cuts, while Obama wants to let the cuts run out for the wealthiest Americans and offer new ones to people who make less money. So, in effect, what
Obama calls a tax cut would be keeping taxes for those wealthy CEOs the same as they are now--instead of letting them revert to what they were before Bush’s cuts. The Verdict: True, but incomplete.
Source: CNN FactCheck on 2008 presidential race
Oct 9, 2008
My plan cuts taxes for most small businesses & 95% of people
McCAIN: He wants to raise taxes. Sen. Obama’s secret that you don’t know is that his tax increases will increase taxes on 50% of small business revenue. Small businesses across America will have to cut jobs and will have their taxes increase and won’t be
able to hire because of Sen. Obama’s tax policies. OBAMA: I want to provide a tax cut for 95% of Americans. If you make less than a quarter of a million dollars a year, you will not see a single dime of your taxes go up. If you make $200,000 a year or
less, your taxes will go down. Now, Sen. McCain talks about small businesses. Only a few percent of small businesses make more than $250,000 a year. The vast majority of small businesses would get a tax cut under my plan. And we provide a 50% tax credit
so that they can buy health insurance for their workers, because there are an awful lot of small businesses that want to do right by their workers but they just can’t afford it. Some small business owners can’t even afford health insurance for themselves
Source: 2008 second presidential debate against John McCain
Oct 7, 2008
I’m running against failed policy of profligate GOP spending
Q: The GOP is going to paint you as a classic tax-and-spend liberal Democrat. Are you ready to handle that kind of assault? A: Absolutely. Because think about what I am going to be running against: the failed policies of the Bush administration, which
John McCain wants to continue. I don’t think there is anybody in this country who thinks that, right now, we have got a government that’s managed our domestic policies well. And, so, we can talk about the slogans of tax and spend or fiscal conservatism,
but the fact of the matter is, we have had an administration that’s been profligate, that has raised our national debt to a record level. We have seen a lack of shared prosperity. So, you’ve got CEOs making more in a day than ordinary workers are making
in a year, and it’s the CEO that’s getting the tax break, instead of the workers.
Q: He’s going to say you’re going to raise their taxes. What are you going to say?
A: I will raise CEO taxes. There is no doubt about it.
Source: CNN Late Edition: 2008 presidential series with Wolf Blitzer
May 11, 2008
Tax cut for seniors and those making $75,000 a year or less
Everywhere you go, you meet people who are working harder for less, wages and incomes have flatlined, people are seeing escalating costs of everything from health care to gas at the pump. In some communities, they have been struggling for decades now.
This has to be a priority of the next president. We have to restore a sense of fairness & balance to our economy. We’ve got to stop giving tax breaks to companies that are shipping jobs overseas and invest those tax breaks in companies that are investing
here in the US. We have to end the Bush tax cuts to the wealthy and to provide tax breaks to middle-class Americans and working Americans who need them. If you are making $75,000 a year or less, I want to give an offset to your payroll tax that will mean
$1,000 extra in the pockets of ordinary Americans. Senior citizens making less than $50,000, you shouldn’t have to pay income tax on your Social Security. We pay for these by closing tax loopholes and tax havens that are being manipulated.
Source: 2008 Democratic debate at University of Texas in Austin
Feb 21, 2008
Specific tax relief for families making $75,000 or less now
I have proposed specific tax relief now, immediately, so that we would offset some of the payroll tax, that we would immediately put some additional dollars in the pockets of American families, making $75,000 a year or less, to not only stimulate the
economy, but also to balance out a tax code. I would pay for it specifically by closing tax loopholes & tax havens. What we’ve had is a top-down agenda that is skewed toward the wealthiest Americans. It is making worse some of the trends of globalization
Source: 2008 Facebook/WMUR-NH Democratic primary debate
Jan 6, 2006
Page last updated: Jan 22, 2013