Obama's Fuzzy Tax Math
Posted at 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 3, 2012
Josh Barro takes issue with President Obama’s continued commitment not to raise taxes on households making less than $250,000 per year, arguing that it is unsustainable given Democrats’ policy ambitions.
“A blanket ban on tax increases for families with incomes of less than $250,000 also makes Democrats’ larger policy goals impossible. Whatever tax increase the president gets on the wealthy as part of the fiscal cliff negotiations isn’t going to be enough to finance the entitlement state in the long term — in a few years, we’re going to need another fiscal adjustment that includes another tax increase.”
“If ‘protecting the middle class’ entails never raising broad-based taxes on them, then Democrats won’t be able to afford to preserve Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and Obamacare in anything similar to their current form.”
