« Democrats Defecting | Main | Who Came First? McCain or McCain » Will Obama Raises Taxes?27 Mar 2008 04:50 pm CNBC's Maria Bartiromo asked him the question today: Bartiromo: “Why raise taxes at all in an economic slowdown? Isn't that going to put a further strain on people?” Obama: “Well, look, there's no doubt that anything I do is going to be premised on what the economic situation is when I take office. I'm going to be sworn in in January, we don't know what the economy's going to look like at that point.” Comments (16)
Bartiromo: “Why raise taxes at all in an economic slowdown? Isn't that going to put a further strain on people?” This is what we call studious disingenuousness. 
WOuld it be so hard for Senator Brainiac to continue his answer? You know, like "if the economy were as it was today, I wouldn't (would still) raise taxes."
Marc, So he may or may not raise taxes? Fascinating. Also, wasn't this the interview when he was talking about taxes on capital gains? If so, wouldn't that be a useful bit of context? Also, nice to see you taking grammar lessons from Yglesias in your post title--"Will Obama Raises Taxes"? Heck of a post, Amby.
Marc, Immediate apologies for my snark, as I looked back at the interview and he was in fact talking about ordinary income tax, not cap gains. Although, he's talking about rolling back the Bush tax cuts, which were intended to be temporary, if memory serves. Anyway, here's the relevant, full post: "BARTIROMO: So what about the top marginal rate for ordinary income? Who ought to pay more and who should pay less? Sen. OBAMA: Well, you know, what I've said is that we should go back to probably a top marginal rate of 39 percent what it was before the Bush tax cuts. So I would roll back those Bush tax cuts, I would not increase taxes for middle class Americans and in fact I want to provide a tax cut for people who are making $75,000 a year or less. For those folks, I want an offset on the payroll tax that would be worth as much as $1,000 for a family. Senior citizens who are bringing in less than $50,000 a year in income, I don't want them to have to pay income tax on their Social Security. And as part of my overall approach to housing, I actually want to provide an additional 10 percent mortgage deduction, a credit, mortgage interest credit, for those who currently don't itemize. Because if you live in a house that's pretty expensive, like I do, and I itemize, I get a pretty big break from Uncle Sam. If you own a $100,000 house and you're making 65, $75,000 a year, you're not getting that same deduction. I think that they deserve a break as well. That will actually help relieve some of the pressure on homeowners."
don't do this Marc don't be someone who spreads incomplete info - we have enough of those people already We have a huge disparity between rich and poor in this country - and one of the reasons is all the "perks" that made the rich- even richer these past seven years Under Bill Clinton the top capital gains tax was 28% -- what Obama proposed today was increasing the capital gains tax from the current 15% -- he did not specify an amount for the increase - as this needs to be studied - but said it would not exceed the top rate under Bill Clinton which was 28% So if you want to position that as a tax increase and flip people out -- go right ahead
Just to make sure I have things straight about the economics of being a "fiscal conservative": (1) Cutting taxes raises revenues. (2) Deficits don't matter. (3) Paying for spending with taxes is being fiscally irresponsible. (4) During boon times, we need to cut taxes. (5) During lean times, we need to cut taxes. Does this makes sense to anyone else or do you need to be under the influence of the Republicans' purple sun for it to work?
This is where the claimed fiscal conservatives have it wrong. If you raise taxes in an era of relatively prosperity (2004 or so), you're "ruining a good thing". If you raise them in a downturn, you're "making things harder." Meanwhile, an huge deficit is ignored.
What a weenie. Just come out and say you're going to raise taxes, and tell the country why it's important. Jeezus, makes me glad I'm going to vote for McCain.
I love all these people posting about the tax to stop the big evil investment banks... guess what folks, this hurts people in their 401's and every other type of investment they might have. Love all the "it's free money" thinking on these posts. Don't worry, it won't matter anyways, because all the Obamacan's just left the room on this one. McCain is going to walk away easy as long as Obama continues to talk about things he obviously doesn't understand. And for Ben the idiot:
When President Reagan raised payroll taxes, it wasn't really a tax hike. When Reagan was Gov of California and he raised taxes, it also wasn't a tax hike. When GHWB raised taxes, it wasn't a tax hike. McCain will NEVER raise taxes. Why? Because Republicans NEVER raise taxes. It just doesn't happen. Don't you know that? And if you ever raise taxes, disaster always happens. When will you learn? When will the poor old complainers just stop complaining and get rich already? It's easy! Just go work hard, dammit! There Are No Barriers. There Is No Unfairness. Enough with these silly taxes. This is why the whole rest of the world, with their high taxes, is so screwed up. Thank the lord everything works perfectly here in America. It's because of our low taxes.
I attended Obama's meeting in Greensboro NC yesterday, and for a minute, I had a question about how he was going to pay for all the wonderful programs he was laying out before us. Then I realized: he's going to end the Iraq war. That thing's cost us half a TRILLION dollars. It's costing $3000 PER SECOND. That's a pretty good chunk of change freed up, right there.
What a cogent answer! Mr. Matthews of MSNBC
"(3) Reduce spending on all these wasteful gov't programs" Perhaps this will seem merely snide, but I always wonder which one one you want to cut, here: The military, social security, or medicare/medicaid? Those three items plus interest on the national debt make up about 70% of federal spending. When you considered that the "Everything Else" that makes up the other 30% of the budget includes things like the FBI, Department of Justice, port security, the FDA, National Institutes of Health, etc, I wonder where all the fat is supposed to be lost....
TO Diablevert:
Shorter Obama: "Yes". "If you own a $100,000 house and you're making 65, $75,000 a year, you're not getting that same deduction. I think that they deserve a break as well. That will actually help relieve some of the pressure on homeowners." If you itemize, you're probably getting a deduction worth $5k or $6k a year or more. Anyone who has a mortgage and doesn't itemize (or at least compare the benefits from itemizing versus taking the standard deduction) is an idiot. "Perhaps this will seem merely snide, but I always wonder which one one you want to cut, here: The military, social security, or medicare/medicaid? Those three items plus interest on the national debt make up about 70% of federal spending." Good point. Tell your friend Dan above who thinks that by cutting the 5% of the federal budget that goes toward the Iraq War Obama will be able to afford his array of middle class tax cuts and additional entitlements.
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Sounds like an awfully reasonable answer to me.
Sounds like he's feeling pretty good about his chances, too. ;-)
Posted by moff | March 27, 2008 4:55 PM