Americans for Tax Reform Take Swipe at Obama
Americans for Tax Reform has published a press release attacking Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee for the presidency. In it they claim that Obama himself admits the tax hikes he wants to impose on richer Americans will hurt the economy.
The tax hikes the organization speak about are, especially, the Bush tax cuts which Obama does not want to make permanent.
Not only did Obama say he would not make the Bush tax cuts permanent, he would abolish them prematurely.
That changed this week, however, when he said: “I think we’ve got to take a look and see where the economy is. I mean, the economy is weak right now. The news with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae I think, along with the unemployment numbers, indicates that we’re fragile.”
“Obama’s admission stands in stark contrast to his previous statements denying that his tax increase proposals would change behavior or damage the economy,” the organization dedicated to lower taxes in America responded on Tuesday.
“Obama knows his tax plan will hurt the economy,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform said. “The only question he has is whether to raise taxes now or later.”
Back in March of this year Obama said: “I think that we can have a capital gains rate that is higher than 15 percent. If it-and if it-you know-when I talk to people like Warren Buffet or others and I ask them, you know, what’s-how much of a difference is it going to be if it’s 20 or 25 percent, they say, look, if it’s within that range it’s not going to distort, I think, economic decision making.”
The reversal in proposed policies can be viewed as both pragmatism and dishonesty. After all, if raising these taxes would indeed not hurt the economy as Obama said months ago, why wouldn’t they be cut regardless of the state the economy finds itself in in January 2009?
The pragmatic interpretation, however, look less at honesty and more at what works; regardless of what he said in the past, his recent remaks can be seen as personal development. When circumstances so should policies, many will argue.
That does not, however, negate the fact that he said it would not hurt the economy in any way several months ago.
Obama’s economic plan is profoundly anti-capital and is largely ideological and does not reflect a practical understanding of how money works in an economy like ours. I wish I had the space here to explain how and why, but others have already done so on their sites.