Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Know the truth about taxes

So now the media wants to get technical on taxes. Ok, fine. Bring it on. A reporter for Good Morning America did a report on the falsehood of McCain's argument that Obama "gives away your tax dollars to those who don't pay taxes." The reporter says that McCain is wrong because Obama's tax cuts only go to people who work, therefore, by definition, Obama's plan "is not welfare." He says that "some working people eligible for Obama's tax cut make so little, they do not pay income taxes. But they do pay payroll taxes and other taxes." So now, the media is demanding that John McCain get specific ... what he should have said is Obama "gives an income tax cut to those who don't pay income taxes — and pays for it by raising income taxes on those who are already shouldering more than half of the nation's income tax burden."

Let's address this idea that all of these people who get the Obama welfare checks pay Social Security and Medicare Taxes. These are really not so much taxes as they are mandated premiums for a specific defined benefit. The idea here is that you pay for your Social Security and your Medicare while you are working, and receive the benefits when you retire. If Obama wants to eliminate these tax burden with his "refundable tax credits" then he is turning both of these programs into pure income redistribution efforts.

However you say it, folks, the fact of the matter is that Barack Obama's tax plan is welfare – he takes money from the high achievers and spreads it around to those with lower incomes.

For those of you who really want to understand Barack Obama's "tax cuts" (which are not really tax cuts but welfare checks), I suggest you read this article again from the Wall Street Journal. To Barack Obama, "tax cuts" is the new way to say government handout. Why doesn't the mainstream media cover that side of the tax argument?

If you want to see this in visual terms, the Washington Post created a chart comparing Barack Obama's tax cuts to John McCain. Big difference, wouldn't you say?