{"id":1583,"date":"2009-02-26T17:14:12","date_gmt":"2009-02-26T22:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/?p=1583"},"modified":"2009-02-26T17:14:12","modified_gmt":"2009-02-26T22:14:12","slug":"barack-obamas-2-illusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/02\/26\/barack-obamas-2-illusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Barack Obama’s 2% Illusion"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the Wall Street Journal<\/a>:<\/p>\n

President Obama has laid out the most ambitious and expensive domestic agenda since LBJ, and now all he has to do is figure out how to pay for it. On Tuesday, he left the impression that we need merely end “tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% of Americans,” and he promised that households earning less than $250,000 won’t see their taxes increased by “one single dime.”<\/p>\n

This is going to be some trick. Even the most basic inspection of the IRS income tax statistics shows that raising taxes on the salaries, dividends and capital gains of those making more than $250,000 can’t possibly raise enough revenue to fund Mr. Obama’s new spending ambitions.<\/p>\n

Consider the IRS data for 2006, the most recent year that such tax data are available and a good year for the economy and “the wealthiest 2%.” Roughly 3.8 million filers had adjusted gross incomes above $200,000 in 2006. (That’s about 7% of all returns; the data aren’t broken down at the $250,000 point.) These people paid about $522 billion in income taxes, or roughly 62% of all federal individual income receipts. The richest 1% — about 1.65 million filers making above $388,806 — paid some $408 billion, or 39.9% of all income tax revenues, while earning about 22% of all reported U.S. income.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the whole thing… The simple reality is there is no way Pres. Obama can pay for his agenda by simply by raisng taxes on the wealthiest 2% of Americans. Higher taxes will eventually “trickle down” to the middle class and then to those who can least afford them.<\/p>\n

Bottom line: Americans are not under taxed, our government spends to much!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Wall Street Journal: President Obama has laid out the most ambitious and expensive domestic agenda since LBJ, and now all he has to do is figure out how to pay for it. On Tuesday, he left the impression that we need merely end “tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% of Americans,” and he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[26,20,7],"tags":[57,1365],"class_list":["post-1583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-economy","category-money-and-investing","category-politics","tag-barack-obama","tag-taxes","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfpI7-px","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2103,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/01\/obamas-tax-cut-may-include-a-rude-surprise-for-some-taxpayers\/","url_meta":{"origin":1583,"position":0},"title":"Obama’s Tax Cut May Include a Rude Surprise for Some Taxpayers","author":"Jeff","date":"May 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Millions of taxpayers could be in for a rude surprise next spring thanks to Pres. Obama's \"Making Work Pay\" tax credit: WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Millions of Americans enjoying their small windfall from President Barack Obama's \"Making Work Pay\" tax credit are in for an unpleasant surprise next spring. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":725,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/08\/100-economists-warn-that-barck-obamas-tax-proposals-could-throw-the-us-economy-into-recession\/","url_meta":{"origin":1583,"position":1},"title":"100 Economists Warn That Barack Obama’s Tax Proposals Could Throw the US Economy into Recession","author":"Jeff","date":"October 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been debating whether to post this all day... Yes, it's from the McCain campaign but ultimately I think it would be foolish to dismiss the opinion of a group of experienced economists out of hand. Economists Statement On Barack Obama's Risky Economic Proposals 100 ECONOMISTS WARN THAT WITH CURRENT\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2568,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/04\/wsj-obama-advisers-set-groundwork-to-raise-taxes-on-middle-class\/","url_meta":{"origin":1583,"position":2},"title":"WSJ: Obama Advisers Set Groundwork to Raise Taxes on Middle Class","author":"Jeff","date":"August 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"You don't have to be an economist to realize the Obama Administration's budget numbers don't add up and that he's going to have raise taxes on more than just those earning more than $250,000.00 to pay for his agenda. With that in mind it's not surprising that White House economist\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":756,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/13\/95-illusion\/","url_meta":{"origin":1583,"position":3},"title":"95% Illusion","author":"Jeff","date":"October 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Wall Street Journal has a great analysis of Barack Obama's \"tax cut\" proposals today. The Journal's analysis should come as a surprise to anyone... In short Obama \"tax cuts\" are 95% illusion. One of Barack Obama's most potent campaign claims is that he'll cut taxes for no less than\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4158,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/13\/the-fallacy-of-the-101-mix-of-spending-cuts-and-tax-hikes-question\/","url_meta":{"origin":1583,"position":4},"title":"The fallacy of the 10:1 Mix of Spending Cuts and Tax Hikes Question","author":"Jeff","date":"August 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I suspect most of you have seen or heard about this exchange during the Republican Presidential Debate in Iowa last Thursday night: http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ASQNITVweLo&feature=player_embedded It was a bullshit question, first of all unless those spending cuts are immediate they'll never materialize... particularly when the baseline for negotiations is that the taxes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/ASQNITVweLo\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1617,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/06\/is-obama-intentionally-destroying-our-economy\/","url_meta":{"origin":1583,"position":5},"title":"Is Obama Intentionally Destroying Our Economy???","author":"Jeff","date":"March 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Never assume malice where incompetence will suffice. Over the last few days I've been hearing various theories that essentially say... The Obama administration is deliberately damaging the economy and gutting the stock market on the theory that doing so will make it easier for them to argue \"the free market\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1583\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}