ABC’s Jake Tapper is reporting that over the next ten years, President Obama’s planned tax increases will cost we the people $989 billion. And as HughS previously pointed out, that staggering amount still won’t be nearly enough to pay for all the new government spending that he wants.
For families earning more that $250,000 a year:
- $338 billion – Bush tax cuts expire
- $179 billlion – eliminate itemized deduction
- $118 billion – capital gains tax hike
And check out the tax increases on domestic energy production, particularly oil and gas:
- $5.3 billion – excise tax on Gulf of Mexico oil and gas
- $3.4 billion – repeal expensing of tangible drilling costs
- $62 million – repeal deduction for tertiary injectants
- $49 million – repeal passive loss exception for working interests in oil and natural gas properties
- $13 billion – repeal manufacturing tax deduction for oil and natural gas companies
- $1 billion – increase to 7 years geological and geophysical amortization period for independent producers
There is simply no way that anyone can look at this proposal and not come to the conclusion that the Obama Administration wants to permanently cripple domestic oil and gas production. They’ve chosen instead to pour billions into fairy-tale energy schemes like wind power, biofuels, solar energy, and any other “green” energy idea that Al Gore and his fellow environmental hucksters can dream up; schemes that lack the efficiency, scalability, and deliverability that we already have with oil and gas. (I’ll stop before I go off on a tangent)
HughS was also correct in pointing out that a significant number of families who earn $250,000+ are small business owners who are incorporated as S-corporations or sole-member limited liability companies. Sole proprietorships and “closely held” corporations report business profit/loss (Schedule K-1) or income and expenses (Schedule C) as part of their family’s 1040 return. Another significant portion of this group are married professionals (architect married to an attorney, PhD engineer married to an RN, etc.). All of these families struggle — they often need domestic help in order to cope with heavy professional workloads; they are trying to pay off graduate school tuition loans that can run into the 6-figure range quickly; they are trying to save money to buy a better house; they are trying to save money for their kids’ college and for their own retirement, and so on. They are also the families who are more likely to purchase high end furniture, electronics, and cars. In short, most of these families are highly unlikely to have a vast Kennedy-Rockefeller-Carnegie-Gates-sized store of accumulated wealth.
And ironically, they are also more likely to have voted for Barack Obama. Other commentators have suspected that young, educated professionals who supported Barack Obama were drawn to his messages of social responsibility. Their financial worries were mitigated by Obama’s campaign promises of tax increases only on the “wealthiest Americans,” pay-as-you-go spending with every tax and spending increase offset by corresponding spending cuts, and his pledge to go “line by line” through the Federal budget and eliminate wasteful spending. Most of the younger professionals that I knew who supported Obama felt exactly that way; they were more concerned about Iraq, health care, poverty, and other social issues, and felt that it would be okay to pay a little more (they always said “a little more”) in taxes if the money was spent fixing those problems.
Suckers.
We can’t undo the election, but we can make our voices heard. In a little while I’ll be heading off to the Oklahoma State Capitol to join dozens of other concerned citizens who are shocked by our government’s reckless spending, and the mind-boggling amount of debt that we are piling up. Make your voice heard. Let your Congressional representatives know that you really do care about what is in their bills, and that you will hold them accountable for what they spend.
