With time ticking away until Election Day, the Democrats find themselves facing the perfect storm. Voters have had enough “hope and change,” and they are now hoping for a new change. Obama’s health care plan (that Americans did not want) is widely unpopular, and guess what? It costs more than Obama said it would. The “stimulus” bill didn’t do anything except put America more in debt, give more control to Washington, and help line the pockets of Obama’s lobbyist and union supporters. But now we come to the issue of issues: tax cuts. With unemployment sky high and the economy on shaky ground, rather than engaging in class warfare, taxes needs to be cut, and they need to be cut for all tax payers. That’s a message that will help Republicans win in November, if they will listen to it.
Tax cuts for all. It seems like such a simple concept… let people keep more of their own money, because it is THEIR money. The government should not be in the business of deciding who gets more to spend or what group or activity is “worthy” of a tax cut. The conservative approach is to cut taxes for all, and yet this week we are hearing word that the House Republican leadership may “compromise” and let some of the Bush tax cuts expire. In other words, leaders like John Boehner are considering “compromising” by raising taxes on some Americans. This is NOT conservative, and it is NOT the way to go.
House Republican Leader John Boehner announced last week a Two-Point Plan for the economy involving a spending freeze and a two-year extension of the Bush tax cuts. This is an absolutely great idea! Everyone knows the government spends too much, so pulling back spending is something that should be done and something that will resonate with voters across the country. The same holds for tax cuts. The last thing that should be done, especially in a weak economy, is to raise taxes. So, I applaud Boehner for these proposals.
However, something strange happened on Sunday when he was appearing on CBS’s Face the Nation. Boehner said he would support extending tax cuts for the middle class even if those for the wealthy were allowed to expire. What in the world is that??? What was just as frustrating was the fact that in the exchange with host Bob Schieffer, Boehner kept allowing Schieffer to get away with the same, tired rhetoric of “tax cuts for the rich.”
“But aren’t you kind of holding the tax cuts for the lower income people, the people making less than $250,000, hostage, so you can give those tax cuts to the upper brackets?” Schieffer asked. “There are a lot more people below those top brackets than are in . . . those upper brackets. Why wouldn’t you want to do something for those folks?”
First of all, we aren’t talking about additional, new “tax cuts.” We are talking about taking the tax rates as they have existed for years and RAISING THEM. There are not tax cuts here. If the Bush rates expire than those effected will see their taxes go up! The argument is about tax hikes not tax cuts. And second, those 3 percent of people affected by the upper income rates own 50 percent of small businesses. If we want hiring and jobs to come back, that last thing we should be doing is raising taxes.
The White House, of course, jumped on these comments as a potential sign that the GOP might cave in and go for Obama’s socialist plan of non-tax increases for some, but not for others. This is wrong, wrong, wrong. On Good Morning America, anchor George Stephanopoulos wrote that “(White House Press Secretary) Robert Gibbs looked like the cat that swallowed the canary on ‘GMA’ this morning when I asked him to respond to Rep. John Boehner’s statement that he would vote for an extension of the middle class tax cuts -not the cuts for the wealthy — if it is his “only option.”
Fortunately, multiple House Democrats are feeling the heat. They know Obama is unpopular. They know that the legislation that has been passed lately is bad. And they know that the idea of raising taxes now is suicide. So, they are speaking out about extending the current tax rates. In addition, on the Senate side, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has signaled that there should be no tax hikes on anyone. According to Stephanopoulos, McConnell is being joined in that chorus by Democrats such as “Sens. Bayh, Nelson, Lieberman, Conrad and Bennett.”
The campaign message for this issue is simple: No tax increases. Period. Americans need less Washington and more jobs. If Democrats are running from Obama’s agenda, the last thing we should do is be caving in to it. Let’s stand strong for conservative principles: lower taxes, smaller government, less spending, more accountability. We have the momentum. Let’s roll with it.
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