Monday, January 05, 2009

Tax Cuts for the Wealthy?

Obama Eyes $300 Billion Tax Cut.

President-elect Barack Obama and congressional Democrats are crafting a plan to offer about $300 billion of tax cuts to individuals and businesses, a move aimed at attracting Republican support for an economic-stimulus package and prodding companies to create jobs.

The size of the proposed tax cuts -- which would account for about 40% of a stimulus package that could reach $775 billion over two years -- is greater than many on both sides of the aisle in Congress had anticipated. It may make it easier to win over Republicans who have stressed that any initiative should rely more heavily on tax cuts rather than spending.

The Obama tax-cut proposals, if enacted, could pack more punch in two years than either of President George W. Bush's tax cuts did in their first two years. Mr. Bush's 10-year, $1.35 trillion tax cut of 2001, considered the largest in history, contained $174 billion of cuts during its first two full years, according to Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation. The second-largest tax cut -- the 10-year, $350 billion package engineered by Mr. Bush in 2003 -- contained $231 billion in 2004 and 2005.

Wait a second. I thought tax cuts for the rich did nothing to stimulate the economy and caused the recession? Can it be that Barack Obama is trying to outdo George Bush with tax cuts?

Liberals are mad at Obama for wanting to cut taxes. We need more spending, they say, which includes forcing everyone into a single payer health care system and buying up insurance companies (I'm sure all those insurance salesmen won't mind being laid off). Oh, and extend unemployment benefits and create a bunch of We Piddle Around programs just like the Great Depression. Because tax cuts only reward Teh Rich.