September 14th, 2010 by Speaker's Press Shop
As the debate heats up over the Obama Middle Class Tax Cut, Congressional Republicans are playing fast and loose with the facts. They will do or say anything to protect the richest 2 percent of Americans from returning to the tax rates of the 1990s, including raising taxes on 98 percent of Americans – after a decade proved their deficit-busting giveaways did nothing to grow the American economy.
Here’s a primer on the rhetoric the Republicans are using in the fight to hold tax cuts for middle-class Americans hostage.
Whopper #1: We don’t have a taxing problem; we have a spending problem.
TRUTH: A decade of Republican rule in Washington nearly doubled the national debt, and turned a record surplus into a record deficit. It’s time to stop exploding the deficit with a $700 billion giveaway to the wealthiest Americans – which economists have shown has not trickled down to the Middle Class.
Whopper #2: Democrats want to raise taxes on America’s small businesses.
TRUTH: Led by Democrats, this Congress has cut taxes eight times for small businesses – over the objections of Republicans.
Not giving a deficit-busting tax cut to the wealthiest few would ALSO not affect the vast majority of America’s small businesses. The nonpartisan Pulitzer Prize-winning PolitiFact labeled this GOP claim a “pants on fire” falsehood. As PolitiFact concluded:
Two independent studies that looked at the impact of the Democratic proposal on small businesses found that only between 2 to 3 percent of tax filers who report having what can be thought of as small business income will be affected.
Whopper #3: Okay so it’s only 3% of small businesses – but that 3% includes 750,000 businesses and accounts for 50% of small business income.
TRUTH: Who are they? Included in that small percentage of “small businesses” affected (2-3 percent) is anyone who receives any type of partnership or business income – and many of them are not what you would consider “small business owners.” They include hedge fund managers, private equity fund managers, owners of privately held multinational companies, lobbyists, and partners in major law firms.
Whopper #4: Tax cuts for the rich create jobs.
TRUTH: America is just starting to come out of the worst economy since the Great Depression after a decade of a giant tax cut for the rich. Conversely, we had our strongest economy in years – creating 22 million jobs – and four years of budget surpluses at the end of the Clinton administration. Democrats would like to return to that kind of economic growth, deficit control, and tax rate for the wealthiest few.
In fact, top economists have busted the myth that tax cuts for the rich create jobs.
Alan Blinder, Co-Director of Princeton University’s Center for Economic Policy Studies and former Vice Chairman of the Fed:
Not all budgetary dollars are created equal. Some have a lot of bang for the buck, and some have very little. The GDP increase per dollar of budgetary cost is in the range of 1.6, 1.7 for things like food stamps and unemployment benefits, and in the range of .35 for extending the Bush tax cuts. We could get some substantial job creation by simply reprogramming the $75 billion that would be saved over the next two years by not extending the upper-bracket Bush tax cuts and spending it instead on unemployment benefits, food stamps, and the like.
William Gale, Co-Director of the Tax Policy Center:
Are there other ways to use that same amount of money that would give a bigger bang for the buck? The answer is definitely yes…Extending the Bush tax cuts came in No. 11 [in a recent CBO analysis] – the worst option, the lowest bang for the buck of any of the other options.
Paul Krugman, New York Times Columnist and Winner of Nobel Prize for Economics:
…it’s hard to think of a less cost-effective way to help the economy than giving money to people who already have plenty, and aren’t likely to spend a windfall.
Whopper # 5: We shouldn’t raise taxes on Americans in a recession.
TRUTH: That’s not what’s being proposed. Congressional Democrats and President Obama will permanently cut taxes for 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small businesses – and help get the Bush deficit under control.
Rightardia uses the Moody's graphic because it dispels a lot of BS of what the government can do to boost the economy.
It is clear that tax cuts are one of the least effective approaches a government can use, particularly if the tax cuts only benefit a small sector of society like the affluent.
Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu
Netcraft rank: 8665
http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com
As the debate heats up over the Obama Middle Class Tax Cut, Congressional Republicans are playing fast and loose with the facts. They will do or say anything to protect the richest 2 percent of Americans from returning to the tax rates of the 1990s, including raising taxes on 98 percent of Americans – after a decade proved their deficit-busting giveaways did nothing to grow the American economy.
Here’s a primer on the rhetoric the Republicans are using in the fight to hold tax cuts for middle-class Americans hostage.
Whopper #1: We don’t have a taxing problem; we have a spending problem.
TRUTH: A decade of Republican rule in Washington nearly doubled the national debt, and turned a record surplus into a record deficit. It’s time to stop exploding the deficit with a $700 billion giveaway to the wealthiest Americans – which economists have shown has not trickled down to the Middle Class.
Whopper #2: Democrats want to raise taxes on America’s small businesses.
TRUTH: Led by Democrats, this Congress has cut taxes eight times for small businesses – over the objections of Republicans.
Not giving a deficit-busting tax cut to the wealthiest few would ALSO not affect the vast majority of America’s small businesses. The nonpartisan Pulitzer Prize-winning PolitiFact labeled this GOP claim a “pants on fire” falsehood. As PolitiFact concluded:
Two independent studies that looked at the impact of the Democratic proposal on small businesses found that only between 2 to 3 percent of tax filers who report having what can be thought of as small business income will be affected.
Whopper #3: Okay so it’s only 3% of small businesses – but that 3% includes 750,000 businesses and accounts for 50% of small business income.
TRUTH: Who are they? Included in that small percentage of “small businesses” affected (2-3 percent) is anyone who receives any type of partnership or business income – and many of them are not what you would consider “small business owners.” They include hedge fund managers, private equity fund managers, owners of privately held multinational companies, lobbyists, and partners in major law firms.
Whopper #4: Tax cuts for the rich create jobs.
TRUTH: America is just starting to come out of the worst economy since the Great Depression after a decade of a giant tax cut for the rich. Conversely, we had our strongest economy in years – creating 22 million jobs – and four years of budget surpluses at the end of the Clinton administration. Democrats would like to return to that kind of economic growth, deficit control, and tax rate for the wealthiest few.
In fact, top economists have busted the myth that tax cuts for the rich create jobs.
Not all budgetary dollars are created equal. Some have a lot of bang for the buck, and some have very little. The GDP increase per dollar of budgetary cost is in the range of 1.6, 1.7 for things like food stamps and unemployment benefits, and in the range of .35 for extending the Bush tax cuts. We could get some substantial job creation by simply reprogramming the $75 billion that would be saved over the next two years by not extending the upper-bracket Bush tax cuts and spending it instead on unemployment benefits, food stamps, and the like.
William Gale, Co-Director of the Tax Policy Center:
Are there other ways to use that same amount of money that would give a bigger bang for the buck? The answer is definitely yes…Extending the Bush tax cuts came in No. 11 [in a recent CBO analysis] – the worst option, the lowest bang for the buck of any of the other options.
Paul Krugman, New York Times Columnist and Winner of Nobel Prize for Economics:
…it’s hard to think of a less cost-effective way to help the economy than giving money to people who already have plenty, and aren’t likely to spend a windfall.
Whopper # 5: We shouldn’t raise taxes on Americans in a recession.
TRUTH: That’s not what’s being proposed. Congressional Democrats and President Obama will permanently cut taxes for 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small businesses – and help get the Bush deficit under control.
Rightardia uses the Moody's graphic because it dispels a lot of BS of what the government can do to boost the economy.
It is clear that tax cuts are one of the least effective approaches a government can use, particularly if the tax cuts only benefit a small sector of society like the affluent.
Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu
Netcraft rank: 8665
http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment