Politifact: Tracking President Obama's tax promises

The tax package means new Politifact ratings for many of Obama's promises about taxes. Here's a summary of our recent rulings:

• No. 39: Phase out exemptions and deductions for higher earners. Obama said during the campaign that he wanted to reduce exemptions and deductions for high earners, which would have the effect of making their tax bills higher. But the tax compromise continued the current levels on exemptions and deductions. We rated this one Promise Broken.

• No. 4: Extend child tax credits and marriage-penalty fixes. Without the tax deal, child tax credits would have been reduced and married people would have paid higher taxes. The new law is in keeping with his promise, so we rated it Promise Kept.

• No. 10: Expand the child and dependent care credit. Obama said during the campaign he would increase the child and dependent care credit. It's not in the new tax legislation that covers the next two years. We rated this one Promise Broken.

• No. 1: Increase the capital gains and dividends taxes for higher-income taxpayers. Taxes on capital gains and dividends stay the same under the tax deal. We rated this one Promise Broken.

• No. 41: Freeze the 2009 estate tax law. Obama campaigned on raising taxes on estates, but the Republicans were able to negotiate somewhat lower rates. So we rated this promise Compromise.

• No. 38: Repeal the Bush tax cuts for higher incomes. Obama campaigned on letting tax rates increase for couples who make more than $250,000 and individuals who make more than $200,000. The tax compromise violated those pledges. So we rated this one Promise Broken.

• No. 37: Extend the Bush tax cuts for lower incomes. Obama and Senate Republicans agreed on a tax package that included extending the current tax rates for all incomes. The extension expires in 2012. We rated this one Promise Kept.


In summary, four tax promises were broken, two were kept and one was a compromise. This is not an exemplary record when nearly 60 per cent of the election promises on taxes were not kept.

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