Two new articles regarding Presidential hopeful Barrack Obama’s economic plans, specifically regarding taxes, have been posted on WSJ.com. “Obamanomics Clarified” is a follow up to “Obamanomics Is a Recipe for Recession.” The other opinion article is simply called “The Obama Tax Plan“. The authors of the latter article are obviously biased for Senator Obama, and use the cliché pop-phrase that “John McCain offers what would essentially be a third Bush term,” that is straight out of the Obama propaganda field manual.
Having said that, some of the Illinois Senator’s tax plans are not as radical as I understood them to be. Although I’m largely opposed to taxation, his tax policies on income, federal gains, dividends, and estate taxes, seem relatively reasonable. For those persons making less than $250,000, there won’t be an increase to capital gains taxes or dividends taxes, and the estate tax would be repealed for estates valued at less than $7 million. Thus depending on your tax bracket, you probably won’t be affected if his plan was implemented as he has presented it. This is assuming Senator Obama does actually implement his plans if elected.
Mr. Boskin, a professor of Economics at Stanford, still maintains even in his revised article that:
History teaches us that high taxes and protectionism are not conducive to a thriving economy, the extreme case being the higher taxes and tariffs that deepened the Great Depression. While such a policy mix would be a real change, as philosophers remind us, change is not always progress.
Sen. Obama defines middle class, on the high end, as those households earning less than $250,000. He is obviously playing to the middle class, and is willing to shift more of the burden of taxation onto those making more than $250,000. There are more people making less than $250,000 than people making over that amount, so Sen. Obama is attempting to go after the demographic that will provide the most votes. There is some rationale behind taxing the “rich” at higher rates, as they have benefited the most from the economic system of the United States, however, part of this writer thinks it’s wrong to punish individuals for being successful.
Tags: Barack Obama, John McCain, Politics, Taxes
