So when listening to the President's plan to lower taxes (for most people) and the Republicans' claims that Obama will raise taxes for all Americans, its maybe helpful to examine the subtext of what each side really means. Here's the AP breaking it down:
THE CLAIM: "The president's budget increases taxes on every American, and does so during a recession," said Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, the top Republican on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. "Let's just be honest and call it a carbon tax that will increase taxes on all Americans who drive a car, who have a job, who turn on a light switch, pure and simple," House Minority leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said of Obama's plan to impose a tariff on polluters.
THE FACTS: Under Obama's plan, tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush for families making more than $250,000 would be allowed to expire in 2011, increasing the top income tax rate from 35 percent to 39.6 percent. The top capital gains tax rate would jump from 15 percent to 20 percent. Middle- and low-income taxpayers - 95 percent of Americans, by the president's calculations - would receive a new tax credit
Obama also would impose fees on greenhouse gas producers, including power plants that burn fossil fuels, by auctioning off carbon pollution permits. The goal is to reduce the emissions blamed for global warming. The fees would raise a projected $646 billion over 10 years. Obama aides don't dispute that consumers will get the passed-along costs. In testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee in September, White House budget chief Peter Orszag, then the director of the Congressional Budget Office, said companies that have to pay the emissions fees "would not ultimately bear most of the costs of the allowances. Instead, they would pass them along to their customers (and their customers' customers) in the form of higher prices." The added cost to consumers is meant as an incentive to reduce energy consumption. "If people don't change how they use energy, then they will face higher costs for energy," Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Tuesday.
That emphasis is mine, but that's the real crux of the matter. The Republicans may be right that it'll cost more to keep living the way we do under Obama's new tax plan. And that's the goddamn point, to raise the cost of living for lifestyles that are unsustainable. Sometimes it seems like conservatives would rather keep burning oil and coal until they're so scarce that the markets force consumers into an alternative, why walk off a cliff if you can see it coming?
Imagine your buddy suggesting you stop drinking tequila before you pee your pants, vomit on the floor and drive his car through a Starbucks window. You don't really want to, and you're not making sense, so maybe he provides a little incentive upside your head.
Money-grubbers: Obama's just trying to motivate in a language you speak, hitting you in the wallet so that you'll understand its cheaper to use renewable resources and consume less energy. Or maybe you'd prefer if Obama came to your house and punched you in the face every week until you stopped polluting so much.
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