Obamanomics- Income Tax

The next part of my case against President-Elect Obama's policies regarding the economy. Now up: the income tax.

Obama's tax plan is a strange cocktail of welfare, raised income tax, and less overall income. Using the Wall Street Journal and the IRS as sources, let's break it down piece by piece. This report by the IRS shows projected 2009 income tax, shown as a division of different income levels.

First, note that those with higher income pay not only a higher base amount, but also a much higher percentage of the income above the lowest amount of income for that level. If Obama's plan involves cutting taxes for the lowest 95% of America's population (income-wise) and involves getting at least the same amount of revenue, what does that mean for the remaining 5%? Yes, that puts an incredible burden on 5% of the American population: the richest, who despite claims to the contrary, are critical to the economy. You take money from the catalysts of the economy, and you take jobs away from the rest of the country.

Also, as pointed out in this article by the Wall Street Journal, more than a third of Americans already pay no income tax at all. What does a "tax break" mean for them, then? That's right. Something that used to be called "welfare" in a less politically correct time. If you bothered to read down further, you would see that this journalist estimates that the cost of these tax credit increases would amount to $1.054 trillion annually by 2018, being paid from the pockets of taxpayers. To put it simply: taxpayers paying non-taxpayers.

Also, while CNN points out that Obama's plan would involve an $80 billion tax cut across America overall, and other sources that I'm too lazy to google search for point out that lower tax rates do not always lead to lower revenue, taxes are not just being cut, money is being given from one group to the other. Does it matter that there are some hard-working men and women that will slyly be pickpocketed from in this plan? Does it matter that the Roman Empire's attempts to create a welfare state eventually led to its downfall? Does it matter that everywhere you look, the kind of socialist state Obama's plan calls for fails miserably through history? Apparently not.

I repeat the number: $1.054 trillion. Over 1,000,000,000,000 dollars just for tax credit. That's a lot of zeroes. Do you know America's annual gross domestic product for the year 2007? Approximately $13 billion dollars. Do you know the rate of inflation for the American dollar? According to InflationData.com, about 5%, as of September 2008. That means that the value of what we give in the form of this disguised welfare will will decrease approxmiately five percent, and the value of the government's revenue will have decreased approximately five percent as well.

In my mind, this leads to an educated question: who in their right mind would even think of voting in such an absolutely terrible plan? Obama will be president this January, but please let him know what you think about his "hope" for "change" in the economy. Well, economy will change, but not in the way Barack Obama intended it to.

Sources for historical welfare states.
http://www.fff.org/freedom/0690c.asp
http://www.unrv.com/decline-of-empire/decline-of-empire.php