From the column:
So what exactly will the Pelosi-Rangel tax increase mean for families?
The most striking feature of the Mother of All Tax Hikes is that it raises taxes on literally every single taxpayer. In 2001, the Republican-led Congress and the president enacted a sweeping tax cut plan that lowered taxes for every American.
The Pelosi-Rangel plan would eliminate those tax cuts, raising taxes for every single tax bracket and eliminating the new 10 percent rate Congress established specifically to reduce the tax burden on low- and middle-income working families.
And as if that is not enough, the Pelosi-Rangel plan also would reinstate the marriage penalty, which — before Congress began to phase it out in 2001 — punished couples by taxing them at a higher rate than they would have been taxed had they filed individually. Indeed, no family would be protected from the Mother of All Tax Hikes.
What do the Dems need all this tax money for? And what will all these tax increases do to our economy? I don’t think they’ve thought that far ahead. I just know that Congress seems to see American taxpayers as a great herd of cash cows, and they’re determined to milk us for all we’re worth. It’s reprehensible, and this trend has got to be reversed.
John Boehner is a Republican Congressman from Ohio and the House Minority Leader, so he know whereof he speaks. Read the whole column, it’s frightening. Appropriate for the upcoming Halloween season.
Dan Habib/Monitor Staff photo
John Edwards, Democratic candidate for President, obviously would make a very handsome President. Unfortunately however, I believe his Presidential qualifications end right there.
At the Concord Monitor Online, Lauren Dorgan has an article detailing John Edwards’ plans for our Republic once he takes office in 2009.
In the article, titled "Edwards plans big for presidency", she quotes Mr. Edwards directly:
"It is central to what I want to do as president to do something about economic inequality. I do not believe it is okay for the United States of America to have 37 million people living in poverty," he said in a meeting with Monitor reporters and editors this week. "And I think we need, desperately need, a president who will say that to America and call on Americans to show their character."
At every stop, Edwards said, he tells voters he'll ask them to sacrifice. Asked to describe what he means, he described his plan for increases in capital gains taxes, saying taxes on "wealth income" should be in line with those on work income.
"I think if we want to fund the things that I think are important to share in prosperity, then people who have done well in this country, including me, have more of a responsibility to give back," he said. Later, he added: "There are no free meals."
Like other Democrats, Edwards named his top three priorities as ending the war in Iraq, enacting universal health care and overhauling the American energy system. "Those are three things instantly I would do," he said.
Well, none of that sounds like it wouldn’t cost a lot of money, money that has to come from my pocket and your pocket in order to make it work. This is a creeping form of socialism, and it will eventually send our economy into a skid and produce a nanny state like France or Sweden, and a deplorable National Health System like Great Britain. That’s not the direction I’d like to see this country take. Maybe you feel differently.
