By Staff
Lowering taxes has historically always resulted in bringing in more tax revenue. This has not stopped countless politicians from raising taxes, mostly because increasing taxes for the people who don't vote for you is a great way to get support from the people who do.
Raising taxes removes incentive for people to work harder. If the major result of their hard work is to put more dollars into the endless sinkhole of government then people will simply do just enough. The smaller the government's cut, the more money people try to make and spend and the more money people spend the better it is for the overall economy.
None of this basic and often proven lesson in economics matters to President Barack Obama, who has made loud noises about increasing taxes for the so-called rich. If Obama does that, he's going against all economic logic and simply pandering to his base.
President Obama considers people who make more than $250,000 a year rich and has targeted these folks for tax increases. This populist drivel plays well to Obama's Democratic base because if you don't make that much and never hope to make that much, than anyone making $250,000 seems impossibly wealthy.
Obama does not distinguish between the person making $250,000 a year in New York (where you couldn't buy a two- bedroom apartment on that income) or Peoria, where it might get you a mansion. Nope, when pandering to the people, it's easier to leave complicated facts out and just use a broad brush to say the rich don't pay their fair share.
In reality, the poor pay almost no taxes and the worst tax burden falls upon the people doing pretty well, who are not exactly rich. It's hard for someone making $25,000 a year to sympathize with someone making $250,000, but the guy making more pays an awful lot more in taxes than his poorer friend.
Painting all people above a certain income level as wealthy and implying they don't pay enough is exactly the same tactic used by the Republicans when they say that welfare and entitlements cause all our problems. Of course, neither argument is exactly true, but that's irrelevant when you're playing the game for the next election, not the good of the country.
Obama and the Democrats only stay in office if they maintain a base of electoral support. The only way to do that is to have an enemy that galvanizes their core constituents (people who don't make that much money and guilt-ridden people with a whole lot of money).
As his enemy, Obama has chosen to target people who own nice homes, small businesses and some luxury items.
They are largely the people responsible for employing those a little further down the economic ladder, but they vote Republican, so they must be punished.
The people who are not rich but do pretty well drive a significant portion of the economy.
Raising their taxes not only won't increase how much money the government brings in for tax revenue, it will cause a ripple effect of economic woe.
If President Obama is the man he wants us to believe he is, then he should be above politics. Obama needs to fix the system by cutting government spending, lowering taxes and generally taking government out of our lives.
That means no more interfering in business – whether that means giving them bailouts or firing their CEOs. Obama must reinstate capitalism and allow the system to sort itself out. The time for canvassing for votes has ended so our president should start speaking for the country and not just his party.