Obama’s ‘Deficit Cuts’ Include Tax Increases on Middle Class (UPDATE)

UPDATE:
I wonder if the American Enterprise Institute got a look at this:

Barack Obama said he is “agnostic” about raising taxes on households making less than $250,000 as part of a broad effort to rein in the budget deficit.

Obama, in a Feb. 9 Oval Office interview, said that a presidential commission on the budget needs to consider all options for reducing the deficit, including tax increases and cuts in spending on entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

“The whole point of it is to make sure that all ideas are on the table,” the president said in the interview with Bloomberg BusinessWeek, which will appear on newsstands Friday. “So what I want to do is to be completely agnostic, in terms of solutions.”

Obama repeatedly vowed during the 2008 presidential election campaign that he would not raise taxes on individuals making less than $200,000 and households earning less than $250,000 a year. When senior White House economic adviser Lawrence H. Summers and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner suggested in August that the administration might be open to going back on that pledge, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs quickly reiterated the president’s promise.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a1gLeuUUbQy8

Another ‘promise’ bites the dust.

UPDATE:

The American Enterprise Institute takes exception to the “increase in taxes on the Middle Class” saying:

“The Obama budget wouldn’t raise income taxes on the middle class. But it would increase marginal tax rates, threatening the long-run growth that sustains the well-being of Americans in all income groups.”
http://blog.american.com/?p=10105

The Middle Class like everyone else, will be affected. That’s “inaccurate” how????

Hey you Obama voters, is this the “change” you wanted?

The Obama administration’s plan to cut more than $1 trillion from the deficit over the next decade relies heavily on so-called backdoor tax increases that will result in a bigger tax bill for middle-class families.

In the 2010 budget tabled by President Barack Obama on Monday, the White House wants to let billions of dollars in tax breaks expire by the end of the year — effectively a tax hike by stealth.

While the administration is focusing its proposal on eliminating tax breaks for individuals who earn $250,000 a year or more, middle-class families will face a slew of these backdoor increases.

The targeted tax provisions were enacted under the Bush administration’s Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. Among other things, the law lowered individual tax rates, slashed taxes on capital gains and dividends, and steadily scaled back the estate tax to zero in 2010.

If the provisions are allowed to expire on December 31, the top-tier personal income tax rate will rise to 39.6 percent from 35 percent. But lower-income families will pay more as well: the 25 percent tax bracket will revert back to 28 percent; the 28 percent bracket will increase to 31 percent; and the 33 percent bracket will increase to 36 percent. The special 10 percent bracket is eliminated.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/100201/us/usreport_us_budget_backdoortaxes

How did you think he was going to pay for the trillions of dollars in “stimulus” and “bailouts”?

BTW: Reuters, one of Obama’s dutiful news outlets, has pulled this story:

Advisory: Backdoor taxes to hit middle class

Mon Feb 1, 8:07 pm ET
The story Backdoor taxes to hit middle class has been withdrawn. A replacement story will run later in the week.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100202/bs_nm/us_budget_backdoortaxes

I can hardly wait to see the “revision”.