Confused On Taxes

by: David Sirota

Sun Nov 23, 2008 at 14:22


I'm confused about the state of Barack Obama's tax promises. Last week we heard this strong, admirable declaration that campaign promises would be upheld - a rejection of the "center-right" media meme that claims tax increases on the super-wealthy always hurt the economy (reporters somehow forget how the economy boomed after Bill Clinton raised taxes on the wealthy):
David Sirota :: Confused On Taxes
Aide: Middle-Class Tax Cut a Priority
Emanuel Hints That Increase for Upper Incomes Also Won't Be Postponed

By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 10, 2008

President-elect Barack Obama plans to push ahead with a middle-class tax cut soon after taking office, his choice for White House chief of staff said yesterday. Rahm Emanuel also hinted that Obama would not postpone a tax increase for families earning more than $250,000 a year despite the deepening economic gloom. (emphasis added)

Now this week we get this:

Obama may delay tax-cut rollback for wealthy

By Randall Mikkelsen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama may consider delaying a campaign promise - to roll back tax cuts on high-income Americans - as part of his economic recovery strategy, two aides said on Sunday. David Axelrod, the Obama campaign strategist who was chosen to be a senior White House adviser, was asked if the tax cuts could be allowed to expire on schedule after tax year 2010 rather than being rolled back by legislation earlier. "Those considerations will be made," he said on "Fox News Sunday." Bill Daley, an adviser to Obama and commerce secretary under former President Bill Clinton, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that the 2010 scenario "looks more likely than not." (emphasis added)

I'm confused. Beyond the very clear - and admirable - mandate Obama created for himself in terms of raising taxes on the rich, history suggests such a policy is not at odds with righting an economy.

While I'm not a huge fan of Bill Clinton on a lot of issues, I think he was courageous on the issue of income taxes - and that his courage proved to be good policy, as evidenced by the economy's performance right after the tax increase, and as evidenced by the fact that the tax increases gave his government much-needed new revenue (revenue that Obama now needs for priorities like energy investment, health care and economic stimulus/infrastructure spending). Clinton proved that the right's rhetoric about tax increases on the super-wealthy hurting the economy is a bunch of B.S. - and he proved it only 15 years ago.

I hope the example Clinton set on the tax issue is the Obama administration's path forward.

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Confused On Taxes | 29 comments
WHILE WE SHOULD WAIT AND SEE WHAT OBAMA'S POLICIES ACTUALLY ARE (0.00 / 0)
there is as you have indicated repeatedly reason for a good deal of anxiety and worry on the left.
I don't see the story (0.00 / 0)
Emanuel says this won't happen later than 2010; Axelrod says it won't likely be earlier than 2010.  And?
[ Parent ]
Well, all I know is what Obama said in May (0.00 / 0)
In May, Obama said he supports "rolling back the Bush tax cuts on the top 1 percent of people who don't need it." That is, not waiting for them to expire - but rolling them back.

I take him at his word that he's going to try to do this.

[ Parent ]
I assume that was a one-time flub (0.00 / 0)
Because everything else he said was that he was going to wait for them to expire -- it was one of the main differences between himself and Edwards, after all.  I believe you blogged about it.
[ Parent ]
My recollection is Adam is right (0.00 / 0)
I think he always meant expire.  The difference is one year. And he needs all his political capital...there are still Blue Dogs to be considered.....to do the rest of what, at least at the moment,  seems to be the correct pragmatic and progressive response to the demands the looming economic debacle.

"Incrementalism isn't a different path to the same place, it could be a different path to a different place"
Stoller
[ Parent ]
There you go again David (0.00 / 0)
The tax cuts don't expire until what 2010 or 2011?  So how is it breaking his campaign promise if he just lets them expire?  He only breaks his promise if he RENEWS them which doesn't seem like he is willing to do.

I'm going to keep saying this until I see some improvement but I am rather tired of "white progressives" such as yourself, Greenwald,Jerome Armstrong, and Digby bashing our first black President when he hasn't even taken office. It is downright offensive and it just goes to show you what is wrong with the progressive movement. You guys aren't really tolerant you guys are just a bunch of white bullies who want to control our first black President.

Please stop as it doesn't help your credibility among non-whites.

Accusations of racism? (0.00 / 0)
That's over the top, if you ask me.  

"Don't hate the media, become the media" -Jello Biafra
[ Parent ]
No it is not (0.00 / 0)
and for the record I did not call anyone a racist.  I'm expressing a pattern here that cannot be ignored no matter how hard the liberal blogosphere tries to.

It has been quite disturbing reading supposedly liberal and progressive sites bash Obama repeatedly for things he has yet to do.  As a black, I've seen this before and it seriously bothers me.

Maybe if the liberal blogosphere were more open to diverse opinions and had more exposure to blacks posts like this one by Sirota and those of Greenwald would cease.

[ Parent ]
These are declarations from white Obama aides (0.00 / 0)

[ Parent ]
Ridiculous... (4.00 / 1)
Being black doesn't make him off limits.  I don't care if he is purple, I expect him to deliver on his campaign promises.  

They're asking for another four years -- in a just world, they'd get 10 to 20. ~~ Dennis Kucinich  
[ Parent ]
I guess Julian Bond is a racist too (0.00 / 0)
I guess Julian Bond is a racist looking to destroy Obama because Obama's black, huh?

Q: Many civil rights advocates are still celebrating Obama ' s election. Do you worry that groups like the NAACP aren ' t ready to put pressure on Obama as they would any other president?

BOND: No, I don't think anybody's going to give Obama a free ride. I think his actions are going to be monitored, his picks for the cabinet are going to be scrutinized.

Full interview here.

[ Parent ]
Excuse me? (0.00 / 0)
Are you really saying that questioning the difference in tax pronouncements between two sets of Obama aides - all white, by the way - is a racial attack on Barack Obama?
[ Parent ]
David (0.00 / 0)
You have been on a non-stop bash Obama tour for the last two weeks.  It's as if  you and the rest of the "progressives" are trying to set him up for failure before he even gets into office. Obama is a pragmatic progressive and that is why I supported him. Just because he is not filling his cabinet with people that YOU want doesn't mean that he is any less of a progressive.  I'm tired of the constant criticism of Obama based on stuff he has yet to do.  

This happens to black politicians all the time and I will be damned if I see it happen to Obama.

Go back and read the articles about his tax policy. He's not going back on a campaign promise he's just not going to deal with it at this very moment while you are stomping your feet.  Like I said earlier, if he renews the tax cuts, then he is breaking his promise.

[ Parent ]
All due respect (4.00 / 1)
I consistently put myself out there to defend Obama from some of the worst racial bullshit that the media and Clinton thew at him:

http://www.creators.com/opinio...

http://www.creators.com/opinio...

http://www.creators.com/opinio...

http://www.oregonlive.com/comm...

http://www.denverpost.com/opin...

http://www.inthesetimes.com/ar...

With all due respect, you dishonor the civil rights movement and people of all colors and creeds fighting for equality when you claim that questioning politicians on economic policy - and from a perspective aimed at making sure economic policies are more equal - automatically makes the questioners racist.

Indeed, when you do that, you humiliate yourself. And attempting to cite your own ethnicity as somehow giving you moral authority to make such charges only humiliates you further.

[ Parent ]
My dishonor? (0.00 / 0)
Are you kidding me? You don't even know my background.  That's nice that you wrote about the racist attacks on Obama BEFORE he was practically in power. There is a pattern here that I have seen firsthand with black politicians and I have decided that Obama will not be the newest black politician in an ever growing list of those that are taken down by their so-called white allies.

I'll be damned to see it happen.

BTW, I would strongly recommend that you read the Philosophy book, "I'm not a racist but..." You will understand what I am talking about.

[ Parent ]
You are right (4.00 / 1)
All I know about you is that you told us that you are African American, and that you also told us that questioning Barack Obama's top aides - all white - on their differing comments on tax policy is a racially motivated attempt to tear down a black president.

That constitutes an insult and a denigration to the civil rights movement you purport to speak for.

[ Parent ]
And by the way (0.00 / 0)
I very much stress the phrase "purport to speak for" - because you don't speak for such an important movement.
[ Parent ]
I understand cupcake's frustration... (0.00 / 0)
As a black female, I'm excited about having Obama as the first black POTUS.  And at times it seems to me that progressives want to throw a wet blanket on that--something that even the Republicans are hesitant to do right now.

But I'm reluctant to say that the Sirotas and Greenwalds of the left are white bullies.

I would, however, like for everyone (progressives and conservatives alike) to give Obama a chance--let him get in the White House and then fuck up--before criticizing his every decision.

I never understood the Obama campaign's strategies and tactics during the primaries and GE, but they kicked the Clintons' and the Republicans' asses.  So let's sit back for a bit and see what happens.  If Obama goes too far right during his presidency, I'll be leading the charge to go after him.  But for the love of God, it hasn't even been three weeks since the election.

[ Parent ]
Evidence? (0.00 / 0)
"This happens to black politicians all the time and I will be damned if I see it happen to Obama."

Can you name one black politician this has happened to, whatever it is you are referring to? Because claiming racism without any evidence to back it up--other than, "all criticism of Obama is racism"--is not appropriate.

Sure (0.00 / 0)
David Dinkins, Eliju Harris, Ron Dellums.

Do you want me to go on?

[ Parent ]
What specifically happened to... (0.00 / 0)
Dinkins, Harris and Dellums that supports your point?
[ Parent ]
We're attacking David on THIS?? (0.00 / 0)
I'm as harsh a credit on David as most anyone at times, but noticing what official spokesman say on TV is pretty relevant.  Sheesh, people.
He's taking their words out of context (0.00 / 0)
He's trying to set Obama up.
[ Parent ]
Priorities (4.00 / 1)
Despite Obama's considerable political capital, he will still need to set priorities and engage in political deal-making. I think the underlying concern in this and other posts is that Obama, when engaging in prioritizing and deal-making, will purposely betray progressive ideals (why or to what end is never made clear). In fact, the analysis on this site and elsewhere increasingly sounds as if you don't know or care to know what Obama's plans actually will be once he takes office.

It is enough, apparently, to point out each and every slight deviation for ideological purity that the Obama transition makes, or even appears to make. To go one step farther, and simply ask "how does this decision help/harm Obama's ability to govern or pass key legislation?" is seemingly impossible for Obama's preemptive critics. In fact, much of the critique reads as if passing legislation (i.e. actually changing government and law) is a minor afterthought.

I beg the bloggers here and elsewhere to ask themselves this question every time they begin to write a post questioning Obama's political orientation: In what way does this help or harm Obama's ability to effectively govern and enact progressive change? I, for one, am genuinely curious, and I depend on people like you, David Sirota, to offer insights and ideas.

For example, I think it was Taegan Goddard's site where I read the hypothesis that Obama's post-election meeting with McCain, and subsequent naming of Napolitano as DHS head, was a deliberate strategy to woo McCain on future votes of importance to the Obama administration. True? Plausibly. And it adds a level of strategic logic to Obama's transition maneuvering. So I ask - what is the strategic reasoning behind potentially postponing the rollback of tax cuts on the wealthy? Or am I really to believe Obama is just embracing center-right ideology for the fun of it?



"Don't hate the media, become the media" -Jello Biafra

in this case, the NYTimes article spells it out... (0.00 / 0)
he wants to get GOP congresscritters to vote for his stimulus plan.

at least, this is the official rationale.  

[ Parent ]
What I see from many... (0.00 / 0)
Is that pointing out specific points or actions that show Obama not to be a progressive or not to be taking a progressive position--from the appointment of Emanuel as COS to today's comments by two of his advisors on national TV that he may not increase taxes for the rich this year as he promised during his campaign--are to be ignored in favor of some magical and mythical progressive plan that Obama supposedly has or will implement after January 20th, even though the people he is surrounding himself with are not progressive. Can someone explain why Obama is choosing to surround himself with centrists if he in fact is going to pursue progressive policies?  
[ Parent ]
Experience (0.00 / 0)
Speaking of mythical, the idea that there is a deep pool of progressives with experience in the executive branch seems to be the underlying myth behind much of the criticism towards Obama. If it wasn't painfully obvious, Obama is clearly obsessed with filling key positions with Clinton veterans because they are the only living Democrats with hands-on experience running the executive.  

"Don't hate the media, become the media" -Jello Biafra
[ Parent ]
YEs (0.00 / 0)
I imagine it will be quite easy to enact progressive change if you alter the content of the progressive change to become tax cuts for the rich, furtherance of the finance economy, and american empire.
[ Parent ]
Here we go again. (0.00 / 0)
David you are an Obama hater, was during the primaries and the GE. no one takes you seriously anymore until you have concrete evidence to back your non stop Bitching on.
Confused On Taxes | 29 comments
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