Obama Prefers Fairness Over Facts
Something that should have sounded a few more Leftist alarm bells was Barack Obama's explanation for his support of raising (read: doubling) the capital gains tax.
Charlie Gibson confronts Obama and clues him in to the fact that every time the capital gains tax has been lowered, the government actually collected more money in tax revenue. Likewise, when the tax was raised, government revenue went down. Barack's response? It's not about providing the government with more funds. It's about fairness.
Gibson presses him again later, and while you might be thinking that Obama played the fairness card because he couldn't deny the facts, well...he does exactly that.
Are you starting to see a relationship between the likelihood of an Obama presidency and the plummeting of the stock market?
Charlie Gibson confronts Obama and clues him in to the fact that every time the capital gains tax has been lowered, the government actually collected more money in tax revenue. Likewise, when the tax was raised, government revenue went down. Barack's response? It's not about providing the government with more funds. It's about fairness.
GIBSON: All right. You have, however, said you would favor an increase in the capital gains tax. As a matter of fact, you said on CNBC, and I quote, "I certainly would not go above what existed under Bill Clinton," which was 28 percent. It's now 15 percent. That's almost a doubling, if you went to 28 percent.Obama doesn't see taxation as a way to finance the activities of government (which it's not, but that's a separate story), but rather the instrument with which the government can mandate fairness. This is the man who says he's going to cut taxes for 95% of Americans, which is curious considering that 40% of Americans don't earn enough to pay income taxes.
But actually, Bill Clinton, in 1997, signed legislation that dropped the capital gains tax to 20 percent.
OBAMA: Right.
GIBSON: And George Bush has taken it down to 15 percent.
OBAMA: Right.
GIBSON: And in each instance, when the rate dropped, revenues from the tax increased; the government took in more money. And in the 1980s, when the tax was increased to 28 percent, the revenues went down.
So why raise it at all, especially given the fact that 100 million people in this country own stock and would be affected?
OBAMA: Well, Charlie, what I've said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness.
Gibson presses him again later, and while you might be thinking that Obama played the fairness card because he couldn't deny the facts, well...he does exactly that.
GIBSON: But history shows that when you drop the capital gains tax, the revenues go up.That's like saying, "Wow you know, every time we increase taxes on businesses, they cut jobs and raise their prices to make up for the increased tax liability. But you know, let's try it again. 'Cause it might happen, or it might not."
OBAMA: Well, that might happen, or it might not. It depends on what's happening on Wall Street and how business is going.
Are you starting to see a relationship between the likelihood of an Obama presidency and the plummeting of the stock market?
Labels: Election 2008, Obamamania, Taxes