Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Democrats ALREADY Raised Taxes — To Pay for MORE SPENDING

During his opening remarks this morning, Leader Reid continued the Democrat theme of haranguing “millionaires and billionaires” and insisting that Republicans must raise taxes – which will harm jobs during a time of continued high unemployment – as part of a “balanced” solution to America’s fiscal crisis.  These comments miss one key fact:  Democrats ALREADY raised taxes – on rich and poor alike – as part of the health care law, and they did so NOT to reduce the deficit, but to pay for more federal spending.

CBO’s long-term budgetary outlook, released last month, quantifies the large effect of Obamacare’s tax increases – effects that will only grow over time.  Table 6-2 notes that the tax increases in Obamacare will increase revenues by 1.2% of GDP between now and 2035.  Based on the size of the economy in 2011 dollars, that amounts to a $180 billion annual tax increase thanks to the law.  In addition, CBO estimates that “Cadillac tax” on high-cost health plans “would increase total revenues by more than 0.7 percent of GDP in 2035 and higher percentages thereafter.”  This year’s report did not make long-range estimates, but in last year’s report CBO projected the “Cadillac tax” alone would raise 3 percent of GDP in 2080.  Because the “Cadillac tax” will continue to grow over time, its impact in 2080 would be about a $450 billion annual tax increase in 2011 dollars – just for one tax increase, for one year.

Meanwhile, multiple Democrats have made comments that additional means-testing of Medicare and other entitlements is a non-starter.  It’s interesting that the same Democrats who want to tax “millionaires and billionaires” say they are “absolutely opposed” to making those same individuals pay more for their taxpayer-funded benefits.

To sum up:  After having raised taxes once to pay for Obamacare’s unsustainable new entitlements, Democrats want to raising taxes on small American job creators AGAIN – in order to ensure that Warren Buffett will continue to receive his Social Security pension and Bill Gates can obtain taxpayer-funded Medicare benefits.  With this tax-and-spend mentality on full display among Democrats, is it any wonder that our nation is facing trillion-dollar deficits – or that businesses are reluctant to hire the new workers that would spark greater economic growth?