Today, the President spoke in Ohio touting his newest reincarnation of failed policy: his proposal to funnel $50 billion in “stimulus” spending to infrastructure plans across the country. Despite the fact that over 50 percent of the funds allocated for transportation spending in the original “stimulus” haven’t been spent and unemployment remains around 10 percent, President Obama refuses to acknowledge real solutions for the country’s floundering economy.
House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) recognizes that the way towards economic prosperity is simple: stop the spending, and don’t raise taxes. Boehner has proposed cutting spending to pre-“stimulus”, pre-bailout 2008 levels and freezing current tax rates to prevent the largest tax hike in history that is slated to take effect January 1, 2011. Among the taxes that will go up are:
- Personal income tax rates will rise. The top income tax rate will rise from 35 to 39.6 percent (this is also the rate at which two-thirds of small business profits are taxed). The lowest rate will rise from 10 to 15 percent. All the rates in between will also rise.
- The AMT will ensnare over 28 million families, up from 4 million last year. According to the left-leaning Tax Policy Center, Congress’ failure to index the AMT will lead to an explosion of AMT taxpaying families—rising from 4 million last year to 28.5 million. These families will have to calculate their tax burdens twice, and pay taxes at the higher level. The AMT was created in 1969 to ensnare a handful of taxpayers.
- The return of the Death Tax. This year, there is no death tax. For those dying on or after January 1, 2011, there is a 55 percent top death tax rate on estates over $1 million.
- The “Medicine Cabinet Tax.” Thanks to Obamacare, Americans will no longer be able to use health savings account (HSA), flexible spending account (FSA), or health reimbursement (HRA) pre-tax dollars to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (except insulin).
“The President who got elected promising to reinvent Washington has decided that reiterating the failures of his administration is sound policy” said Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, “Obama ignores economic reality to extend policies that have been, by his own measure, complete failures. This peculiar repetition of an agenda that has clearly stalled economic recovery represents a President who would rather drown than swim to shore because he wouldn’t abandon the life raft he blew up himself.”