Now that Barack Obama has his foot in the door with across-the-board tax increases, Democrats are already demanding more before we hear the first wails from middle income America as workers realize that their take home pay has been skimmed by the government.. Despite the heaps of patronizing, paternalistic propaganda that Democrats have been serving up about their dedication to the middle class, middle income America has been stabbed in the back and can count on a lot more pain on the way.
Does Middle America deserve tax increases? Despite White House hype about passing tax relief for the middle class, the president knows that the Social Security tax hike is going to hit hard. Fines, penalties, regulations, and taxes descending on businesses, including those from Obamacare, have to be shared and will be passed on to workers. State and local governments need money, too. Who does the middle class think is going to bear the burden when schools run low, public employee salaries need to be paid, and pensions must be funded?
Policymakers are careful when they tread on the wealthy. They need to reach the perfect synthesis of liberal guilt and partisan bravado that makes those with too much money and no imagination agree that it is a good idea to give more to election campaigns and the government. Middle America, on the other hand, has to be tricked into believing that it is being helped no matter how deeply its two-faced liberal benefactors drive the knife in.
Middle income America is the ideal target for tax increases. You can ask any Democrat and quite a few Republicans why this is true, but you won’t get a straight story because they will all vow to lay down their lives to protect the middle class. Here is the truth:
It is easy to get away with tax increases on middle income Americans.
How did lower payroll tax rates not get extended? Where was the outcry on taking money from middle income Americans to fund failing, overextended entitlements that Democrats refuse to reform and Republicans are unable to cut? Middle America pays Medicare and Social Security taxes no matter what. Higher earners, who the president has spent countless hours turning into villains, see their Social Security taxes max out with their incomes. Whose corner are Barack Obama and congressional Democrats in, anyway?
There are lots of middle income Americans to tax.
Whether the wealthy constitute the selfish 1%, the overcompensated 2%, or whatever the White House speechwriter of the moment wants to call them, there are a lot more middle income Americans than wealthy Americans. If you want to haul in tax revenue, you had better tax whoever you have the most of. Should we fleece 2%, or everyone else? Ask lawmakers in Illinois, the state that wrote the book on spending. Recession or not, when they looked for an income tax boost in 2011 no one was spared.
The blame for tax increases will be pinned on Republicans and the rich.
What a wonderful set up. Democrats take money from middle income America with higher Social Security taxes to accompany increasing property and state income tax rates that support public employee retirement benefits and failing, union-dominated school systems. Then they blame the rich and the GOP.
No one in Washington cares about middle income America.
Why should they? The middle class does not loudly contribute piles of cash to political campaigns. They are useless to lobbyists unless they are divvied up into special interest buckets. They don’t have the influence of those wealthy Americans who publicly proclaim that Barack Obama’s government is a good investment and spending on the public sector is a virtue.
The role of middle income Americans is to shut up, pay up, and expire quietly.
Those in middle income America exist to work, be taxed, collect their meager Social Security checks, and leave this earth as inoffensively as possible. There will always be politicians reciting that the middle class is all that counts. The question is how many middle income Americans believe them.
Updated June 11, 2016: link anchor.
Tom says
January 10, 2013 at 9:02 am“Fair share”, isn’t that what Obama and the Democrats wanted from the wealthy? Well middle class is going to be expected to pay their “fair share”. Obama is realizing he can’t get enough money from the top 2%, so he has moved down to the middle class. Why does that surprise anyone?
Dick says
January 10, 2013 at 8:31 amThe middle class and low income voters fell for the Obama campaign rhetoric and voted for him heavily. Now they are complaining about the cut in their pay checks. They are getting exactly what they voted for and this is not the end of the taxes they will pay. What makes them think that only the top 1 or 2% will provide enough revenue to satisfy Obama. Boy, they are in for a shock. They haven’t seen anything yet. By the time Obama gets through, the middle class will be lucky if they can afford beans and rice for dinner.
Googan says
January 9, 2013 at 9:02 pmYour point is well taken for during the campaign Obama was saying only the highest 1-2% were going to pay, but now the truth is coming out that the middle class are getting shafted. The whole point of the campaign was to keep the middle class from voting against Obama, because he had the low income voters on his side to begin with. They are the needy who rely on food stamps and other assistance programs to help them, so they were not going to vote against Obama. Remember the free phone ads, they called them the Obamaphone ads.
I sometimes wonder how Harry Reid can sleep at night, knowing that he is responsible for not putting forth a Federal Budget for over 3 1/2 years. The major nations of this world are laughing at us for not having a budget. Obama has truly made this country a laughing stock among nations, otherwise a third world country. Thanks a lot Obama, Reid and the Democrats.
Just remember the last 4 letters that their political party.