The president’s self-proclaimed “tax cut” turns out to be a typical Washington bait-and-switch for millions of Americans.
by Michael Naragon
One of Barack Obama’s major campaign promises during the presidential election was a tax cut for the middle class. He received some criticism from conservatives for calling it a “cut” when millions of Americans who paid no taxes would also be receiving money, making it a closet welfare program.
On Thursday, America got another peek at the man behind the curtain, as the pomp and circumstance of the president’s tax refund has been swept away. What remains is the fact that millions of Americans will owe the government more in taxes next April as a result of Obama’s “gift.”
The AP reported Thursday that new tax tables released by the IRS indicate that married couples where both spouses work, workers with more than one job, retirees who have federal income taxes withheld from their pension payments, and Social Security recipients with jobs that provide taxable income could all face tax penalties because of their Obama tax credits.
Of these groups, the people most at risk are those who adjust their withholding so as to have only small refunds when they file their returns.
Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner has stated that the IRS realizes that the adjustment may be a problem for Americans and claims he is “exploring ways to mitigate that effect.” Perhaps those of us who will be affected should just refuse to pay the difference in taxes and later claim that we were making an understandable Geithner-like mistake.
For those who have not philosophically committed to replacing the oppressive tax code in the United States with a system like the Fair Tax, here is yet another piece of evidence for the prosecution. How long will we accept the government’s use of the tax system as a political plaything?
Republicans in the House have raised concern about the discrepancies, but, according to Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, Geithner’s response has been less than helpful. “So far we’ve got the, ‘If we don’t address this maybe it will go away’ approach,” Camp said Thursday.
Obama has touted the “tax cut for 95 percent of Americans” as one of the greatest achievements of his first 100 days. If his greatest achievement has been performed with smoke and mirrors, what does that say for the rest of his work?
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/INSIDE-WASHINGTON-Rude-apf-15091434.html?.v=1
