Sssshhhh: Obama’s Deficit Plan Will Tax More Than The Evil Rich

by William Teach | September 20, 2011 7:31 am

Anyone who thinks this is anything more than a raise taxes on everyone plan is deluded, and his liberal cheerleaders will suddenly realize that the old Democrat axiom “do you get a paycheck? You’re rich” is in play

It’s not just millionaires who’d pay more[1] under President Obama’s latest plan to combat the deficit.

Air travelers, federal workers, military retirees, wealthier Medicare beneficiaries and people taking out new mortgages are among those who would pay more than $130 billion in government revenues raised through new or increased fees.

Airline passengers would see their federal security fees double from $5 to $10 for a nonstop round-trip flight and triple to $15 by 2017, raising $25 billion over the coming decade. Federal workers would face an additional 1.2 percentage point deduction from their paychecks to contribute $21 billion more for their pensions over the same period. Military retirees would pay a $200 fee upon turning 65 to have the government pay their out-of-pocket Medicare expenses.

They’d also pay more for non-generic prescription drugs.

Another new fee would increase by one-tenth of a percentage point the fee that mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge lenders to guarantee repayment of new mortgage loans.

These are being portrayed as “fees”, which, yes, many of them are, but it is more a matter of semantics. And do you know what is missing from his plan? Spending reductions. Where are they? What are they? Everything seems to be based on increasing fees and taxes. This is as deep as it gets[2]

Specifically, the President is proposing approximately $580 billion in cuts and reforms to a wide range of mandatory programs from cuts to agricultural subsidies that are no longer necessary to reform of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and modest changes to federal civilian worker retirement and health benefits for military retirees.

In fact, those cuts and reforms are pretty much reforms which are the fees and changes mentioned in both excerpts (see the PDF[3] starting on page 17). They are part of the “mandatory savings.” Hitting the military. Hitting agriculture (not that some reform is not necessary). Hitting (strangely) federal workers. Most of these savings seem to be about raising fees, not a reduction in spending.

And even Democrats aren’t particularly enthused[4] by what is essentially $3 in tax/fee increases for every $1 in cuts (that will never happen).

Rick Perry puts it best: “The president penalizes investment when it is needed most, discourages charitable giving and doubles down on a failed government stimulus strategy.”

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove[5]. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach[6].