Obama Says He’d Raise Taxes…
November 11th, 2007 at 10:08pm Matt Margolis
Democrat Barack Obama said Sunday he will push for higher Social Security taxes if elected, viewing it as the best option for improving the retirement program’s finances.
Obama and several other Democratic presidential candidates previously have signaled support for lifting the cap on the amount of income that is taxed to provide monthly Social Security checks.
But during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Obama said taxing more of a person’s income was the option he would push for if elected president. He objected to benefit cuts or a higher retirement age.
“I think the best way to approach this is to adjust the cap on the payroll tax so that people like myself are paying a little bit more and people who are in need are protected,” the Illinois senator said.
“That is the option that I will be pushing forward.” Currently, only the first $97,500 of a person’s annual income is taxed. That cap is scheduled to rise to $102,000 next year.
A bold move for Obama, considering that when Bush was pushing for Social Security reform back in 2005, Democrats largely opposed doing anything to ensure Social Security’s solvency. When Rep. Wexler (D-FL) made his own proposal, which included tax increases, Democrats distanced themselves from him, and Nancy Pelosi reportedly “chewed him out over the phone,” for making his proposal.
We know Democrats, if given the chance, will raise taxes. Two years ago, they were reluctant to be honest about their tax-raising tendencies, yet today, Obama who is pursuing the presidency, seems comfortable pledging to raise our taxes.
Entry Filed under: Campaign 2008
2 Comments
1. Mark Noonan | November 12th, 2007 at 1:31 am
It just gets better all the time for the GOP in 2008 - Democrats are campaigning on losing the war, increasing spending and increasing taxes…last time they tried this was 1972. Anyone want to guess what happened back then?
2. Retired Spook | November 12th, 2007 at 10:00 am
President Bush is often criticized by the Left for his “my way or the highway” approach to things. Nothing could have been further from the truth on the SS issue. He presented a fairly broad outline of a plan and invited the Democrats to bring their ideas to the table, saying no potential solution would be excluded. We all know how well that worked out, and the Dems have yet to pay a political price for that repugnant behavior.
What’s ironic is that common sense tells you that the long term solution is going to have to be multifaceted. Any rational person can see that a combination of gradually continuing to increase the retirement age (it’s already been increased from 65 to 67) indexed to life expectancy, accellerating the increase of the wage cap, decreasing the rate of growth of benefits, means testing and some modest, even voluntary, privatization, would probably secure the program into perpetuity. Just increasing the wage cap alone back in the early 80’s resulted in a 40-year fix, but population demographics alone now dictate that we come at the problem from all possible angles.