In comments, Jim rightfully points out that the "Obama tax cut calculator" I link to was based on campaign promises, not what was actually implemented in the Stimulus. Fair enough, I didn't follow all the links before throwing up my post this morning.
I don't know how different the actual tax cuts in the economic stimulus are from what was promised during the campaign (though even the Wall Street Journal referred to Obama's tax cuts as a campaign promise fulfilled.) So yes, the "calculator" tool is useless. My bad.
But the point remains valid: conservatives reveal their cognitive dissonance when they claim Obama hasn't cut taxes (or in the case of clueless Tea Baggers, pretend he's even raised them). He hasn't; 95% of Americans will be getting a tax cut for 2009.
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There’s a discussion going on downthread about why Obama hasn’t cut taxes, which would sprinkle fairy dust all over the economy and make everything wonderful again.
Of course, Obama has cut taxes. Tax cuts were a big part of the economic stimulus, to the tune of $300 billion, a concession to the Republicans who ended up not voting for it anyway. The Dems voted for it, it passed, and now--shocker!--they don’t get credit for it. So I don’t know why we even bothered. It's like it never happened.
The non-partisan Tax Policy Center has a neat tool where you can calculate your Obama tax cut. Check it out, it’s really cool.
Here’s what I love:
Only 12 percent of the public say that the Obama administration has lowered their taxes since coming to office, despite the fact that the White House's stimulus package cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans, a new opinion survey found.
Here’s the poll. Not surprisingly, Tea Partiers were most likely to think Obama has raised their taxes, when in fact most have received a tax cut.
That certainly shows you the power of the right wing message. That’s some powerful Kool-Aid, blessed by Frank Luntz, spread by Dick Armey, and swallowed whole by a bunch of clueless idiots so desperate to hate on a Democratic president that they will believe anything they’re told.
Personally I'm not a fan of tax cuts, when our taxes are already at historic lows.
