Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Thursday, September 04, 2008
The truth about Obama’s tax plan
This national election comes down to a simple choice: maintain a robust middle class and a progressive income tax, in which the wealthy pay more and the poor pay less, or continue policies that concentrate wealth into the few.
The fact is, John McCain wants to cut taxes even more for the wealthiest in a time when our deficit is at record levels and income disparities between the haves and have-nots is at a record level as well. Barack Obama wants to increase taxes on income in excess of $250,000 per year — the top 1.5 percent of income in America.
Socialism? Let’s look at policies that have redistributed wealth. Over the last 58 years, the Republicans have been in the Oval Office for 32 years and the Democrats for 26. According to the Census Bureau, the bottom 20 percent of wage earners have experienced average growth of only 0.5 percent under Republican presidents while the top 5 percent have had over 2 percent annual growth. Under Democratic presidents the bottom 20 percent had the same growth, about 2.5 percent, as the top 5 percent. Over 10 years that works out to a loss of over 25 percent in annual pay for the lowest wage earners under Republicans. The irony is that the top 5 percent are also better off under Democratic fiscal policies.
History is on the side of the Democrats and Barack Obama. I will vote for prosperity — Barack Obama.
All stories copyright 2000 - 2006 La Crosse Tribune and other attributed sources.