April 15, 2010
"I can make a firm pledge, under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes."
- President Barack Obama, September 12, 2008
Thursday, April 15, 2010, is Tax Day, the deadline for Americans to send their-hard earned money to Washington. Sadly, the current level of taxation is not enough to pay for the ongoing Democrat expansion of government. Since January 2009, Democrats have raised taxes by $679.3 billion, including $569 billion for ObamaCare. All told, there have been 14 violations of the President's pledge not to raise taxes on those who make less than $250,000 a year. But it doesn't end there - more is in store:
President's Budget: The President's Budget proposes to increase taxes by more than a trillion dollars, including:
Fiscal Commission: In an attempt to levy more taxes upon the American people, President Obama created a fiscal commission to address our looming fiscal crisis. The commission, comprised of a Democratic majority, will be tasked with presenting Congress with options for tackling the unsustainable imbalance resulting from entitlement programs. Unfortunately, Democrats have refused to take tax increases off the table and are likely to use the guise of a "bipartisan" commission to further increase taxes on the American people.
Value-Added Tax: The more than a trillion dollars in proposed tax increases in the President's Budget hasn't stopped the Obama Administration from searching for additional ways to increase revenues through disguised tax increases. There is now discussion of imposing a European style value-added tax [VAT].
The value-added tax is a type of national sales tax, imposed on the valued-added at each stage of production that applies to countless products and services. With small incremental taxes at each phase of production, increasing taxes is easy- and less noticeable. A tax of this sort would increase the costs of every day household and small business items and services, which would significantly impact low to middle income Americans.
On April 15, millions of American taxpayers will file their income taxes. This day will be a sad reminder of how the Democrats have squandered their hard-earned money to expand the size of government, bail out Wall Street, enact a failed stimulus, and enlarge our unsustainable entitlement programs. Taxpayers should not be further punished because Washington's fiscal house is out-of-control. It is time, especially during this difficult economic recession, for Congress to help alleviate the tax burden of hard-working Americans and set an example of being fiscally responsible.