President Obama said on Sunday that the next budget deal could be centered on reforming the tax code – but only where it affects the top earners.
In a CBS News interview on Sunday, Obama said that he didn’t “think the issue right now is raising rates” agreeing with Republicans that have said that the time to raise tax rates is over. But the President continued his assault on the most-productive in American society by choosing to affect their deductions, and no others as he asked “Can we close some loopholes and deductions that folks who are well connected and have a lot of accountants and lawyers can take advantage of so they end up paying lower rates than a bus driver or a cop?”
About half of Americans currently pay no income tax and certainly don’t pay more than the highest taxed earners in the nation. Focusing on those who already handle the overwhelming burden of funding the United States’ Federal Government gives Obama a way to increase taxes on a portion of the population while allowing others to continue taking advantage of infrastructure and programs they don’t pay for.
A truly fair proposal might be to get rid of all credits or loopholes, regardless of tax bracket. If the tax system is currently overly-rewarding to the top earners, they would be taking a bigger hit in the reform that would level the tax code – but “fair” is not the goal of the administration or the Democrat party.
