NYT: Taxes, the Deficit and the Economy: Higher Taxes for the Rich

[flpoljunkie]

Note to the NYT: The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, signed by President Obama on 12/17/10, changed the estate tax thresholds to $5 million for individuals and $10 million for joint filers beginning in 2011 with a top tax of 35% for 2011 and 2012. President Obama wants to return the estate tax to the rates in effect at the end of 2009--$3.5 and $7 million thresholds.

Note to the Dems: Read and repeat the small business income facts below. Don't let the Republicans keep repeating their 'small business' lies! Call them out!

HIGHER TAXES FOR THE RICH

The Obama plan would allow the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans — individuals earning more than $200,000 a year and households earning more than $250,000 — to expire at the end of 2012. That would restore the top two marginal tax rates to 36 percent and 39.6 percent, up from 33 percent and 35 percent today. It would also restore the estate tax, which vanished completely in 2010, and raise the capital gains tax on wealthy individuals from 15 percent to 20 percent.

The full Bush-era tax cuts were the single biggest contributor to the deficit over the past decade, reducing revenues by about $1.8 trillion between 2002 and 2009. The White House estimates that Mr. Obama’s plan would raise $866 billion over the next decade, or nearly half of that.

As for the supposed job-killing effects, President Bill Clinton raised tax rates to where Mr. Obama wants to restore them now, and the economy grew faster and added many more jobs during those eight years than it did after President George W. Bush slashed taxes across the board.

Republicans are undaunted. Their main claim — delivered in a conveniently populist tone — is that the higher rates will penalize small businesses that file as individuals. Small businesses are undeniably major engines of job creation. But only about 2.5 percent of all small-business owners (and 4 percent of those reporting positive income) earn enough to be taxed at the top two rates, according to the Treasury’s Office of Tax Analysis. Even more important, the argument ignores the fact that the higher income tax rate would apply to business profits, not revenues. Small businesses would still be able to deduct or amortize payrolls and investments.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/22/opinion/taxes-the-deficit-and-the-economy.html?_r=1&hp

[Cool Logic]

1. "Bill Clinton raised tax rates...and the economy grew faster and added many more jobs..."

Yeah, Rs try to take credit for the dot com boom as well. They claim the economy didn't take off until after they took control of Congress in 94.

However, to the knowing observer, it is clear that neither party can claim credit for the boom that morphed into a bubble that burst in 2000.

[Stuart G]

2. K and R