Obama Gets the Numbers Wrong In His Tax Plan

The article, Obama Gets the Numbers Wrong In His Tax Plan , was published by John Lott, a FoxNews.com contributor.  The article discusses how President Barack Obama’s new proposed tax on the wealthy is wrong on the numbers.  Lott believes “his proposed surcharge on capital gains and dividend taxes will raise already high tax rates on high income individuals and force even more investment outside the United States.” This article favors the right wing republicans and shoots down the left wing democrats.

I agree with Lott’s arguments based on two reasons. The first reason is that the rich do not pay fewer taxes on their income than the middle class. Second, Obama is not telling all the facts and displaying this at a high level that will ultimately get middle class voters attention because it attacks the rich. Obama is playing on the uninformed middle class and using that to his advantage.

We are talking about raising capital gains tax, not income tax. Not only do all Americans pay taxes, with the richest paying 38 percent, but then the rich have to pay another 15 percent on the investments they earn. Clearly that is double taxation. Should Obama propose that if you are not in the 38 percent tax bracket then you don’t have to pay capital gains tax? Well if he did then the middle class would invest their disposable income, and that would lead to investments staying in the United States, which would also create jobs and more wealth.

Simply put, if Obama wants to raise taxes, you can kiss local investing goodbye. Singapore, for example, has zero taxes on corporations. This is one of the reasons why U.S. companies keep billions overseas. If these companies bring foreign revenues back, they will get taxed at an extremely high rate. From pure business sense, the costs outweigh the benefits.