Obama Tax Hike Plan Still Supported by Myths and Straw Men

Curtis Dubay / October 06, 2010

The White House recently released a video defending President Obama’s tax hike plan featuring the new Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, Austan Goolsbee. Goolsbee replaced Christina Romer in September. Even though the personnel have changed, the flawed arguments supporting the President’s tax hike plan remain the same. In the 90-second video, Goolsbee commits enough errors to fill a 30-minute speech.

First, he argues that extending the 2001 and 2003 tax relief for all taxpayers would be a tax cut for “very high income people.” But extending the tax relief simply keeps tax rates where they’ve been for 10 years now. There is no new tax cut. No taxpayer would pay a lower tax rate next year if Congress extends the tax relief. Everyone would pay the same rate they’ve been paying for a decade now. Conversely, if Congress allows the tax relief to expire as President Obama wants, high-income taxpayers would pay significantly higher rates that would damage the already struggling economy. (more…)