The Myth of Barack Obama Giving Tax Cuts to 95%

October 14, 2008 · Filed Under Economy 


Last week I wrote about one of the main points of the Barack Obama campaign is that he has promised a tax cut for 95 percent of Americans.

And that 30% of people in the country pay no federal income taxes. So, their “tax cut” is actually a welfare check.

These truths were reinforced today by the Wall Street Journal.

One of Barack Obama’s most potent campaign claims is that he’ll cut taxes for no less than 95% of “working families.” He’s even promising to cut taxes enough that the government’s tax share of GDP will be no more than 18.2% — which is lower than it is today.

It’s a clever pitch, because it lets him pose as a middle-class tax cutter while disguising that he’s also proposing one of the largest tax increases ever on the other 5%. But how does he conjure this miracle, especially since more than a third of all Americans already pay no income taxes at all? There are several sleights of hand, but the most creative is to redefine the meaning of “tax cut.”

For the Obama Democrats, a tax cut is no longer letting you keep more of what you earn. In their lexicon, a tax cut includes tens of billions of dollars in government handouts that are disguised by the phrase “tax credit.”

Read the full story at the Wall Street Journal.

Comments